What does $7,825 NMAC cash back mean?

[gmarcucio]

What does $7,825 NMAC cash back on select Nissan LEAF models mean? Does that price include the federal tax credit of $7,500?

 

[RonDawg]

Is it for a lease? If so then yes it very likely includes the $7500 Federal tax credit being passed onto the lessee, who would not be able to take the credit himself/herself. It's also rather paltry compared to what Nissan has been doing since late 2012. NMAC contributed over $10k towards the Capitalized Cost Reduction (aka "down payment") on my lease, and even when supply was low earlier this year they still offered a bit over $8100.

If it's for a purchase, it's something else completely.

 

[gmarcucio]

Is it for a lease? If so then yes it very likely includes the $7500 Federal tax credit being passed onto the lessee, who would not be able to take the credit himself/herself. It's also rather paltry compared to what Nissan has been doing since late 2012. NMAC contributed over $10k towards the Capitalized Cost Reduction (aka "down payment") on my lease, and even when supply was low earlier this year they still offered a bit over $8100.

If it's for a purchase, it's something else completely.

Here is the dealer website. The offer is under manufacturer offers.
http://www.destinationnissan.com/new/Nissan/2013-Nissan-LEAF-d5d3fbd70a0a0049013e9bdaa6a8c8e8.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[caffeinekid]

It is for lease only, but that is not stated on the advert. You don't find that out until you go to the dealership and ask, which of course is what the ad is designed to do...get you into the dealership.

 

[gmarcucio]

It is for lease only, but that is not stated on the advert. You don't find that out until you go to the dealership and ask, which of course is what the ad is designed to do...get you into the dealership.

Thanks, you just sharpened my buying skills for tomorrow at the dealership.

 

[Berlino]

Yikes, the VIN of the car featured in that link is 1N4AZ0CP5DC404666, so it was manufactured ten or eleven months ago. I hope they just reprinted an old ad and the LEAF featured doesn't represent what they actually have in stock.

1) The battery ages (and loses capacity) from sitting around, which is what that LEAF has been doing for a long time. This can be exacerbated by dealers charging vehicles to 100% and then leaving them in their lot on hot, sunny days. Obviously, they had all summer to make that error, so I wouldn't bet against that having happened.

2) This car would have been one of the early ones for the assembly line in Tennessee. The first batch had a number of bugs, many of which have been corrected over the course of the year, so a later manufacture date is better for overall reliability as well.

Not sure for LEAFs sold in the USA, but on my car the manufacture date appears on a sticker on the driver's door well. You can estimate it by the VIN. My LEAF, 412xx was made in June. I wouldn't recommend anyone purchase one now unless it was made in October or later. In 2013, roughly 2100 LEAFs per month rolled off the assembly line, so look for for VINs of at least 420xx.

Make sure you test the heater of your car. Mine works fine, but there have been numerous reports of failing heaters in MY13 LEAFs. Some dealers may keep their LEAFs in the garage or pre-heat them for you before test drives. Try to test your LEAF's heater starting from when the vehicle is outside, ice-cold.

 

[Berlino]

According to Cars.com, Destination Nissan has a 419xxx S, but its SLs are all 416xxx or older.

Fucillo Nissan has a 424xxx SV.
Lia Nissan has a 425xxx SL and a 424xxx S.

Naturally, I don't know anything about the reputation of these dealerships, but all things being equal (and they are, at least as far as NMAC "rebates" are concerned) the later production LEAFs are much more desirable.

 

[gmarcucio]

How do you decode the VIN to obtain the manufacture date?

 

[Berlino]

How do you decode the VIN to obtain the manufacture date?

I don't know if there's an exact decoding available, but as I mentioned my June 2013 car (as per the Canadian government sticker on the door well) has a 4126xx VIN.

At least until late 2013, the Nissan plant in Tennessee was manufacturing about 2,000 LEAFs per month.

So, a 414xxx LEAF would be from July, a 410xxx one from May, a 416xx one from August, etc.

Someone on the board should be able to confirm that their 425xxx or 424xxx LEAF was made as recently as November or December, whereas 404xx owners probably have February 2013 vehicles.

 

[tinaCA]

My Leaf leased Dec 3 has VIN 4229XX, not sure how to find the DOM.

Anyway who says the cars have been sitting idle at 100% charge? They can provide a battery health report, right?

 

[dgpcolorado]

My Leaf leased Dec 3 has VIN 4229XX, not sure how to find the DOM.

There should be a plaque on the driver side at the base of the B pillar. That should give the manufacture date in month/year. For example, mine says "10/11" for October 2011.

Anyway who says the cars have been sitting idle at 100% charge? They can provide a battery health report, right?

I think one would be hard-pressed to get a dealer to give out a detailed battery report. They don't even give those to owners during the annual battery health check, although Nissan gets the data.

The best thing to do for any LEAF purchase where the status of the battery is in question would be to test it with a meter that can read the capacity, such as Leaf DD or the LEAF Spy app for an android phone.