Should I buy a warranty when buying out my leased 2013 Leaf?

Completely new on this forum so apologize if an answer to my question is buried somewhere among other threads. I am buying out my leased 2013 Leaf as Nissan offered me a substantial discount to purchase the car ($7,500). The lease is up in October. Would it be worth buying a warranty on the car?

In most cases I would say NO, but it does depend on a few factors. (1) How long do you plan on keeping it? (2) What is your financial position if something breaks? (3) What kind of deal you can negotiate on the warranty.

I was really torn on this when we bought our Leaf. I wound up buying the warranty but ground the dealer big time on it. Wound up getting the 100K warranty for under $1000, which I thought was fair. They started at $1750 for the 80K one! At that point I thought I'd keep the leaf till 100K miles, now I know that I won't. My main thought process going into the warranty question was that unlike my ICE car, where I can take it to my trusted mechanic and not get ripped off, with an EV, I have no other option than the Nissan dealer for service. If there's one thing I learned, its that your car dealer will rip you off on repairs. The odds of the Leaf having a major problem are pretty low, but in the case that it does, the warranty will likely be worth it. They said that I could get a refund for the unused portion, if I sold it back afterward, so when it comes to sell the car, I'll check on how much that equates to and when someone wants to buy the used Leaf from me, take that into account.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't have bought it.

Here is my rather lengthy answer to the OP's question: No.

Generally, my answer is "no", but LEAF does have components that, if broke, are more expensive to replace than a traditional gas car.

If an alternator goes out on a gas car, you're out $100.
If the LEAF-equivalent DC/DC converter goes out on the LEAF, you may be out the cost of the warranty.

However, these components are unlikely to break between 60 months / 60,000 miles (factory powertrain warranty) and the warranty expiration (probably 10 years, 120,000 miles). What is likely to fail between this time are cheap components like sway bar end links, bearings, and the like. Generally, if the expensive electrical components do fail, they fail very early within the factory warranty.

Thank you everyone for your replies. Inclined not to get the warranty, unless I get a very good deal from the dealership. Not planning to keep it that long, maybe 2-3 years (waiting for the longer range electrics to come out - this one is just to tidy us over until the market for longer range electrics is more clear in terms of options and pricing).

Basic rule: only pay to insure things that you cannot afford to lose.

I will raise my voice in counterpoint.

I'm getting a warranty on mine. I bought my 2013 SV a couple weeks ago when it came off lease.

I have had two catastrophic failures of the PTC cabin heater. Out of warranty you're talking $2000+ to replace that part. I've seen lots of others online who've had the heater fail on 2013s.

I've also had to have a front control arm and strut replaced, but the heater convinced me of the value of an extended warranty - if it alone fails once, you're in the black on the warranty.

I'm probably buying my Nissan extended service plan online through Nissan of Santa Rosa, which was 1/3 the price quoted by my dealer. I will let you know how that goes. I would never buy a third party extended warranty though - not worth the paper they're printed on.

erichz said:

I'm probably buying my Nissan extended service plan online through Nissan of Santa Rosa, which was 1/3 the price quoted by my dealer. I will let you know how that goes. I would never buy a third party extended warranty though - not worth the paper they're printed on.

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You should be able to get your local dealer to match that price (I did); whatever you do, don't buy a "third party" warranty for the Leaf. Nissan has a special "EV" version.

My dealer absolutely would not match the price of Nissan Santa Rosa. They showed me where their wholesale price for the same warranty was nearly double the price SR quoted me. They wished me luck, and asked to report back to them how it went.

I purchased one of the extended warranties from Jim Bone Nissan of Santa Rosa. The process was fairly easy. The local dealer only offered one option, the 75k mile plan for $2500. Since I intend to keep the Leaf, I went with the 96 month / 100k mile / $0 deductible plan for $1865. The service department at the local dealer did the inspection for no charge a few days before the original warranty expired.

baustin said:

I purchased one of the extended warranties from Jim Bone Nissan of Santa Rosa. The process was fairly easy. The local dealer only offered one option, the 75k mile plan for $2500. Since I intend to keep the Leaf, I went with the 96 month / 100k mile / $0 deductible plan for $1865. The service department at the local dealer did the inspection for no charge a few days before the original warranty expired.

