Ranked #118 car in the UK · Saloon (EV) · 36,346 units sold last year
The BYD Seal is the value electric saloon - a sleekly-styled Tesla Model 3 rival from BYD, built on its Blade battery and a dedicated EV platform. Quick (especially in dual-motor form), well-equipped and keenly priced, with a genuinely premium-feeling cabin, it's one of the more convincing affordable electric saloons. Range and charging are competitive, and the strong warranty plus that durable battery chemistry make it an increasingly credible alternative to the established names.
WLTP
The short version
Forecourt score
Value 1 · Reliability 74 · Insurance 37
The BYD Seal loses value faster than most cars and is dearer to run than most. Its MOT-based reliability is excellent, 81 out of 100, ahead of 74% of the cars we track. On three-year value retention it ranks better than 1% of models.
The Forecourt score blends how this car ranks against the catalogue on value retention, reliability and insurance cost (weighted 40/40/20). Higher is better; running cost is not yet folded in.
Estimates are tuned to the version you choose.
Fuel
Electric
Power
313 ps
Drivetrain
RWD
Efficiency
3.9 mi/kWh
The volume Seal. 82.5 kWh Blade Battery LFP, 313 PS rear motor, RWD. 354mi WLTP. 150kW DC. Design — 19-inch wheels, leather, panoramic roof. The BYD challenger to Model 3.
Tidy and well looked-after for its age — the typical car.
Remembered as you browse other cars.
Optional — fills in the exact year and ULEZ status for your specific car. The registration isn’t stored.
Estimated market value
How we got this number — click for the breakdown, or to challenge it.£20,900
Range £17,000 – £25,150
medium confidence
Still shedding value quickly — buying older saves the most.
At 25,755 miles it’s below the ~35,641 typical for a 3-year-old — a well-kept reading.
Seen one for sale?
A data-led guide from the depreciation curve, UK parc trend and reliability — not financial advice.
How a 2023-registration BYD Seal loses value over time.
Based on the 2023 car with 25,755 miles you entered above — worth about £20,900 today — here is the cost of owning it for the next 5 years, at roughly 8,585 miles a year.
5-year total
£17,188
Per year
£3,438
All-in per mile
£0.40
Fuel per mile
7.7p
Best age to buy — around 2 years
A 2-year-old example loses roughly £7,100 a year — under half the £14,700 a one-year-old sheds. The steepest drop is behind it.
Uses current UK pump and home-charging prices (DESNZ weekly), typical-driver insurance and manufacturer service intervals. "Fuel per mile" is just the energy input — so an EV at ~9p and a diesel at ~22p make running-cost comparison direct. A guide; your own costs will vary.
Where this car ranks against the 340 vehicles in our index — higher is better.
Percentile rank across our full index. A measure is shown only where the data spreads meaningfully across the index.
How the available versions compare on price, running cost, and the headaches each tends to develop.
BYD's electric saloon. Excellence AWD at 530 PS undercuts Tesla Model 3 Performance significantly. Cross-shop Tesla Model 3, BMW i4 eDrive40, Hyundai Ioniq 6. Build quality of UK launch cars improving — Chinese mainstream EV manufacturers maturing fast.
Watch for
Fuel/energy costs based on this week’s UK averages (w/c 22/06/2026) · Petrol 153.3p/L, Diesel 172.5p/L, Electricity 27.0p/kWh · DESNZ
Group 27 of 50 (upper-mid — pricier to insure) · Comprehensive · 3 years NCB
Indicative annual comprehensive premiums for this car, by driver age band and risk profile. Pick the combination closest to your circumstances.
Estimated annual premium · typical, age 33-39
£1,252/ year
Roughly £104 per month
Typical
Average UK driver — 3 years NCB, average postcode, no recent claims.| Age band | Lower risk | Typical | Higher risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 17-25 | £2,855 | £3,568 | £4,639 |
| Age 26-32 | £1,490 | £1,753 | £2,138 |
| Age 33-39Selected | £1,102 | £1,252 | £1,477 |
| Age 40-49 | £935 | £1,039 | £1,205 |
| Age 50+ | £834 | £926 | £1,093 |
How we estimate this
Indicative annual comprehensive premium estimates. The 'Typical' figure represents an average UK driver in each age band; Lower and Higher risk show the realistic spread driven by factors UK insurers legitimately price on (postcode, occupation, claims history, NCB, voluntary excess, modifications). Based on 10,000 miles/yr, £250 voluntary excess, and the no-claims bonus selected above. Always get individual quotes before buying.
