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Secondhand EVs are reshaping
salvage economics. “Battery handling
is complex and costly and the
secondary market for EV parts is, as
yet, immature,” said Neil. “We are
de昀椀nitely seeing a growing volume of
electric and hybrid vehicles entering
the salvage and breakers stream – a
70% increase between January 2025
and 2026. This re昀氀ects both increased
adoption over recent years and the
natural maturation of the parc.
“The majority of EVs we handle tend
to be relatively young, often between
two and 昀椀ve years old,” added Neil.
“This is consistent with early 昀氀eet
adoption cycles and PCP returns.
Because of their higher original value
and the cost of repair, even relatively
minor incidents can result in a total loss
decision.”
Caution around EV batteries
While the industry is gaining
con昀椀dence in handling electric
vehicles, there is still a degree of
caution, particularly around battery
assessment and repair protocols.
Mileage alone is an unreliable indicator
of battery condition. Younger
high-mileage vehicles can often
outperform older low-mileage
equivalents, depending on usage and
charging behaviour.
“The battery monitoring system (BMS)
is the most important thing to check,”
said Andrew Marsh, Technical Director
of AutoBodyBible, FIMI, Hon IAEA
fellow. “Is it alive, what is it doing,
what is the status of the cooling
system and has the battery assembly
got coolant? If the cooling system has
been drained as a result of impact
damage, the traction battery will need
very careful assessment. If any cell
within the battery, is either less able
or more able to store energy so does
not perform identically to the others,
it will get hotter during charging and
discharging. The user won’t notice but
if any cell within the battery assembly
is continuously overloaded, it increases
the risk of thermal runaway. That’s why
matching the performance of the cells
is very important, along with 昀椀nding
out how much of the BMS function
remains – not forgetting the integrity of
the cooling system – after impact. One
very important point – the BMS will
usually require the 12V system to be
functional, even if it’s drawing energy
from the high voltage (‘HV’) battery.
central reservations, and the moment
it does that, because the lowest point
of the vehicle – especially for BEVs – is
the battery pack between the front
and rear wheels, that’s where we get
scarring. Most HV batteries have very
little internal space to absorb impact,
so causing permanent deformation on
the lower case will have compressed
the battery cells internally. The internal
battery cell cooling system is often just
above the lower case of the battery
assembly. So, the biggest key for
assessment is to see that the case does
not have signi昀椀cant underside scars,
the cooling/heating system remains
functional and the body has protected
the rest of the battery assembly.
“For BEV users, battery care is
vital,” added Andrew. “Abuse is
the equivalent of someone always
running an internal combustion engine
at maximum speed. Exclusive use
of rapid charging beyond vehicle
manufacturer guidelines and rapid
acceleration will have a negative effect
on battery health. The most common
way signi昀椀cant range degradation
occurs is through system abuse – most
HV systems on sale since at least 2015
have been far more reliable than the
very earliest HV Li-Ion battery-based
systems. Premature battery energy
storage retention failure will lead to
a conversation with the insurer or
warranty provider. The HV battery
monitoring systems are continuously
evolving, and some may not give
enough information to decide if
the unit was damaged as a result of
impact or if it has pre-existing damage.
Expertise is available to help with this
decision. However, the overall problem
directly affects the bodyshop business
because if the decision to repair or
replace the assembly proves to be
incorrect, they could carry the liability.
So, approaching rapidly, bodyshops
will have to be able to interrogate the
BMS, understand the consequences of
external damage indicators and know
what’s inside the battery case”.
To help address the growing challenge
of electric vehicle insurability and
repair costs, Thatcham Research has
launched a blueprint aiming to prevent
a growing number of electric vehicles
from being unnecessarily written off
each year.
Vehicles that
historically would
have been repaired
are now tipping
over the economic
threshold.
vehicles depreciate over time. The
framework addresses two fundamental
challenges: post-collision diagnosis
and assessment, and post-collision
repair execution. By tackling these
issues, the blueprint aims to reduce
total loss rates, improve salvage
and residual values and ultimately
in昀氀uence insurance premium structures
positively. Ultimately, the blueprint
represents a critical step towards
making EV ownership more sustainable
and economically viable.
Fault and non-fault accidents can
in昀氀uence decisions
Another in昀氀uence in write-off decisions
is sometimes the variance between
fault and non-fault assessments. “In our
view this is often in昀氀uenced as much by
consumer behaviour as by the damage
itself,” said Wayne. “The fault status
can shape how the claim is handled,
how costs are viewed, how quickly
decisions are made, and how willing
the customer may be to proceed
with repair. That can create different
outcomes for vehicles that may not be
materially different in repair terms, but
which are being processed through
different commercial and behavioural
routes.”
In terms of wider trends, Wayne thinks
more could be done to save vehicles
from total loss. “There are cases
where cars are technically repairable,
but the surrounding process, cost
structure or route of handling makes
repair less likely,” he added. ”Earlier
repairer input, better alignment
between assessment and real repair
capability, and a greater focus on repair
preservation would all help. A decision
that may appear ef昀椀cient on paper
can still damage trust if the customer
believes their vehicle could and should
have been repaired. The cost of serving
an existing policyholder well should
be weighed against the wider cost of
dissatisfaction, lost renewal and having
to acquire a replacement customer.”
“The next step is looking on the
other side for scarring. The vehicle
doesn’t often stop in the 昀椀rst impact,
it can carry on, typically going over
structures on the road, obstacles, or
The EV Blueprint shows that instead of
replacing a battery that can represent
40% of the car’s total value, it could
be economically repaired – keeping
EVs over three years old on the road
and out of the scrapyard. Even minor
collision damage can result in total
loss determinations, particularly as
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