Click to expand...

As of today (8.5.16), they only offer a 12 month and 24 month $0 deductible. Many more choices for $100 deductible. You got a great deal!

erichz said:

I will raise my voice in counterpoint.

I'm getting a warranty on mine. I bought my 2013 SV a couple weeks ago when it came off lease.

I have had two catastrophic failures of the PTC cabin heater. Out of warranty you're talking $2000+ to replace that part. I've seen lots of others online who've had the heater fail on 2013s.

I've also had to have a front control arm and strut replaced, but the heater convinced me of the value of an extended warranty - if it alone fails once, you're in the black on the warranty.

I'm probably buying my Nissan extended service plan online through Nissan of Santa Rosa, which was 1/3 the price quoted by my dealer. I will let you know how that goes. I would never buy a third party extended warranty though - not worth the paper they're printed on.

Click to expand...

I'm curious how many miles you have on your car and if the heater issue is mainly on the SV models. I have an S (different heater), and only 9800 miles, and all the bars still. I was going to forgo the warranty until reading your post. Would not like to have any of this happen and be w/out a warranty!

Thanks for posting your experience.

firtree said:

baustin said:

I purchased one of the extended warranties from Jim Bone Nissan of Santa Rosa. The process was fairly easy. The local dealer only offered one option, the 75k mile plan for $2500. Since I intend to keep the Leaf, I went with the 96 month / 100k mile / $0 deductible plan for $1865. The service department at the local dealer did the inspection for no charge a few days before the original warranty expired.

Click to expand...

As of today (8.5.16), they only offer a 12 month and 24 month $0 deductible. Many more choices for $100 deductible. You got a great deal!

Click to expand...

That plan is still available, but only if your vehicle is still under the factory warranty. I took mine out just before the warranty expired. The downside is the counter starts with the original in-service date, not the purchase date of the plan. The out-of-warranty plans start with the purchase date of the plan, provided the vehicle passes the inspection. If it doesn't pass, you have to pay to fix anything broken before it goes into effect.

baustin said:

firtree said:

baustin said:

I purchased one of the extended warranties from Jim Bone Nissan of Santa Rosa. The process was fairly easy. The local dealer only offered one option, the 75k mile plan for $2500. Since I intend to keep the Leaf, I went with the 96 month / 100k mile / $0 deductible plan for $1865. The service department at the local dealer did the inspection for no charge a few days before the original warranty expired.

Click to expand...

As of today (8.5.16), they only offer a 12 month and 24 month $0 deductible. Many more choices for $100 deductible. You got a great deal!

Click to expand...

That plan is still available, but only if your vehicle is still under the factory warranty. I took mine out just before the warranty expired. The downside is the counter starts with the original in-service date, not the purchase date of the plan. The out-of-warranty plans start with the purchase date of the plan, provided the vehicle passes the inspection. If it doesn't pass, you have to pay to fix anything broken before it goes into effect.

Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for explaining that. I'm still under warranty until middle of next month and plan to buy out this month so, I'll redo it and see. Weird it starts with original in-service date. Thanks again -- as always this forum is super helpful and a wonderful resource!

Ah, thanks for explaining that. I'm still under warranty until middle of next month and plan to buy out this month so, I'll redo it and see. Weird it starts with original in-service date. Thanks again -- as always this forum is super helpful and a wonderful resource!

Click to expand...

Yes, I got a "48 month" 'new car" warranty that is actually good for one year. I got it just days before the factory warranty expired. Now my A/C is sick, and if it gets bad enough for a dealership service department to be able to detect it (it still works fine for the first leg of any trip), it should be covered.