What's important in a website for used EV buyers?

[Domenick]

MYEV.COM, a free-to-use website with only listings for electric vehicles, is a member of our family and just recently launched.

In an effort to improve it, we are looking for feedback from potential users or people who have recently gone through the used EV buying process. This thread, then, is to get people's opinion about the site and what they think it could use to make the buying process better.

Above in the poll are some of the things under consideration, so please choose the one most important to you.

If there is a feature you think is not yet on the site or mentioned here, we'd love to hear about it. Thanks for your help!

 

[bwilson4web]

I reviewed (https://www.myev.com/cars-for-sale/bmw/i3/wby1z2c56ev283848) based upon having to replace my 2014 BMW i3-REx and this is what I found:

• Relevance - needs to order by distance from shopper. Given two cars with one 100s of miles and the other 1,000 miles, I want to look at the closest first.
• BMW i3 - the primary label should include the "-REx" in the title. I don't have any interest in digging into the listing to find out if it is a REx.
• "Seller's Story" - appears to be a list of everything including the standard features. Standard features should be listed at the end and only the unique, extra cost features at the beginning.
• Options:
  • RWD - is standard to the design, not an option
  • ABS Brakes - is standard
  • Air Conditioning - is standard
  • Alloy Wheels - is standard
  • "AM/FM Stereo" - only FM is standard. AM requires coding the car.
  • Auto Cruise Control - is optional and stupid if not part of the car.
• The 2014 BMW i3 have '168 hp', not 170 hp; 0-60 time of 7.0 seconds is not supported by the media.
• EPA range is 72 miles. I can get more but avoid over promising.
• "Chargers near you" is really "Chargers near car"

Until 'fast DC' chargers have similar density to gas stations, this is important. The information presented is OK but the charger map showing chargers around the point of sale is useless. I need to know if it might meet my requirements, not the seller.

Does this help?

Bob Wilson

 

[Domenick]

Does this help?

Sure does, Bob. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[bwilson4web]

Let me suggest PM (i.e., conversation) with owners of current EVs to try the listings as if they needed to replace their ride (i.e., lost in an accident or natural disaster.) Owner's eyes are going to be more astute.

Bob Wilson

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

Wow, we could only pick a single entry on the poll? How disappointing.

I'd suggest a different kind of poll: List the various categories, and let those taking the survey rank each on a point scale, say:

5: Very important
4: Somewhat important
3: Only moderate importance
2: Somewhat unimportant
1: Very unimportant

We can find other websites comparing different EVs. Not saying your website couldn't use that sort of thing, but if you have to pick and choose, then that's not the primary thing. Besides, doesn't the InsideEVs news site already have a comparison function? You could just import that.

A website that has listings for actual used EVs for sale should focus more on details about the individual cars, including their history. What would be really neat is if you could see any reports of accidents for the car, like you can on CarFax.

​

 

[ceyhan]

@bwilson4web

Hi there, Product Director of MYEV.com here. First and foremost, I'd like to thank you for your feedback. Our goal is to build a product that our users will love and return to. We realize how difficult it can be to find a specific EV, and thus, MYEV was born. We're still in beta at the moment but are working hard to improve the platform. Please see my responses within the quoted message below.

I reviewed (https://www.myev.com/cars-for-sale/bmw/i3/wby1z2c56ev283848) based upon having to replace my 2014 BMW i3-REx and this is what I found:

• Relevance - needs to order by distance from shopper. Given two cars with one 100s of miles and the other 1,000 miles, I want to look at the closest first.

We added a completely new 'sort by' option which is sort by 'Distance (Closest to me first)'. We're still fine tuning exactly what relevance (the default) does. It's a combination of distance + recently added + some other criteria at the moment but will improve over time.

• BMW i3 - the primary label should include the "-REx" in the title. I don't have any interest in digging into the listing to find out if it is a REx.

We do display this under trim within the primary preview pane and on the vehicle display page. Adding trims to the actual title is a little tricky due to formatting issues but something we're working on.

• "Seller's Story" - appears to be a list of everything including the standard features. Standard features should be listed at the end and only the unique, extra cost features at the beginning.
• Options:
  • RWD - is standard to the design, not an option
  • ABS Brakes - is standard
  • Air Conditioning - is standard
  • Alloy Wheels - is standard
  • "AM/FM Stereo" - only FM is standard. AM requires coding the car.
  • Auto Cruise Control - is optional and stupid if not part of the car.

Great points, and you're absolutely correct. We should rename this 'Specs & Options' until we can separate the standard features from options.

• The 2014 BMW i3 have '168 hp', not 170 hp; 0-60 time of 7.0 seconds is not supported by the media.
• EPA range is 72 miles. I can get more but avoid over promising.

I'll have my sales manager look into the above 2 points, thank you!

• "Chargers near you" is really "Chargers near car"

Great catch! I'll make sure this gets done.

Until 'fast DC' chargers have similar density to gas stations, this is important. The information presented is OK but the charger map showing chargers around the point of sale is useless. I need to know if it might meet my requirements, not the seller.

Does this help?

YES! And thank you again. Extremely helpful and insightful. I want to do nothing but build the best platform out there. We wouldn't be able to do it without the help of the IEV community.

Bob Wilson

 

[ceyhan]

@Pushmi-Pullyu

Hey there! Thank you for your feedback!

You are completely right. Adding a vehicle comparison tool is certainly on our roadmap. We're also working on a "Find the perfect match for you" feature where one can answer a set of questions and be paired with specific EVs that best fit the given criteria.

Regarding vehicle history reports, I'm happy to report that we have struck a deal with CarFax and will soon have vehicle history reports available for free (assuming the respective dealership is part of their program). We'll also offer this as an add-on option for the private seller in the future.

I hope this helps! We're in beta and fairly new but are working hard to ensure this platform is the best that it can be.

Wow, we could only pick a single entry on the poll? How disappointing.

I'd suggest a different kind of poll: List the various categories, and let those taking the survey rank each on a point scale, say:

5: Very important
4: Somewhat important
3: Only moderate importance
2: Somewhat unimportant
1: Very unimportant

We can find other websites comparing different EVs. Not saying your website couldn't use that sort of thing, but if you have to pick and choose, then that's not the primary thing. Besides, doesn't the InsideEVs news site already have a comparison function? You could just import that.

A website that has listings for actual used EVs for sale should focus more on details about the individual cars, including their history. What would be really neat is if you could see any reports of accidents for the car, like you can on CarFax.

​