Adjust the annual mileage to match how you'll actually use the car. Insurance is what you selected above (age 33-39, typical risk, 3 yrs NCB).
Routine service
£185
Annual main-dealer service
Major service
£210
Every 2 years, annualised
Road tax
£195
Standard rate, post year-one
Electricity
£594
3.5 mi/kWh, 27p blended
Insurance
£1,252
Age 33-39, group 27
Clean-air zones
✓ ULEZ compliantBased on London ULEZ standards — Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow and other UK clean-air zones generally follow the same rules.
Excludes depreciation and unscheduled repairs (see next section).
What out-of-warranty repairs typically run, by mileage band. Your selected mileage is highlighted.
0-30k miles
£80
per year · low risk
30-60k miles
£240
per year · low risk
60-100k miles
£520
per year · medium risk
100k+ miles
£900
per year · high risk
205/60 R16 · 225/50 R17 · 245/40 R18
What a full set of four will cost you (including fit and balance), and which brand each tier of buyer should pick. A typical set lasts about 24,000 miles.
Budget
£300
set of 4, fitted · £60 per tyre
Mid-range
£440
set of 4, fitted · £95 per tyre
Premium
£620
set of 4, fitted · £140 per tyre
Factory options ranked by how much of their original cost they recover at resale. Anything above 70% return tends to make money back; below 40% is paying for your own enjoyment.
| Option | New cost | Added used value | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
Tow bar (factory-fit) Niche, but the buyers who want one will pay for it. | £650 | £450 | 69% |
Parking sensors & reversing camera Near-expected now — its absence costs more than its presence returns. | £500 | £300 | 60% |
Heat pump Genuinely useful in winter; buyers increasingly look for it. | £1,000 | £450 | 45% |
Heated seats / cold-weather pack | £450 | £200 | 44% |
Faster on-board AC charger | £800 | £300 | 38% |
Metallic or premium paint Almost universal — an unusual colour is the bigger resale risk. | £600 | £200 | 33% |
Panoramic / opening roof | £1,100 | £350 | 32% |
Larger alloy wheels | £700 | £200 | 29% |
Drawn from owner reports and warranty data. Filtered for relevance to 25,755 miles.
Watch now
Failure typically happens around your current mileage.
Upcoming
A known weak point — but you haven't reached its usual mileage yet.
Already due
Past its usual failure mileage. Either already fixed, or about to.
Recorded in 7.7% of MOT tests 60k-100k miles — from 56,049 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
Recorded in 0.8% of MOT tests 30k-60k miles — from 56,049 DVSA MOT tests analysed.
"Parts low/medium/high" indicates how easy the replacement part is to source — discontinued or specialist parts mean longer workshop time and bigger bills.
Euro NCAP's independent crash-test rating for the BYD Seal, from its 2023 assessment.
The passenger compartment of the SEAL remained stable in the frontal offset test.
Independent crash-test data from Euro NCAP. Star ratings reflect the test protocol of the year shown — newer protocols are stricter, so a 5-star from 2024 represents a higher bar than a 5-star from 2014.
How this model fares at its MOT as it ages — from 60,201 real DVSA test records.
Longevity
Not enough older examples yet to gauge longevity.
What’s on the road
The fuel-type split of every Seal currently MOT’d in the UK. From 55,944 vehicles.
Common MOT failures by mileage
The defect categories this Seal fails on most often, and how the failure rate climbs as the miles add up — from the same DVSA test records.
| Category | 0-30k | 30-60k | 60-100k | 100k+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres & wheels | 1% | 3% | 8% | — |
| Brakes | — | 1% | — | — |
Share of MOT tests in each mileage band with at least one defect in that category. The peak band for each is highlighted.
Typical mileage by age
The average odometer reading for a Seal at MOT, by age — measured from the same DVSA records, not assumed. A useful yardstick for whether a given car has done more or fewer miles than its age suggests.
