Buying a 2016 needing a new battery

[mevk]

Hi All - I'm in the market for a Soul EV and a car I saw advertised sparked this question. A picture of the dash shows a full battery and a guessometer range of 61 miles. It has 35k miles. That looks like a probable degraded battery, right? Hypothetically, I could test the battery and find it degraded, buy the car, turn around and have the dealer confirm the degraded battery and replace it under warranty. So I would end up with a better battery than most 2016 vehicles for a lower price.

Has anyone experienced this scenario? The car is at a Kia dealership. Would you even mention this plan to them before buying the car?

Input?

 

[IanL]

You could try expressing your doubt as to the SOH of the battery, and tell them you will buy the car only if they prove to you that the SOH is better than some value you are comfortable with. If it proves to be less than 70%, then say you'll buy after it is replaced. That takes the risk away.

 

[notfred]

Depending on the weather where you are, 60 miles could be correct with 100% SoH. The car can drop up to 1/3 of its range in cold weather (Canada not Florida).

 

[mammlouk]

I was at a local dealership (Colorado Springs, CO) to test drive a Soul EV while I wait for the one I'm buying to get it's battery replaced. It was a pretty cold day at around 12F. The GoM had an estimated range of 65 miles with a full charge. With the heater on it dropped to 55. I think there's too many unknowns in your scenario. What was the outside temperature? Was the heater on? Nobody can draw a solid conclusion from the information provided.

If the car is still there and you are still in the market then I would get as much information as you can to get the price down. If the battery is degraded and you can get a better price then go for it. If you own the vehicle while they are getting the battery replaced under warranty you should even be able to get a loaner.

I'll be picking mine up with a recently replaced battery within the week. The car is a 2015 with 45,000 miles and I bought it for $8000 because it was being sold by a non-KIA dealer who already took the car back after selling it once due to battery issues. They just wanted it out of their stock with a guaranteed buy. They already had it at the KIA dealership waiting for a new battery under warranty.

Even with battery degradation you probably won't catch that big of a break since KIA knows they can just order a battery and sit on it until it's more marketable. They probably also have it as a Certified Pre-Owned which they use as an excuse for a markup. I tried to see if I could get near a price match on a vehicle in stock closer to me and they basically said "We can't get them at wholesale for $8000. You should buy it if you can wait for the battery."