Dealers are starting to slap massive mark ups on new and used electric cars as desperate buyers try to get hold of electric cars to save on fuel and company car tax bills. These include an official Volkswagen outlet which is offering two ID.3s at £59,995 – a massive £25,000 above the cars’ £35,000 list price.

With the worldwide microchip shortage, lockdown in China and war in Ukraine leading to a lack of crucial components and manufacturing capacity, the waiting times for new vehicles are at unprecedented levels.

We recently called Lookers Volkswagen in Blackpool in relation to two ID.3s that are listed for £59,999 – despite the vehicle’s retail price being £35,505. They claimed to have very limited stock available for the ID.3, and said that it was important to have a demonstrator so customers could have a look or drive one before committing to an order.

A sales member from that dealership told us: ‘’If a customer really wants one of the ID.3s we have available we can sell it to them. But since we need demonstrator cars badly, and given the shortage of supply and the high volume of demand we are experiencing, we have to sell them at a higher price.’’

A browse over the official Tesla website also shows prices are rising. A new Tesla Model 3 Long-Range with Dual Motors and All-Wheel Drive previously cost £56,500, and the list price is now £60,090. We found an example that is going for over £9,000 above its original selling price, despite the vehicle having already covered over 4,500 miles.

Other Model 3s that have over 20,000 miles on the clock are now floating around the former cost price, essentially meaning that a used Model 3 now costs as much as a new one did about 18 months ago. We even found a KIA EV6 GT-Line being sold for £47,195, and despite the popularity of the sporty SUV at present, this deal still represents close to a 10 percent increase in price.

Demand has seen prices of Model 3s climb steadily