Mean recorded mileage at MOT by vehicle age, from DVSA test records (ages with at least 10 tests shown).
Excellent
Composite of MOT pass rate, defect prevalence and cohort survival from 56,049 tests — medium confidence.
MOT outlook
Insufficient MOT history at this car's reference age — too few tests to compute a reliable percentile.
Safety recalls
Manufacturers occasionally issue safety recalls to fix a fault free of charge. You can check whether the BYD Seal, or your exact vehicle, has any outstanding recalls on the official DVSA service.
Check on GOV.UKOpens the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency recall checker. Choose the make, model and year of manufacture — no registration needed.
A general indicator from UK 2025 theft data and this car’s characteristics — not a prediction for any one vehicle.
Whole-car theft
Higher
Higher-value cars like this are relay-theft targets — keyless entry can be exploited from the driveway in under a minute.
Parts theft
Lower
As an electric car it has no catalytic converter, so the most common parts-theft vector doesn't apply.
Worth doing
Whether driving a BYD Seal into a UK clean-air zone will cost you anything. Rules use the same Euro standard across most zones — petrol from 2006 and diesel from 2015 onwards are exempt; pure electric is always exempt.
| City | Area | Daily charge | Likely outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | All of Greater London (within the M25) | £12.50 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Birmingham | Inside the A4540 Middleway | £8.00 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Bristol | City centre and part of the Portway | £9.00 | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Glasgow | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Edinburgh | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Aberdeen | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
| Dundee | City centre | — | Likely exempt Battery-electric — exempt everywhere. |
Model-level guidance only. To check a specific registration, use the official gov.uk clean-air zone checker. Zone charges and boundaries are set by local councils and change over time.
Winter range estimates assume ~5°C ambient with cabin heating; figures from manufacturer cold-weather testing where available, otherwise derived as a fraction of WLTP. DC times are manufacturer-claimed 10–80% on the headline charger; real-world sessions on UK rapids can be slower. Charging cost is a full battery at the home/blended electricity rate; public rapid charging costs more.
UK charging network
As of 2026-04-01, the UK has 119,080 publicly available EV chargers, up 12.6% on the prior year (13,281 added in 2025). 23% of those are rapid (50 kW+) or ultra-rapid (150 kW+), so the network can support both home and on-route charging.
3-8 kW
50%
Standard
8-50 kW
27%
Standard plus
50-150 kW
12%
Rapid
150 kW+
11%
Ultra-rapid
Source: Department for Transport / Zapmap · Released 2026-05-21 · DfT statistics
How well-supported BYD is across the UK — a practical read on how easy servicing, parts and warranty work will be to find.
Franchised UK dealers
~60
Limited network
New-entrant EV
Network size relative to the UK's largest (BYD is 1.3% of all franchised outlets)
A limited network — you may need to travel for main-dealer servicing, though independent specialists can often help.
For context, the UK has roughly 4,500 franchised car-dealer outlets in total, plus about 15,500 independent garages.
Approximate figures, curated from public UK industry sources (NFDA, Car Dealer Magazine). Franchised networks shrink year on year — these indicate network size, not an exact count.
Length
4,700 mm
Width
1,840 mm
Height
1,450 mm
Kerb weight
1,900 kg
Boot
460–480 L
Battery
64 kWh
Of every BYD Seal ever registered in the UK, this is what's actively on the road, parked off the road on a SORN, or gone for good.
Total ever registered
37,357
Currently taxed & on road
37,300
100% of all registered
SORN (off road)
57
0% of all registered
Scrapped or exported
0
UK fleet trend — 2023 to 2025
+1252.9% vs 2024Source: DfT VEH0124 vehicle licensing statistics (year-end 2025) · Updated 1 Jul 2026
Common questions
Similar cars
Same underpinnings
BYD's dedicated electric platform supporting Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal and Sealion. Different badges, often substantially different residuals, but broadly the same mechanicals and repair cost profile.
BYD e-Platform 3.0 · BYD
Common questions
Answers are generated from this car's Forecourt data — DVSA MOT records, DfT licensing statistics and our valuation model — and update with the weekly data refresh.