Melbourne dealer says electric vehicles can plunge in value after year-old Mini trade-in

A Melbourne car salesman has warned electric vehicle owners about steep early depreciation after turning down a trade-in offer for a one-year-old Mini Countryman electric vehicle.

Jerry Kam of Bayside Brothers Motors filmed an interaction with a seller who told him he had paid A$80,000 for the Mini 12 months earlier and wanted about A$65,000 to free up cash. Kam told the man the car had already lost a large share of its value and that the owner had likely overpaid at purchase. Kam said the vehicle had a market value of about A$64,000 when new, meaning the buyer paid roughly A$16,000 more than that figure.

After inspecting the car, Kam made a conservative offer of A$50,000. The seller lowered his asking price incrementally to A$58,000 but Kam declined, saying the price expectations were unrealistic and that he did not see a margin in the transaction. Kam later posted the clip to YouTube to warn prospective EV buyers that values can fall sharply in the first three years of ownership.

"This unlucky customer is losing close to 50 per cent of his Mini EV," the caption on the video said. In the footage Kam told the seller, "I really didn't want to offer him a price because I knew I wouldn't get the car no matter what. His expectation was too high for us to even come close to making something happen. For anyone with a very new car, keep it for three years at least because that's when the depreciation starts to slow down." He also advised buyers to plan to keep an EV long-term if they want to avoid steep short-term losses: "Unless you're happy to drive the EV until it dies ... 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."

Kam said the seller later went to another dealer and was offered A$40,000. The seller returned hoping to get Kam's earlier A$50,000 offer, but Kam said the deal could not proceed unless it was fair for the dealership.

The exchange illustrates tensions between private sellers and dealers over used-EV valuations as buyers, dealers and resellers price scale, condition and demand into offers. Kam framed the gap between what the customer expected and what the market would support as the decisive factor in his refusal to meet the asking price.

The clip has prompted wider discussion among buyers and dealers about timing and expectations when purchasing electric vehicles. Kam's advice to hold relatively new EVs for at least three years reflects his view that depreciation typically moderates after that period, a point he used to caution potential purchasers against treating EVs as short-term assets.

The incident highlights a risk buyers face if they pay a premium at purchase or seek to flip a recently bought electric vehicle: resale values can diverge from initial outlays, and some dealers will only make offers that reflect current market assessments rather than original purchase prices.