An expensive test drive

This post was originally published on golifelog.com.

My brother is currently for a new vehicle to replace the one he currently drives. We have been test-driving a Hyundai Ioniq 5, a Tesla Model 3 (facelift), a BYD Seal and will test drive a Polestar soon.

So far, all of them are quite good cars, but all expect the Tesla don’t do good self-driving. When it comes to long distance drives (which, of course, only happen occasionally) I must admit that I really enjoy only watching the car do its thing. Sure, I still need to keep my eyes on the road, and we don’t have FSD yet, but it is still a huge benefit in my opinion.

Anyway, back to the topic. We were test-driving the BYD last Friday and my brother dented one of the wheels slightly. Today he got a first cost estimate at €800. I was quite shocked as those test drives cars are normally insured for such kinds of accidents.

Well, turns out the salesman talking to us forgot to mention a fee of a few bucks for such accidents. And because it wasn’t collected, my brother has to pay the full price (up to 1k€).

Although I really liked the BYD, especially the seats, and I would consider changing my Model 3 (lease is ending March 2026), the BYD Sealion (the larger version of the Seal) would definitely be an alternative. But not from that dealership.