E-car buyers fear unforeseen costs

While the used car market in September remained at the level of the previous months, new registrations generated a plus. This was due to delayed orders, which were now delivered and registered.  

Even if electric cars only account for a small share of new registrations so far, the good growth rates (+70 per cent compared to the same period last year) in newly registered e-cars are striking in a positive sense. 

When asked about workshop visits, a good third of car owners were sure that these would become less frequent with e-cars. However, significantly more respondents fear that workshop visits and accident repairs will be more expensive with e-cars. The expertise of workshop employees plays a central role here. Slightly more than half of the car owners believe that only specialised workshops can repair e-cars.

Interesting here is the assessment of the competence of "one's own" workshop: Almost half believe that they would be able to do this, but a good third do not trust them. A large number of car owners are sceptical about possible additional costs that could arise with e-cars. This concerns the areas of disposal or recycling, but also the insurance costs of these vehicles.

Electrified used cars are hardly relevant
With 46 per cent of new registrations, alternative drive systems already play an important role. In contrast, they account for only 7 per cent of new registrations. In detail, the distribution of the respective alternative drive types varies greatly: in terms of purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV), they already account for one-third of all alternative drive systems in the new car segment (a total of 272,473 passenger cars). Within the alternative drive systems, BEVs account for only 18 per cent of new registrations (53,078 passenger cars in total).

Higher workshop costs feared with e-cars
The car owners surveyed see a fundamental change in the need for service with e-cars: regardless of whether they own an e-car or not, 34 per cent think that workshop visits will become less frequent. Although it is difficult to assess the competence of a workshop by laypersons, it is interesting, according to DAT, that at the same time almost half (48 per cent) believe that workshop visits with e-cars will become more expensive. And also for accident repairs, slightly more than half of the car owners (53 per cent) fear a higher bill than with a combustion engine.

To the question "Do you doubt that your workshop is capable of repairing an e-car?", 31 per cent answered "Yes", 43 per cent "No", and 26 per cent were undecided. Compared to the survey of a year ago, confidence in one's workshop had thus increased. In addition, 56 per cent of car owners believe that only specialised workshops can repair e-cars. The activities of the two large motor vehicle associations ZDK and ZKF with "E-Car-Service" and "Fachbetrieb für E-Mobilität" (specialist company for e-mobility) also go in this direction, as they show competence by labelling with signs on the workshops.

Car owners are critical of the disposal of e-cars
As far as the purchase of e-cars is concerned, 30 per cent prefer a leasing model, 43 per cent classic ownership, and 27 percent could not decide. One reason for a leasing model could be the security in terms of depreciation or costs incurred later. 37 percent of car owners said that they had looked into e-mobility more intensively because of the e-premiums. In this context, the ecological aspect of batteries also plays a role: 75 per cent of car owners are critical of their disposal. They think that there are still too few solutions or concepts for this.

Owners fear higher insurance costs for e-cars
The majority of car owners (62 per cent) fear that they will be asked to pay for the disposal of e-cars (for example after an accident or when the e-vehicle reaches a certain age and is due to be scrapped). This could take the form of a higher insurance premium, for example. Asked specifically about insurance, 52 per cent think that it will become significantly more expensive for e-cars in the future. A good 24 per cent do not think so, and another 24 per cent cannot or do not want to give any information on this.