Used electric cars are safer to buy than second-hand petrol or diesel models

Pre-purchase used car inspections reveal far fewer faults on EVs than petrol and diesel models, with luxury SUVs amongst the riskiest buys

The BMW iX was one of three BMWs and four other cars to report zero faults on all the used examples checked in the survey (BMW)

Electric vehicles have been revealed as the safest used car buys, with far fewer faults found by a leading car inspection firm.

Analysis on 240,000 pre-purchase vehicle inspections from ClickMechanic shows that a “poor” rating was applied to just 1.51 per cent of the 7,365 electric cars in the survey, while 7.48 per cent of all petrol and diesel models checked were rated as poor. Luxury SUVs were apparently particularly problematic.

Seven EVS were given zero per cent poor ratings, meaning no faults at all were found on the BMW i4, BMW iX, BMW iX3, Kia EV9, MG5, Polestar 2 and Volkswagen ID.3 models. The worst EV on the survey was the Tesla Model 3 with a poor rating of 6.77 per cent – still comfortably below the average poor rating of petrol and diesel cars.

The Tesla Model 3 had the worst average “poor” rating of the EVs in the survey, but it was still better than the average for petrol and diesel models (Steve Fowler)

At the other end of the scale was the BMW X5 getting a 26.4 per cent poor rating. This was followed by the Citroen Relay van (23.7 per cent), Mercedes-Benz C-Class (21.1 per cent), BMW 3 Series (21 per cent) and Ford Focus (20.6 per cent).

Andrew Jervis, CEO of ClickMechanic, said: “Our inspection data highlights how much variation there can be between different models on the used market. Some newer electric models are performing strongly in our checks, while certain older, more complex vehicles are showing significantly higher rates of serious faults.”

ClickMechanic research has also revealed that 15 per cent of Brits have sold a car with a fault, with 4 per cent not telling buyers about a potential problem.

“Our research shows that millions of faulty cars are still changing hands each year and not all issues are being disclosed,” said Jervis. “That’s exactly why pre-purchase inspections are becoming more common. We’re seeing younger buyers in particular taking extra steps to protect themselves. In many cases, an inspection not only identifies serious faults but gives buyers leverage to negotiate hundreds of pounds off the asking price.”

According to ClickMechanic, 27 per cent of used car buyers pay for a professional pre-purchase inspection, rising to 44 per cent for younger buyers and half of all Londoners – the highest for any region.

The latest figures from automotive industry trade body SMMT show that used electric car sales jumped 45 per cent in 2025, pushing total second-hand car sales up for the third consecutive year – to a total of 7,807,872 used car transactions last year.