Dealership Trades Between States?

I see a late build 2016 SV with premium at a dealership that's just within the car's range, but too far away for me to want to drive both ways. They also seem squirrely - I can't get a lease quote from them! I'm assuming that they aren't owned by a common company with any of my local dealers.How common is it for local Nissan dealers to be willing to acquire a car from the next state for a customer? Any idea how much it raises the price? I'm thinking about asking a local dealer to get me the car. I can't seem to find this info here, although it probably is - somewhere...

I guess you could ask a couple local dealers but I believe most people either do everything over the internet or drive to the dealer with a car that can make the trip, give the car the once over and if interested purchase the vehicle and then have it trucked to your home. You could either ask if the dealer has people that do this for a fee or try and find a place yourself. I have no idea how much it would cost but I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't in the $500 range depending on distance.....
Another option if the vehicle your driving is capable of towing the Leaf(think truck or large SUV) is to rent a car hauling dolly(couple hundred bucks??) and tow it yourself. Thats probably what I'd do but I'm generally a DIY kind of guy Note while it might be possible to tow the Leaf with a rope or chain I'd not do this for any distance, especially on a freeway where it most likely is illegal.

I know that dealers can trade cars around. I just don't know how willing Nissan dealers are to do it with Leafs, or how expensive it is.

LeftieBiker said:

I know that dealers can trade cars around. I just don't know how willing Nissan dealers are to do it with Leafs, or how expensive it is.

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Are you talking about a new vehicle? If so then yes that shouldn't be a problem to get it shipped to your local Nissan dealer, N/C. Thats how I got my '13S. My local dealer didn't have one in stock like I wanted so they looked around and found one ~100 miles away and had it shipped to them where I looked it over and purchased it. I believe in this case they traded a car they had, or were going to get from Nissan?? with the other dealer. I believe this is done all the time and for new cars(and not necessarily dealers owned by the same company) and there should be no charge, I thought you were talking used in which case a fee would more than likely be required.

I had a dealership who shipped my used 2012 Leaf to my house and hauled away my trade-in. I never even had to set foot in a dealership. The dealership was 400 miles away. I was even able to test drive the Leaf and test plugging it in at my house, etc, before signing the paperwork. The goal is finding a motivated dealership.

I found my used Leaf several hundred miles away, drove to the dealer with a trailer, checked it out with LeafSpy and bought it. It would have taken 5 hours of L2 charging to drive it home since it does not have a QC. I figured the trailer was the best way and not too much of an investment if the battery did not pass LeafSpy inspection.

In the past 9 months I have taken my Leaf from 428 miles to almost 14K miles with no major problems. I definitely do not regret my purchase.

So as long as the car is new (it is) I should be able to request it? That's one hurdle. The next: Nissan seems to have dropped from $8k in discounts on the 2016s for January to nothing for February. The dealership is offering $2k off, making it $32k instead of $28k a couple of days ago...

I live off the beaten track and was finding it difficult to find a transport company at a price I was willing to pay, so I ended up meeting a transporter 150 miles away and dollying the LEAF with my Prius back home. My first PHEV ;-)

I rented the car dolly from U-haul for $50. I did have to lie and say that I was transporting a lighter car to pass the computer check on allowed weights, and I kept to slower speeds to keep things safe on the drive. The dolly was simple to use, although I made it a point to not have to back up. Your towing vehicle has to have a hitch rated for at least 2000 pounds. A legal approach would be to rent a truck from U-haul; they all have hitches.

If I'm not up to just driving there and back, I'm definitely not up to doing any dollying. If the out of state dealership showed any signs of being competent, I'd arrange a one day trip to look at, lease, register and drive the car home, with my ride out following me. I'd much rather have the car brought to my area, though!

LeftieBiker said:

Nissan seems to have dropped from $8k in discounts on the 2016s for January to nothing for February. .

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The same deal will return. It takes a few days for the manufacturer to decide to reinstate it each time it runs out. Tell the Local dealer that you want to buy from to call you when the deal returns. Dealer trades do add to the expense of the car by the amount of the transport and are often done by little Mom/ Pop companies with single car trailers and a pick up truck If the dealer doesn't feel like sending their own flatbed. $3-500?

The discount came back the same day, actually. They are still sending me nothing, though. I live chatted with the their website support person, and she promised to request lease info on my behalf as well. She promised it would be sent the same day - yesterday. I'd definitely prefer to pay $300-$500 more to handle this through a local dealership. I can just see myself driving for two plus hours each way, only to find they didn't charge the car or start the paperwork. Now about lease terms...


I'm going to see what they want, then my counteroffer will be either $299 a month with zero down (taxes paid separately to NY and hopefully rebated this year), or $249 a month with $1500 down. I want the residual to be no more than $10k in case I want to buy the car. 10k miles per year. How's that sound, folks?

LeftieBiker said:

I'd much rather have the car brought to my area, though!

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Don't stop there. Demand a bow-tie and a donut too.

Don't stop there. Demand a bow-tie and a donut too.

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??? I'm willing to pay for shipping. What's the unreasonable part?