If the Outlander PHEV stopped being plugged in, say so.
Tell most buyers the charging cable has been in the shed for years and the whole car becomes a problem to them, discounted for the one thing they know went unused.
Here it is information rather than a fault. It tells the inspector where to spend the time, and the number still comes off the car that is actually in the driveway.
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The plug
A charging habit that lapsed is worth telling us about
Sellers of this car often open the call with an apology. It is the wrong way round, because the thing being apologised for is one of the more useful things you could tell us.
It usually goes the same way. The car was bought to do a job and it has been doing it ever since, the school run and the tip run and the trailer and the drive up the coast at Easter. Somewhere in the middle of that the charging quietly stopped. A move to a house with no power point near the driveway, a cable that went into the shed during a tidy up, or a second hand purchase where nobody handed one over. There was never a decision about it. It stopped happening, and years went past.
By the time you come to sell, that has turned into something you feel you have to confess, and you have landed on a site with EV in the name wondering whether you are in the right place. You are. We buy plug in hybrids, this one included, we settle whatever is still owing directly with the financier, and an unused plug is a fact about the last few years rather than a verdict on the car.
What being told actually changes is the inspection, not the welcome. A car that has spent years running on fuel gets gone over a little differently from one charged every night, and both are ordinary here. We would far rather hear it from you on the phone than work it out in your driveway, because the number we talk about on the call is the number we want still standing when the inspector arrives. Surprises are what move it, and you are the only one who can take them off the table.
On the call
What we ask when the plug has not been used
None of these are a test. They tell the inspector where the time is best spent, which is how the number you hear on the phone survives the visit.
- When was the last time it was plugged in?
- A rough answer is plenty. Last night, last winter, not since you bought it. It is the single most useful thing you can tell us about this car, because it points the inspector at what to look at and stops anybody guessing at the rest.
- Did a charging cable ever come with the car?
- On a car that has had more than one owner the cable is the first thing to go missing, and plenty of owners were never given one at all. Tell us either way. Charging gear is priced as part of the car, so what is there goes in and what is gone comes out.
- Who has been servicing it, and is the book stamped?
- There is a servicing story here that a pure electric car does not have, and on a family car it is usually a mixed one, a dealer at the start and then whoever is closest to home. Having the book and the invoices in the car on the day turns that history into money instead of a claim.
- What has the tow bar actually towed?
- A box trailer a couple of times a year is a different life from a caravan every school holidays, and it is worth being straight about which one it was. We do not ask to knock money off. We ask so that part of the car gets looked over properly rather than glanced at.
- What is bolted to it that you would rather keep?
- Roof bars, a bike rack, the towball itself, a cargo barrier, the rubber mats that live in the back. Tell us what is coming with the car and what is going onto your next one. Both answers are fine, and neither is a surprise if we hear it first.
- Has it been left standing for long stretches?
- A car that sits at the airport for weeks wears differently from one that goes out every morning. Mention the flat battery you had to jump, or the tyres that have not turned in a month. An inspection turns that up anyway, and it reads better coming from you.
However it has been driven
Three things the plug does not decide
- An unused plug is not a deal breaker. Charged every night, or not charged since the day you bought it, we are buying the same car. It moves what the inspector spends time on rather than whether there is an offer at the end of it.
- The battery is still read, and it is still only part of the number. State of health gets measured here too rather than guessed at. The difference on this car is that the reading sits beside the engine, the service history and the body, so no one figure decides the whole number.
- What is in the shed still belongs to the car. The cable, the towball, the roof bars, the mats you pulled out of the back. Have it all in one place on the day and it gets paid for, instead of going with the car for nothing.
The awkward ones
Three questions people apologise for asking
I have not charged it in years. Do you still want it?
Yes. Say so on the call and it becomes part of what the inspector plans to look at, rather than something that turns up in your driveway. The offer is built on the car in front of us, not on how often it was plugged in.
I never got the charging cable when I bought it. Does that matter?
It is worth mentioning, and you will not be the first person to tell us. A missing cable comes out of the number the same way a wall box on the garage wall would go into it. Nobody is going to make it difficult.
Should I charge it up before the inspector comes?
No, and please do not go and buy a cable for the visit. If plugging it in is easy, do it. If not, leave it alone and tell us why. Nothing about the offer depends on you preparing the car.
Tell us about the plug and let us price the rest of the car.
Or call us on 03 9000 0075 and talk it through first.