Reader Question: How much is my second

Hi Bryce

There was a recent article in TheDriven advising that Renault had announced it would soon stop production of the Zoe. The article included the fact that less than 100 Zoes had been brought to Oz.

We purchased our Zoe Intens and took delivery in April 2017, and although it hasn’t been without problems, all the serious ones were covered by the warranty. The battery is now down to a State of Health (SOH) of 92, and it no longer has sufficient range to reach our daughter’s home near Orange, but is still perfectly suited to suburban driving. So we are now looking to replace it with a new EV that can go the distance without stopping to recharge, AND offers DC charging. The MG4 excite 64 looks like a good option, and I have approached the local MG dealer to try to find out what our Zoe could be worth as a trade-in. The sales guy I spoke to didn’t have a clue – I got the impression he had never even seen a Zoe! So I guess we will have to sell it privately, but what is it worth?

I went looking for second hand Zoes and found two at a dealer in WA with about 25,000 km one the clock with an asking price of around $34k. Our Zoe has done about 56,000 km, so it would be worth less than that, but how much? Is advertising it on Gumtree (where I found the Zoes in WA, plus another in a wrecking yard in SA) the only option, or is there a service that you are aware of that specialises in finding buyers for preloved EVs?

Thanks for all your contributions to The Driven 😊

Regards

Peter

Hi Peter

Second-hand EVs are relatively easy to sell as there are lots of people wanting them, and not a lot available in Australia. That is tempered by the fact that the cheaper end of the new EV market has dipped to just under $40k now. As a result, second-hand prices are taking a bit of a hit.

However, if you set the right price, it should sell easily.

For a pointer on where second-hand EV prices are going, I recently covered the dip in used EV prices in the UK. (The market there is much better developed that ours with one in four new cars sold there now being plug-in electrics, with most of those being full BEV).

That price change was due to the combined factors of more second-hand EVs hitting the market and lower cost new ones. That combination caused used EV prices in the UK to dip 18% compared to last year. Whilst we haven’t seen that big a dip yet here, it will come – perhaps as soon as early next year.

When Renault decided to give up selling the Zoe here in 2020, they got down as low as $37k on the 2019 plate batch. As a result, the Zoe will have taken a depreciation hit on its initial on-the-road cost of $54k-ish in 2017.

Plus, yours will be competing against the likes of the BYD Dolphin, GWM Ora and MG4, all new EVs starting at or just under the magic $40k number – so competing even in the $30k range might be hard, especially given it is an original 2017 plate one.

Once people mentally cross the $30k threshold, they might well decide to do ‘the EV stretch’ (what used to be called the ‘Tesla stretch’) and go to around $40k for a new car. (Especially in Qld where a $6k EV purchase incentive still exists!)

As for a price, I am no car dealer and therefore only making a very imprecise guess! However, for that mileage and condition, perhaps you could set something in the $25k – $29k range and put it in the ‘under $30k’ bracket to tempt those EV stretchers back to spending $10k less?

It would be a great pick-up for the right person: the Zoe was never well marketed here, but it was the highest selling EV in Europe for many years.

It is a very practical city car (my partner loves hers!) and if yours is a good indication, their batteries are holding up well too. In the six years you’ve owned yours it has decreased by only 8%: which is about 1.33% a year. (This is by the way about line-ball with what is being found in other modern EVs).

At that rate, at 10 years a 500km range car will still have 433km maximum range left so for most users there would be no need to even consider a battery change for perhaps another five to ten years – which would be the life of the car! However, it sounds like the Zoe was only ever marginal for your use-case as it was from new only a 260 to 300km range car, plus with no DC charging it was never a good option for longer trips.

As for where to sell it: there is a new EV dedicated auction house in NSW called eevee auctions – however an EV is still a car and people generally go to the usual outlets to look for one, be it ICE or electric.

I’d therefore suggest any of the usual outlets for private sales would work – although there is the issue that the Zoe is not a well-known EV in Australia, so people would have to know about them to look for one!

(By the way – for those looking for an EV using the biggest carsales site – you can filter for ‘electric cars’ which will throw up all EVs on sale, making Zoes and other lesser known models easier to spot).

It therefore might also be worth listing it on the Australian Electric Vehicle Association’s sales forum: members there would at least be familiar with them. (AEVA For Sale listings are free if you register for the forum and you don’t have to be a member of the AEVA to register – although as you’re an EV person, becoming a member would be worthwhile).

I think you’ve identified what is potentially going to be the pick of the 2023 EV market here in Australia: the MG4 looks great on paper and in the flesh seems well put together, but as I have yet to drive one, I can’t say anything there except that overseas reviewers seem impressed. (I am looking forward to getting a test drive once they arrive!)

Note: If you have a question, please send it through to [email protected]

Bryce Gaton is an expert on electric vehicles and contributor for The Driven and Renew Economy. He has been working in the EV sector since 2008 and is currently working as EV electrical safety trainer/supervisor for the University of Melbourne. He also provides support for the EV Transition to business, government and the public through his EV Transition consultancy EVchoice.