Marcus Berger has fielded the question countless times from used car buyers, and for years he had no real answer: how do you know if the battery in a second-hand electric car will actually last? Now his company, AVILOO, is launching something in the United Kingdom that finally changes that — the UK's first financially backed warranty for used EV batteries.
Until this month, used EV buyers had no independent way to verify whether the battery they were buying would hold up, and no safety net if it didn't. Manufacturer-reported health figures are not verified or standardised, which means buyers are essentially taking someone's word for it. AVILOO's warranty flips that dynamic entirely. When a dealer or remarketing platform runs an AVILOO FLASH Test — the only independent battery diagnostic on the market that measures real capacity against factory specs, rather than just reading the car's own system — a warranty can be issued automatically. If the battery degrades beyond its individually calculated threshold within 12 months or 20,000 kilometres, the owner receives £2,700 in compensation.
The battery is the most expensive single component in any electric vehicle, yet it is the one thing buyers cannot inspect at the point of purchase. The UK was one of Europe's earliest mass-market EV adopters, which means a significant wave of vehicles from that first boom are now entering their second and third ownership cycles. Fleet and lease returns are accelerating that pipeline further, creating urgent demand for exactly this kind of trust infrastructure.
For dealers, the warranty is a free, independently underwritten selling point. For buyers, it is a concrete financial backstop. And critically, the protection transfers to a new owner if the car changes hands — so the guarantee travels with the vehicle.
The underlying test already has credibility in high places. It is certified by TÜV and CARA, and it already underpins battery testing for Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Porsche Holding dealerships across Europe. AVILOO also holds the world's largest independent EV battery database, and the data shows most batteries retaining strong health well into their second ownership cycle. Sudden dramatic degradation is rare, but it does happen — and that is precisely the scenario this warranty is designed to cover.
The warranty's basic tier is free to the end customer, issued alongside the chargeable FLASH Test. More comprehensive tiers are planned for later. For anyone hesitating over a used EV purchase, the equation is quietly shifting from gamble to guarantee.