Good buy or Buyer beware?

[Playaseeker]

I owned a 2016 Leaf for 7.5 years before Nissan bought it back under the state's lemon law for a failed battery. We received a check for more than we purchased the car for, so I am in no way unhappy with the Leaf or Nissan. Other than a flaccid battery, the Leaf was stone-cold reliable and a great daily driver.

I am looking at a 2020 Leaf SV Plus with about 4,000 miles on it. It lived in Nevada before coming up for sale where I live. The Carfax report has the the normal stuff, but at about 3,000 miles the battery and "computer module" were replaced. The price is about $6,000 less than comparable 2021 and 2022 SV Plus vehicles. Part of me says "all the expensive bits have been replace, what can go wrong?", while another part of me says "run". It also seems weird that a three year old car would only have 4,000 miles on it. At a minimum, I could run LeafSpy on the battery and see if there are any problems.

Let me know what your gut reaction is to this incredible buy / lemon in the making. Thanks

 

[MikeinPA]

Some of the used EV car dealers are applying the 4K federal tax credit before showing a price--making the car price look very good. Check the fine print or contact the dealer to see if that is the case. You did not mention the price--so no one can comment on whether it is reasonable or not.

 

[Playaseeker]

Some of the used EV car dealers are applying the 4K federal tax credit before showing a price--making the car price look very good. Check the fine print or contact the dealer to see if that is the case. You did not mention the price--so no one can comment on whether it is reasonable or not.

Apologies. $18,500 w/o the tax benefit and 4,000 miles. Most of the 2022 Leaf SV Plus' for sale are around $22,000 with 15,000 to 35,000 miles. So a discount of $3,500 and essentially a brand new battery.

 

[BillAinCT]

The SOH on that 2020 would be really interesting since this shows what the 4 years does to SOH and with only 4000 miles on it (what is that 30 L2 charges?).

 

[MikeinPA]

18.5K is not far out of line with what I am seeing here. There are a lot of these 2-4 year old Leafs cycling through auctions and ending up at dealerships on the east coast. We may be entering a period of oversupply of lightly used Leafs--since there are so many strikes against them as compared to the Bolts that are also coming off leases. Not to mention the used Tesla supply. Less range, wrong fast charge connector, notable wide spread battery issues and generally poor dealer response. We may end up buying one in the next few months if the market continues to improve from our perspective.