Car salesman and YouTube creator reveals shock EV truth
A car salesman was approached by a buyer looking to sell his near-new $80,000 electric vehicle. His final offer exposes a shocking reality facing Aussie EV owners.
A second hand luxury car salesman has revealed the staggering resale value of an almost brand new electric vehicle in Australia.
Jerry Kam, who owns Bayside Brothers Motors in Vermont, east of Melbourne, had a customer visit his business last month hoping to offload his 2024 Mini Countryman.
The man had bought the flashy EV for $80,000 in August last year but decided he “needed the money” and wanted to trade it in for a cheaper model.
But Mr Kam, known as Jerry Sells on YouTube, had a bleak message for the buyer, who he said made a rookie error in not trying to negotiate a better price when he first purchased the car.
The Hong Kong-born businessman said he could only offer a “very, very conservative price” to the Mini owner, who suggested $65,000 as a first offer.
“If I have to buy the car, I will only pay $50,000,” the salesman eventually offered, after repeatedly trying to lower the owner’s expectations.
The shocked seller then dropped his initial asking price by $5,000.
“No. I have to work from what car sales indicate (to) me and also it’s my experience,” Mr Kam said, before the Mini owner dropped his asking price down further to $58,000.
The content creator suggested the customer sell it elsewhere, insisting “no one” would pay as much as he had offered.
“If someone paid more than that I’m happy for you. (But) this is one of those cars I don’t desperately want to buy because I don’t see a lot of money in it,” he said.
Mr Kam revealed to news.com.au the Mini owner did attempt to sell it to other car yards, with the highest price offered at $40,000.
“He actually came back, he wanted to get my $50,000, but I told him that if you’re not selling me the car at 50, the deal is off. It has to be fair,” he said.
The car salesman said he had contacted his wholesale connections – which would be a “worst case scenario” if he couldn’t offload the car quickly – and they could only offer him up to $43,000.
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Australia’s tough EV resale market
The Bayside Brothers Motors owner told news.com.au Australia’s environment still struggled to widely cater for electric vehicle owners.
“I think the Australian EV market is a little bit behind. I think for people to charge EV or whatever, you’re doing a long trip, Australia has a big land. You go interstate, you drive to Sydney, you drive to Adelaide, it’s still not very convenient,” he said.
“Lots of people try to sell it because it’s not convenient to charge it. Even if you got a charger at home it’s inconvenient. Unless you’re doing like 20, 40 kilometres a day then it’s like your phone you charge it easy. But then if you do more than that it’s very inconvenient.”
He added the Australian EV market has been saturated with Chinese models, such as BYD and XPeng, forcing major players like Tesla to drop their prices to be competitive.
“I remember two years ago, the Tesla keep on dropping the retail price on the EV. So maybe when people buy, let’s say Model 3, when I bought it, I remember it was $76,000. But then now you can get a brand new one for $60,000,” Mr Kam said.
“So even if I sell it for 60, people thought because I drove it for one year, I drove 5,000kms on it, I give up 16 grand margin, that’s okay. But then, if you can get a brand new one for 60, why would you pay 60 for a two-year-old one with 5,000ks on it?
“So then, for me to sell this car, then I have to lower to $50,000 or even 45. So that’s why the value of the EV is bad.”
Despite the tough resale market, electric vehicle sales hit a record high in Australia in the last quarter.
Owners selling their EVs
Mr Kam said about 10 to 20 per cent of the customers that approached him to sell their cars were electric vehicle owners.
The used car salesman warned those wanting to buy an EV should plan to drive it for the foreseeable future due to the low resale price.
“In this very unstable market for the EV, unless you’re happy to drive the EV until it dies, until it can’t drive, otherwise if you’re planning to drive the EV for three years, four years, five years, you will lose a lot more money than you could imagine,” he said.
“It’s a good car, don’t get me wrong. EV is a good car.”
Asked about the depreciation differences between an electric vehicle and a petrol car, he said it was “not fair” to compare the two.
Mr Kam used European cars as an example, having previously worked for BMW and Mercedes, saying they offered a guaranteed buyback for three years of about 33 per cent.
That means a brand-new car bought for $100,000 would be worth around $33,000. But this would be worst for an EV with the same price vehicle to only be valued about $25,000 due to the unstable nature of the electric vehicle market.
“That’s my personal opinion, all right? But then, when you say petrol and diesel, if you compare with a Toyota petrol or diesel Toyota, after three years, maybe you still have 70 per cent, or even 80 per cent,” he said.
Other markets such as China have embraced electric vehicles.
Sales in Australia have been increasing each year, with battery electric vehicle sales reaching 91,000 units, up almost five per cent, or about one in ten sales in 2024.
According to an Electric Vehicle Council report, about half a million cars on the road are EVs or plug-in hybrids.
Mr Kam said given the current pace, it will be at least another five years before the Australian market is stable enough for electric vehicles.
“But in ten years time I think EV will be very important,” he said.
Do you have a story? Email david.wu1@news.com.au.
Originally published as Car salesman and YouTube creator reveals shock EV truth
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