06 / Trade-in
7 systems measured · electric or petrol
Your car, appraised the way we appraise our own
No book figure, no five-minute glance in the car park. We measure your car the same way we measure the stock on this lot, write the findings down, and build the offer from those numbers rather than from a valuation website.
Systems we score
7
the same seven as our own stock
Average condition here
91/100
measured across the lot
Battery cycles run
1,240
the same test your EV gets
Days a car sits here
33
average — demand is not uniform
The appraisal
Five steps, and you can stop at any of them.
Appraising a car costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. We buy from private owners as well as take part exchanges, so if you would rather sell outright than trade, the route is the same and you leave with a figure rather than a deal.
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01
Start with the VIN
Send the VIN, the mileage and a few photographs by email and we open a file the same day. Nothing is committed at this point and nothing is charged.
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02
Measure, do not guess
The car comes to the lot, or a partner workshop near you if that is easier to arrange. Tyres are measured rather than eyeballed, paint is read, faults are read from the car itself where the car will report them.
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03
Test the battery, if it has one
An electric car gets the same charge and discharge cycle, module deviation log and DC run that every car on this lot gets. It is the single largest line in the appraisal, so it is measured rather than assumed.
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04
Write the findings down
Every fault goes into the log with a grade — note, minor, moderate — and a cost to put right. We show you the list whether or not you decide to sell.
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05
Give you a figure in writing
One number, dated, with the market range it was drawn from and how long we will stand behind it. If you take it to somebody else and they beat it, the sheet still tells you why.
Scored, not described
What we measure
- Battery & BMS
- Drive units
- Suspension
- Brakes & regen
- Body & paint
- Interior
- Software & charging
Each one is scored out of 100 and the average is written on the listing when the car is ours. Your appraisal uses the same sheet, so the two numbers mean the same thing.
If it is electric
The battery leads the conversation
State of health decides most of an electric car’s value, so it is the first number we produce and the first one we show you. Alongside it: module deviation, the DC charging curve, whether any battery or charging campaign is still open, and how the measured range compares with the rated figure.
A full charge and discharge cycle with cell-level logging: state of health, per-module deviation, DC charging curve, thermal behaviour and reported range against the EPA figure.
If it is petrol or diesel
Measured on the same principle
Engine and transmission behaviour, drivetrain noise, brakes, tyres, paint and cabin wear, plus whatever the service history does or does not prove. Yes. We appraise it the same way, from measurements rather than a book figure, and we resell it through partner dealers rather than pretending it is ours.
Charging habits
How the car was charged matters
If you have owned an electric car, tell us how it lived: charged at home overnight or repeatedly pushed through rapid chargers, parked outside in the sun or under cover, charged to 100% every night or kept in the middle. The car logs most of it, and where the logs and the story agree, that is worth something in the offer. Where they disagree, the logs win.
What moves the number
Seven things, in the order they cost you money.
Buyers assume mileage is the whole story. On an electric car it is not: the pack is a bigger line than the odometer, and a well-kept high-mileage car can beat a neglected low-mileage one on the same sheet.
01 · Largest on an EV
Battery health
A pack at the top of its class is worth real money; one that has lost capacity is not, and no amount of tyre tread changes that. This is the number we will not estimate.
02
Open recalls and campaigns
An unremedied battery, software or charging campaign has a cost attached to it and a delay attached to it. Some are closed in an afternoon at a franchised dealer, and we will tell you which before we make an offer.
03
Service records
Dated records with mileage are worth more than a stamped book with gaps. Printouts, dealer invoices and app history all count; a story does not.
04
Tyres
Measured in millimetres, not described as “good”. Tread depth, matching brands, and whether the car wears an unusual size all affect what it costs us to retail — some electric cars use narrow low-rolling-resistance tyres that are expensive to replace, and that is a real line in the offer.
05
Paint, glass and cabin
Panel repairs, kerbed wheels, cracked trim and worn bolsters. We photograph what we find and price the correction rather than deducting a round number for “condition”.
06
Mileage and owners
Both matter, and neither is decisive on its own. A second-owner car with a full history is worth more than a one-owner car with none, and we have both on the lot right now at different prices.
07
Demand this month
Cars here sit for 33 days on average, and the spread around that average is wide: a city car in the right colour moves quickly, an unusual one waits. Your car is appraised against the same measure, which is why an offer has a date on it and a reason next to the number rather than a shrug.
How the offer is built
Line by line
- 01 The market range The same low-to-high range we publish against our own cars, drawn from what comparable cars are actually advertised at rather than from a single book value.
- 02 The condition sheet Seven systems, each scored, averaged into one figure out of 100 — currently 91/100 across our own stock.
- 03 The cost to retail What it takes to bring your car up to the standard we sell at: tyres, brakes, filters, alignment, the small trim items.
- 04 The correction list Everything from the defect log with its grade and its cost. You see the same list we use internally, including the items we decided not to fix.
- 05 The offer One figure in writing, with the market range behind it and the date it was produced. Take it away, compare it, come back to it.
Findings are graded the same way they are on our own defect logs — note, minor, moderate — and every finding shows the cost to put it right.
Bring with you
What makes the offer stronger
- The title, or the lender’s name and account number if it is financed
- Both keys, including the spare you have not seen in two years
- Service invoices, printouts and any warranty paperwork
- The charging cable, if it came with one
- Your own records of range or efficiency, if you keep them
Caveat
If you owe more than it is worth
Finance is settled on the day, and where the payoff is larger than the appraisal figure the difference has to be paid or carried into the next agreement — and only if the lender on that agreement allows it. We will show you the arithmetic on both, in writing, rather than folding the shortfall into a monthly payment and hoping nobody asks.
Trade-in / appraisal
Send the VIN and we will start the sheet
Registration, mileage, a few photographs and whether it is electric or petrol. We open the file, tell you what the battery test involves if it is an EV, and give you a figure in writing without asking you to commit to anything.
Answer within four business hours, from the technician who ran the battery test.