Car dealer tactics stall electric car sales says new study - Sensationalist Headlines

"Dismissive" car dealers are a major barrier to boosting sales of electric vehicles (EVs) according to a new study. Researchers, who posed as car shoppers in Scandinavia and Iceland found that sales personnel strongly pushed petrol and diesel powered cars. Around 77% of dealerships that sold EV brands didn't discuss their existence with the potential customers. Government signals are a key reason for these attitudes say the authors. In this study, the researchers visited 126 car dealerships across 15 cities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. The team also interviewed over 250 industry experts across the region. Of the 126 dealers visited, only 8.8% of the encounters that the shopper has left them preferring an EV option over a petrol or diesel car. Excluding Norway, a country where nearly a third of new car sales this year are expected to be electric, the proportion of shoppers opting for EVs dropped to 2.9%. Most potential customers would remain totally ignorant of EV options in the vast majority of showrooms, especially where dealers sold EV brands. ... According to the study these are the four most common ways in which dealers steer customers away from EVs: Dismissive of EVs - "the economics of fuel efficiency doesn't make sense..." Misinforming the customer - "it only goes 80km.." Neglecting to mention EVs - "you can only get this in diesel or petrol.." Depicting EVs as inferior - "it will ruin you financially..." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44199160

this is probably true in the states as well, even as there are now a few options for used plugin hybrid and EVs on the market in relatively good shape which can be had for as much as a similar gas car

They also would rather sell you a car that needs frequent repairs so their warranty looks like an amazing deal.

Is this the only motivation they have for dismissing EVs or is there something else?

Less service is a pretty big factor. Manufacturers seem to be making service costs stupidly high as a favour to dealers as well. A minor service on my Leaf is £150 in which they do a vast amount of work (they change the air filter), and a major service is £200 in which they change the air filter and brake fluid. If you're lucky they might top off the washer fluid. I guess training sales staff for EVs is also prohibitive, since they are different. When I bought my Leaf I was educating the guy trying to sell me the car on the car, despite me never actually being in a Leaf prior to that moment. I test drove the new Leaf and this guy was even worse, and wasn't aware of any EVs besides the Leaf, not even Nissan's own electric van.

luckily in the uk it's not legal to lock down your servicing to main dealers, as long as a garage is vat registered you're usually going to get a better deal and keep your warranty and finance agreements in-tact but they'll never tell you this.

Sort of. For the Leaf's battery warranty you need an annual battery health report, that only the main dealers will have.

tbh if you go into a car dealer and don’t know exactly which car you want, you are going to be taken advantage of by the salesperson. They are working in their best interests; not yours.

Car dealer sells cars that profit him/her the most more at 11 As Mighty AU said, you either know what you want, or you'll take home a convertible sportscar for your wife and 3 puking kids