HIGHER battery electric car volumes now entering the used market after years of supply constraint are leading to a new wave of pricing pressure, according to Stuart Chamberlain, Head of Remarketing at Arval’s (main picture).
Speaking at the Vehicle Remarketing Association’s annual conference, Chamberlain also highlighted a stagnating electric van market, rising compliance burdens and how the significant influx of new entrant brands was making forecasting increasingly difficult.
EV demand jumps – but so does supply
Chamberlain opened with a positive: used EV appetite has grown significantly in 2025.
He said the turning point has been affordability. The market has shifted from the early days when choice was limited to a small number of mainly premium models: “There’s many more vehicles now that fall in that sub-£10k category of actually affordable [used] cars.”
With household budgets under pressure, the ability to offer used EVs with realistic prices is becoming a key advantage.
Arval’s own mix has flipped dramatically in recent years. “Our diesel share has gone from being 90%, down to about 5%,” he said. “EV is growing too, and people want to buy them now as well.”
But the momentum comes with a catch. Supply is arriving just as quickly. Arval expects 25% of its defleeted stock next year to be electric, and certain models are set for sharp spikes. “I think later this year in December, the number of Model Y Teslas goes up about 400% in one month,” he noted.
Other speakers at the VRA conference reported pre-registrations were up more than 60% in September and October against the previous year. This increase coupled to aggressive new car finance deals meant a downward pressure on 2-5 year-old car prices.
That wave will test price stability, particularly if government intervention continues to distort the market. Chamberlain was candid about the implications of incentives that bring down new-car pricing. “A new car gets cheaper, but that just puts more pressure on the used market.”
Costs and capability gaps continue to bite
Even as more drivers are willing to choose an EV, several structural barriers persist. Public charging costs remain high.
“If you’re doing a 400 mile trip in the EV and you can’t charge at home, it’s probably cheaper to drive a V8 Range Rover,” said Chamberlain.
Repair capability is another bottleneck. “There’s still a definite shortage of people in the used sector who can fix an EV,” he said.
When something does go wrong, too many vehicles end up back in the OEM network with high labour rates, making used car buyers nervous.
As a result, Arval deliberately repairs issues pre-disposal to maintain buyer confidence but raising its own costs and lengthening cycle times.
Electric vans: the problem child
If the used car market is beginning to understand how to retail used EVs, the van market is much earlier in the transition and proving more difficult.
“We’re probably four years behind the car market for eLCVs,”Chamberlain said.
Arval expects just 500 electric vans to flow through its remarketing channels next year. “It’s not huge numbers but it’s a big enough number to be a slight problem for us because at the moment the demand for these is still low.”
Smaller vans used for low-distance routes fare better, but larger models remain a hard sell. Payload and towing limitations are still major barriers.
Condition presents a second challenge. ICE vans regularly reach the used market after six to eight years of heavy use. EV equivalents have yet to prove how they age, and if they fail, they become “expensive boxes on wheels”.
Although the 2035 end-of-sale deadline should eventually force adoption, Chamberlain warned that meaningful used-market benefits are still “10, 15 years out”.
Customer fraud increases
Beyond product mix challenges, the sector is grappling with a tougher compliance and consumer-protection regime. The FCA’s focus on consumer duty and vulnerable customers is reshaping operational costs. Chamberlain highlighted one stark statistic: “35% of people have literally no cash savings at all.” That reinforces the need for close monitoring and careful treatment across the lifecycle.
But while the regulatory burden has grown, so too have customer-driven issues. “We see increasing numbers of customer fraud cases now,” he said – including clocked vehicles, VIN tampering and structural alterations disguised before return. These problems often only emerge when vehicles return to the retail market years later.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
New entrants and uncertainty
The volume of new brands entering the UK is accelerating, and not just from China, said Chamberlain.
The issue is not quality. “They are providing great quality cars at a low price point,” he said. But squeezing more brands into a two-million-unit market fragments demand and complicates RV forecasting.
He claimed the scale of price variance for models with similar specs can vary by more than £20,000. “It just shows how it’s hard for us as RV forecasters to try to see where these vehicles sit in the market because they look like very similar cars.”
Tech overload
New safety systems are catching drivers unaware, creating buy-back disputes, said Chamberlain. “I thought avoiding collisions would be a good thing, but apparently not,” he joked. Even heated steering wheels have caused complaints from customers unfamiliar with the feature.
Connected-car accounts present another challenge. If apps remain linked to previous owners, used-vehicle buyers can face delays, lost functionality, or, in some cases, security risks. And retailers are now charging to reset accounts.
And when ADAS systems fail, repair costs can escalate. “The cost of windscreens has gone from £300 or £400, to, in some cases, two grand,” he said.
Opportunity and complexity
Chamberlain closed on a pragmatic note. “EVs are still a good opportunity, but a bit of a challenge. But it’s an exciting time, which keeps it interesting.”
Demand is there, choice is expanding and EVs are establishing themselves in the used market. But the headwinds – from supply surges to repair costs, compliance pressure to connected-car complications – mean sector knowledge is paramount.
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Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
