A Buyer File for the Seal Electric Saloon

A Seal purchase goes wrong when the folder holds a brochure and a chat promise, and nothing that identifies the car. The useful buying guide is a stop-the-deal sequence: name the object on the plate, lock the drive and energy lines, record software and charging hardware, then collect the booklet that starts with this VIN. This article is that sequence for dealers, importers, and informed private buyers. It uses BYD UK’s 19 February 2026 model-year note and BYD’s 1 September 2023 European introduction as dated overlays, not as proof that the car in a yard matches either file. It does not publish stock, an export price, a shipping day-count, or a statement that any destination has approved a given chassis. AutoCN does not manufacture Seal cars.

Write the public name only after the plate agrees

Photograph the grille badge, the tailgate script, and the company line on the manufacturer plate. Write Seal only if those three lines agree. BYD also sells Seal U and other Ocean-series names in some markets. A seller who says “it is a Seal” while the plate shows another code is offering a different object. UK model-year 2026 cars moved the BYD logo to the top centre of the tailgate and placed the SEAL script at the bottom right, according to the February 2026 UK note. Use that rear layout as a year clue, not as proof of specification. A China-market car can share a silhouette and still differ in lamps, radio, and energy label.

Then lock the trim the way the market in front of you names it. On the UK 2026 note, Design is rear-wheel drive and Excellence is all-wheel drive. Do not let a seller use Excellence as a synonym for “loaded” if the car is a single-motor car. Photograph the drive labels and the damper hardware if Excellence is claimed. Semi-adaptive dampers and a head-up display sit on the Excellence side of that UK note. If they are missing, the trim name on the invoice is a marketing word.

Copy energy and cycle from the document that shows this VIN

The UK 2026 note publishes 82.5 kWh and WLTP combined figures of 354 miles for Design and 323 miles for Excellence. Those lines are a useful overlay for a UK-delivered MY2026 car. They are the wrong overlay for a China-market sheet that uses another cycle. Ask for the energy document and the range page that name this chassis. If the seller sends a screenshot of a UK press note and a photograph of a different car, you do not have a range specification. You have a press cutting.

Software, radio, and accounts are buying risks

Cluster language, navigation maps, voice-assistant region, and radio band do not appear on a still photograph of the exterior. Ask for a video that starts at the plate, walks to the driver’s door, and shows the cluster boot language and the radio-region menu. Ask who can change the language and whether that change is permitted for this build. The 2026 UK car also added a Bluetooth phone key and a Driver Monitoring System in BYD UK’s note. Those features need a working phone-key path and a camera that the destination software still supports. “The next owner can switch it” is not a delivery item until a named workshop agrees in writing. If the car uses a BYD account, ask whether that account exists in the destination and what remote services die if it does not.

The inlet photograph is a buying document

Photograph the charge inlet, the printed AC and DC ratings, and the cable that will ship. BYD’s 2023 European introduction published 11 kW three-phase AC and 150 kW DC, with a 30 to 80 percent window of 26 minutes. The 2026 UK note kept the 150 kW peak and published a 10 to 80 percent window of 37 minutes. Your buying file needs the inlet you can see and the numbers on the sheet for this VIN. Inlet shape is a destination-compatibility question. This article will not declare that a given Seal is legal on a given network. If the seller will not photograph the inlet, stop. If the car is claimed as a Seal and the flap is a fuel filler, stop.

Assistance systems are a walk of icons, not a star

Walk the cluster icons. Do not perform public-road tests you are not insured to perform. Do not write that the car “has five-star safety” unless you have the destination agency’s result for that exact variant. Airbag count and camera count change across export builds. Count what you are allowed to see. Restraint parts are not an aftermarket shopping list you can fill after landing. The 2026 Driver Monitoring System is an equipment claim for the UK car in that note. It is not a substitute for destination rules on driver monitoring or data.

New, used, and refurbished are three different files

A new-looking Seal is not a new contract. Record odometer, tyre date codes, glass codes, underbody condition, and whether the seller calls the car new, used, or refurbished. For a used electric saloon, ask for a state-of-health readout from a workshop that can talk to this build, not from a generic OBD screenshot with no VIN in the frame. Cell-to-body construction, described in the 2023 Europe note, makes pack access a structural job. A used-car seller who says the pack is “easy to swap” is describing another architecture. For any car that has lived in a flood region, add a separate moisture inspection. Do not accept “accident-free” as a sentence without a vehicle-specific report.

Aftersales you cannot borrow from the UK note

BYD UK published a six-year, 93,750-mile vehicle warranty and a battery cover of up to eight years or 155,350 miles for the UK retail Seal in the February 2026 note. Those mileage lines are UK retail language. A parallel VIN does not inherit them. Ask for the booklet that starts with this chassis, the start date, and whether a claim needs a local authorised stamp. If the destination has no workshop that will touch a CTB Seal, write that as an uninsured aftersales risk. Parts follow codes, not the word Seal. Use the photograph method in AutoCN’s parts cluster after the codes exist. Do not hide a missing workshop under a sentence about BYD’s global scale.

UK on-the-road prices in that note were £45,730 for Design and £48,730 for Excellence. Put those pounds in a dated UK-retail cell if you are comparing a UK offer. Do not paste them into an export offer. Landed cost is a later spreadsheet: vehicle, inland, freight, insurance, duty, tax, and local fees. AutoCN’s price pages exist to keep that split visible. They are not a Seal price list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a UK MY2026 press note enough to buy a China-yard Seal?

No. Use it as an overlay only when the plate, energy document, and equipment match that note. A China-yard car can share a name and miss the 2026 boot, the Bluetooth key, or the UK software. Match the VIN. Do not match the headline.

Should I choose Design or Excellence from this guide?

This guide does not pick a winner. Design is the longer official combined-mile, single-motor reading on the UK 2026 sheet. Excellence is the all-wheel-drive, quicker reading with extra chassis hardware. Choose after the VIN file exists, not from a preference for a badge word.

Can I assume destination approval if the car is left-hand drive?

No. Steer is one line. Lighting, radio, crash rules, and battery transport rules are other lines. Left-hand drive does not create a type approval. Keep approval in a blank row until a regulator file exists.

What if the seller offers a warranty screenshot from another country?

Treat it as marketing. Ask for the booklet that names this VIN and the claim path in the destination. If nobody will stamp a claim, price aftersales as uninsured. New paint does not create a distributor contract.

Where do shipping times belong?

On a logistics quotation after the car is identified. This buying file will not print a port-to-port day count. Those figures move with vessel and contract. Putting them here would invent a number the next reader cannot use.

What is the minimum file before a deposit?

Plate and VIN, drive and energy documents, software-region video, inlet photograph, and papers that show this chassis. If any of those are missing, the deposit is a bet. AutoCN can list the gaps through the contact route. It cannot fill them from a distance.

Stop early, then talk about money

A Seal buying guide is working when it produces a stop. The plate, the energy document, the software video, the inlet, and the booklet are the five places most files should have stopped last year. BYD’s dated notes give you overlays for UK 2026 retail cars and for the 2023 European architecture story. They do not give you approval in your country and they do not give you a global price. Finish the first-pass file before you negotiate. Then open a quotation with the VIN in the header. AutoCN can sit on that file. It cannot sit on the plate.