Dealers require more support for EV funding

Almost all dealers (97%) surveyed in Startline’s June Used Car Tracker say more support is needed from motor finance providers for EV funding.

52% say lenders are less keen to finance EVs, 45% charge higher rates, 21% want higher deposits, and 14% say lenders will not finance EVs at all.

Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “What has happened over the last year is that a collapse has largely continued in EV values, something that has understandably had a detrimental effect on lender appetites for funding these cars and vans.

“We’ve moved from a situation where EVs were something of an unknown quantity for lenders to one where the information that became available about their performance interms of risk was almost all bad. Many have had a bad experience with EVs.”

Startline’s Used Car Tracker from 12 months ago found that only 58% of dealers said more support was needed from motor finance providers. 41% said lenders were less keen to finance EVs, 10% wanted higher deposits from buyers and 5% charged higher interest rates. Only 5% said lenders refused to finance EVs.

There are an increasing numbers of EVs appearing in the used sector. Burgess has highlighted this as an area of concern.

He said: “The fact that essentially all the dealers in our survey believe that there are issues around EV funding almost certainly indicates that there are problems that need resolving.

“Arguably, this will happen naturally over time as the EV market matures with values becoming much more stable and predictable as a result.

“However, more may need to be done in the shorter term. As commercial businesses, there is a limited amount that lenders can do in this area but there has been discussion of increased.”