My dealer wants me to trade in my EV. Should I consider it?

I have a 2023 Hyundai Kona Electric. I bought it new and have a couple of years left on the loan. This summer, I’ve been getting almost monthly emails from the dealership offering an “upgrade.” They say I could trade it in and get a 2026 Kona EV for nearly the same payments I’m making now – but for a longer loan (84 months) than I took out on my car.

The offers don’t say what the finance rate is, the price of the vehicle, whether that includes the federal rebate or what I’d be getting for a trade-in. I’m happy with my car and can’t see any real reason to trade it in. But I’m wondering why I’m suddenly getting these offers now. Is there big demand for used EVs? Am I missing out on some great deal if I don’t trade it in now? – Jay, Edmonton

Those trade-in offers landing in your inbox can be a great deal – but usually for your dealer, not for you.

“A dealership is inviting a consumer to terminate a loan early for roughly the same monthly payments [while] incurring a lot of new debt,” George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association (APA), an industry watchdog, said in an email.

Before you finish paying off your car, your dealership might send you texts or e-mails offering you a trade-in for a new car for similar or slightly better payments than you’re making now – but it’s often for a longer term than your original loan.

For instance, if you had a 60-month (five-year) loan on your car originally and have two years left, the new offer might be for 84 months (seven years) or longer, Iny said.

So, instead of making the same payments for another two years and then owning your car outright, you’d be making those payments for seven more years.

And you might end up paying a lot more than the price of that new car.

Let’s say your car was worth about $45,000 new and you still owe about $23,000. If the dealer is only giving you $20,000 for the trade-in, that extra $3,000 gets rolled into the new loan.

Add the $50,000 price of the new car and roughly $10,000 in interest over seven years, depending on the interest rate.

So instead of paying off your loan over the next two years and then driving it payment-free, you’d pay $63,000 over the next seven years – even if your payments stay nearly the same or even drop by a few dollars a month.

But the offers often don’t tell you that – and sometimes the dealership staff might not volunteer it either.

“They’re trying to lure the customer in with low payments,” said Shari Prymak, a senior consultant with Car Help Canada, a not-for-profit that helps drivers find cars and negotiate purchase and lease agreements.

You should ask exactly what the car will cost, including taxes and fees, what interest rate you’ll pay, whether any rebates have already been deducted, what they’re offering for your trade-in and whether any remaining debt will be rolled into the new loan.

Then ask exactly what you would pay over the life of the new loan, compared with what you’ll pay by the end of your current loan, Iny said.

Dealer’s choice?

So what’s in it for the dealer if you commit to a longer loan?

“They sell a new vehicle,” Iny said. And “They obtain a desirable used car for cheap which they can resell.”

Dealers may also get a commission from the bank or finance company for arranging the loan.

“That could be $1,000,” Iny said.

While dealers typically use this tactic on all vehicles, there might be a reason you’re suddenly getting trade-in offers on an EV right now.

After a rough year in 2025, EV sales started rising again after Ottawa brought back the up-to-$5,000 federal rebate in February and they are up from a year ago. In the second quarter of this year, battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids counted for about 10.7 per cent of all new registrations, up from 8.6 per cent a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada.

But that recovery isn’t as fast as some dealers hoped, said Daniel Ross, director of strategic market insights with Canadian Black Book.

“They know that they have customers who have purchased EVs before,” Ross said. “They want to bring them back and maybe sell them a new EV that’s stagnating on their lot.”

Could they also need your used EV back because there’s a huge demand for it? Ross doesn’t think so.

“[Used] EV pricing is kind of at a low point [for now],” he said, adding that average retail prices for used EV sedans have declined slightly since January this year, while EV SUV prices have stayed about the same. “They get stuck with [your] used EV, but they can move their new inventory, which is really the goal.”

That doesn’t mean there’s no demand for used EVs, especially lower-priced ones – and some dealers might not have enough of them on their lots, depending on the city.

AutoTrader, which tracks listing prices of dealerships and private sellers, saw used BEV prices rise slightly in the second quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier.

But the dealer’s goal is to make a profit, so they’ll offer you less for your trade-in than they think they can sell it for, Prymak said.

Trading places?

If you’re happy with the car you have, there’s no reason to trade it in.

But if you’re looking for a new car – for example, because you want more room or better range – could that e-mail trade-in offer make financial sense?

“Almost never,” Iny said.

If you still owe more on your car than you’ll get for the trade-in, take a pass on the deal, he said.

And if the only way to afford a new car is to take out a long loan, then you can’t really afford it, Prymak said.

“Never finance a car for more than five years,” Prymak said. “Dealer salespeople are not financial advisors – they’re trying to sell cars.”

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