Cupra, the Spanish performance brand spun off from SEAT a few years ago, has launched a bold new offer for its Born electric hatchback – if you don’t like your new car, you can hand it back within 100 days and get (most of) your money back.
The new offer, named ‘Love Me or Leave Me’, is available now for all retail customers regardless of whether the car was paid for outright or purchased on a Cupra PCP finance agreement. If you’ve financed the car elsewhere, you either won’t be eligible or the deal may not be favourable for you.
Cupra’s offer comes at a time of difficulty for private electric car sales in the UK and across most of Europe. After strong growth from early adopters, the car industry now faces the tougher task of convincing ordinary customers who have far less interest in making the switch from fossil fuels to EVs on their next car.
The biggest hurdle in selling EVs at the moment is convincing anxious customers – most of whom have read various false or misleading information online – that an electric car will cope with their driving needs. Yet almost all of the research currently published publicly shows that EV drivers generally love their vehicles and have no interest in returning to a petrol or diesel vehicle.
Clearly, Cupra is banking on its customers overcoming their EV anxieties quickly enough to not hand back the cars. The good news is that the Cupra Born is an excellent car, winning Best Small Car and Best Hot Hatch in The Car Expert’s Best Car Awards in 2022.
The Cupra Born also currently holds a New Car Expert Rating of A, with a score of 82% in our award-winning Expert Rating Index. It has excellent results in every category.
How the money-back offer works
You can only return the vehicle between 80 and 100 days after you took delivery. If you hate the car in less than 80 days, you’ll have to wait. If it’s more than 100 days, you’re too late. It’s a fairly narrow window, rather than simply being able to return the car at any time within the first 100 days.
If you do decide to hand back the vehicle, you’ll get your money back minus a charge for fair use and wear-and-tear. Here’s what that means:
If the car was financed via Cupra’s in-house finance service:
You’ll get your initial payment back (up-front cash deposit plus the net cash value of any part-exchange vehicle).
You won’t get your first three months’ payments back to cover your use of the car for the first 100 days, but the PCP contract will be terminated so you won’t have to make any further monthly payments or the balloon payment.
You’ll also be charged for any damages beyond fair wear and tear. You may also be charged on a pro-rata basis for excess mileage.
If the car was paid for in cash:
You’ll get the cost of the vehicle refunded minus 3% for the first 100 days of usage.
Again, you’ll have to pay for any damage beyond fair wear and tear, although Cupra’s T&Cs don’t specify a mileage limit for cash customers.
In either case:
If you part-exchanged a car, you won’t get it back but will instead get the net cash amount (the car’s value minus any outstanding finance that had to be paid off).
The money should be repaid by Cupra within 14 days.
This offer does not replace your legal right to reject a faulty car – that’s a completely separate issue. This is for people who have simply decided that an EV (or, more specifically, a Cupra Born) is not for them.
What’s the catch?
Other than the points already mentioned, there are no cunning exclusions or conditions that we could see. You’re not obliged to buy another Cupra car, so you can literally walk away once everything is settled. But you should always read the full details and fine print of any offer put under your nose before signing anything.
If you are paying for the car using cash you’ve borrowed via a loan somewhere else, it may not be as good a deal for you. In this case, Cupra will refund your money and you’ll need to settle up with your finance company or bank, but the cost of doing so may be significantly more expensive.
If you’re leasing the car or financing through Cupra on another finance product (like a hire purchase), you’re not eligible for this offer. If you’re financing, it has to be a PCP through Cupra Finance – which is a division of Volkswagen Financial Services.
Anything else?
Yes. All Born customers currently get a free home EV charger from Ohme or, if you prefer, a £700 charging voucher. But if you decide to return the car under this offer and no longer want the charger, you’ll have to pay for it to be uninstalled (which will probably cost you a couple of hundred pounds). Alternatively, you can keep the charger and pay for it, which will cost you about £1,000.
Additional reporting by Tom Johnston