minispeed said:RonDawg said:As expensive as replacement Leaf parts are (and the sometimes long waits for them), I'm surprised these things aren't disappearing like crazy and stripped. Its anti-theft system isn't any more sophisticated than that of any other car.
They're probably not old enough to be showing up at less reputable body shops yet. Since Nissan makes the person who buys/leases the car sign a waiver and that indicates that in the case of an accident it has to go to a shop that can remove the battery and inverter the majority of leafs being crashed are probably ending up at the dealer owned/affiliated body shop. Those places are invested in selling new Nissan parts so they won't be shopping around for used parts.
Nissan warns that the battery back should be removed prior to any body work that will require painting while attached to the rest of the car, but that can be done by anybody who knows what they are doing. Some shops will have a Leaf-certified Nissan dealer do it, others will do it themselves.
Less reputable shops probably won't be bothered to remove it at all, and the people who tend to use such shops do so because they want it done on the cheap (like a used car lot) and may not be concerned about where those parts originally came from.