It's coming up for sale at an auction and has 12,000 miles. Checked with Mercedes and the battery lease was terminated. Does this car have any factory warranty then? I've had a few gas Smarts and a Leaf so now want to try the Smart EV for a few months and sell it on in the spring. Is $3500-$4,000 too much to pay with such low mileage?
What's this 13 EV worth?
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
Joined
·
2,298 Posts
If BAP has been terminated on that car, just check to make sure the battery isn't bricked. Make sure you still have reasonable range.
There are only 2 reasons I see for poor battery performance. One is just a complete and total disregard for maintenance of any type. Just a complete neglect for even having the battery inspected and filter replaced even once over the course of a few years. The other? The car sitting uncharged, and unused for long periods of time.
It may be one of the reasons for BAP termination. Cheaper to wave those $87 payments than replacing that battery and continuing the warranty when there was a legal out to do so. If the prior owner or the party that assumed ownership of the vehicle purposely decided to skip out on the BAP payment, fine, have it your way and get your battery warranty canned. Then when you make critical errors with the EV car by not keeping it charged, and letting it sit for far too long, you deal with the poor performance from the battery.
Some will get lucky. Others will not. It's a coin flip because you just don't know what the prior owner did with the vehicle. An owner can easily sabotage an EV battery by refusing to even follow basic advice...
Joined
·
254 Posts
Actually that is a good price. The advice provided by Mister_smart_LA is sound, although much of it could easily be repeated for ANY used car purchase. There is a reason used cars sell for less than new cars. You always take a chance. However, all of us on this forum who have bought used ED have done just fine.
Joined
·
2,298 Posts
I agree, most should be just fine. But I have met a few folks who bought used smart EVs (and other EVs) and had vehicles with far less range, even to the point of half or less the original range.
The used BAP vehicles probably have between 5 and 7 years remaining, so not quite $9,600 although your point is valid.
It is also likely that BAP and non-BAP vehicles have a relatively small price difference on the used market.
Joined
·
2,298 Posts
You can buy a charging cable elsewhere for much less.
Joined
·
152 Posts
You can find a battery cable on eBay for around $200. Also, maybe look into spending an extra $1k-$1.5k and getting a 2014, that way you have about a year of factory warranty left. So if anything arises, your covered.
We have a 2013 with 33,000 miles on it. Great Car, I wanted to trade it in for a 2018 but my wife loves "Sparky" and will not let me! You'll rarely need the "charging cable", evse that comes with the car. We installed an EVSE in our driveway on our house's wall so we wouldn't have to keep opening and closing the trunk to take it out and put it away every time we charged. Very convenient and faster charging than plugging into 110Volt outlet.
I also have a 2013 with 30-K miles. The battery range still exceeds the rated 68 miles. I also have 2 Level 2 chargers in my garage, one for the Smart and one for the Leaf. I built my own, but you can purchase one at Home Depot for under $500. I had to use the Level 1 charger that comes with the car once, when I ended up accidentally without enough charge left to get home. I went to a friends house and plugged it in.
After 36 months and 45K miles, no change
Last November, I turned in my 2013 Smart EV lease after 36 months and almost exactly 45,000 miles. There was no detectable change in it's range- I would still get "about" 7 miles for every 10% of battery, depending on conditions.
At that time, I wanted to buy it from Mercedes, but they insisted that I pay something like $13,000 for it (not counting the battery), because that is what the "Residual" was at the end of the lease (which allowed for the very small lease payments). I was extremely disappointed, turned that great little super reliable fun to drive car (with integral seat heaters) and bought a 2015 orphan EV off of them they were anxious to sell. It had only 30 miles on it, and doing so allowed me to take the 3K tax deduction- but it does not have built in seat heaters :-(
A year later, it has experienced more issues than the 2013- most recently "Bucking" and eventual total Shutdown- which was eventually traced to a wire bundle in the vicinity of one of the rear wheels in which there had been some chafing that was periodically shorting the CAN bus.
Last November, I turned in my 2013 Smart EV lease after 36 months and almost exactly 45,000 miles. There was no detectable change in it's range- I would still get "about" 7 miles for every 10% of battery, depending on conditions.
At that time, I wanted to buy it from Mercedes, but they insisted that I pay something like $13,000 for it (not counting the battery), because that is what the "Residual" was at the end of the lease (which allowed for the very small lease payments). I was extremely disappointed, turned that great little super reliable fun to drive car (with integral seat heaters) and bought a 2015 orphan EV off of them they were anxious to sell. It had only 30 miles on it, and doing so allowed me to take the 3K tax deduction- but it does not have built in seat heaters :-(
A year later, it has experienced more issues than the 2013- most recently "Bucking" and eventual total Shutdown- which was eventually traced to a wire bundle in the vicinity of one of the rear wheels in which there had been some chafing that was periodically shorting the CAN bus.
Not paying 13K for a 2013 was the smart move, considering that they go for under 5K used now. I paid 6K for mine 18 months ago.
I just bought a new Leaf for 17K net after the tax credits, including sales tax and license, which to me is a much better deal, seats 4 and longer range. My wife drives it, I drive the Smart.
It is good to hear that the battery holds up so well, I don' t think the Leaf holds up that well, we will see.
I just bought a new Leaf for 17K net after the tax credits, including sales tax and license, which to me is a much better deal, seats 4 and longer range. My wife drives it, I drive the Smart.
It is good to hear that the battery holds up so well, I don' t think the Leaf holds up that well, we will see.
When shopping for a used EV how do you know the battery condition / range? Charge to 100% and just look at the dash display for miles that it will go? Would it would just as well to take the number from the dash display and divide by the percentage charge on the state of charge display?
Joined
·
931 Posts
That dash display calculates the range based on the previous driving habits so it's an inaccurate and possibly useless way to determine battery health.
The best way is to use one of these devices:
http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/forums/f170/battery-test-unit-451-453-a-144249/
to test the battery, but it requires (I believe) charging it to full, then running it down to 20% or less and then letting it sit for at least three hours. It might be hard when buying a car but worth it if you are concerned about battery health.
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
