Hello again, I haven't been here in a while since I tried to lease a Leaf in 2013 but couldn't get terms I wanted. I took a break from car shopping for a while and have come back 4 years later while looking at the off-lease cars at decent prices.
Leafs are very rare in my area, so selection is almost nil, but I did come across one being sold by a Nissan dealership. Here are the details:
2014 SL w/QC+premium, ~32k miles, white. Dash shows 12 bars, (my bluetooth OBD2 is still in shipment) with an average of 3.7 miles/kW - Their offer $10,800 + 700 Doc fee. KBB.com dealer purchase estimate - $10,700-13,700.
My trade: 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix 59.4k miles, clean and everything works. I've owned it for 10 years - Their offer $2000. KBB.com = $2000-2700.
Condition of the Leaf:
At least a dozen door dings on passenger side, sloppily filled with non-matching white paint (stark white, instead of pearlescent), pretty deep ones. I'm not very happy about those. Otherwise, a few minor scuffs and dings here and there, but nothing unusual for a used car.
The interior was rather gross. It was as if someone used the same cloth (without rinsing) to "clean" the entire interior, which is probably exactly what happened. Every glossy plastic part had an oily film on it, the seats still had food crumbs.
Test drive went well, no issues.
I checked every function, every switch, every handle, every button. Everything worked, except... and here's my question... the heater. What I've read on here is that the heat pump should give near-instant heat, since it doesn't rely on an ICE to provide heat. The air blowing from the vents was ambient temperature, approximately. I had it set to Heat and the maximum of 90 degrees F and the fan speed up, a manual configuration. I tested the heater before, during, and at the end of the test drive, just to give it multiple chances, with the same result. The salesman was not familiar with the Leaf, so was unable to help. He talked to the manager and we went back out to the car and tried it with the same result. While out there, he said a few things about the Leaf I knew to be completely untrue, though with great authority. Then, when the direct topic of the heater came up, he stated that the car was 'Smart' and since it was 80F outside, the car would not generate heat because it would drain the battery (and also over heat it!!). His thought was that when the temperature was lower, the heater would actually generate heat. Is there any truth to this? Is anyone able to test their Leaf in similar conditions and receive warmer air from their vents?
Putting the heater aside for the moment, assume it works fine, how does this deal sound? I have not tried negotiating at all, this was just a test drive and info gathering visit. I will be getting a quote for a thorough detailing and negotiate that into the price. I will probably put them on hold until I get my OBDII adapter to fully check the battery health, but honestly none of these guys know anything about the Leaf and I doubt they could figure out how to reset the dash battery read out, or even know that it was important. The offer on my Grand Prix is low-ball, but at least within KBB value range. I can try to get a few hundred more. It's clean, but also 12 years old. I'm ready to get out of it while everything still works. It's a miracle a GM product has been this reliable for so long.
Thanks in advance for any insight.
Leafs are very rare in my area, so selection is almost nil, but I did come across one being sold by a Nissan dealership. Here are the details:
2014 SL w/QC+premium, ~32k miles, white. Dash shows 12 bars, (my bluetooth OBD2 is still in shipment) with an average of 3.7 miles/kW - Their offer $10,800 + 700 Doc fee. KBB.com dealer purchase estimate - $10,700-13,700.
My trade: 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix 59.4k miles, clean and everything works. I've owned it for 10 years - Their offer $2000. KBB.com = $2000-2700.
Condition of the Leaf:
At least a dozen door dings on passenger side, sloppily filled with non-matching white paint (stark white, instead of pearlescent), pretty deep ones. I'm not very happy about those. Otherwise, a few minor scuffs and dings here and there, but nothing unusual for a used car.
The interior was rather gross. It was as if someone used the same cloth (without rinsing) to "clean" the entire interior, which is probably exactly what happened. Every glossy plastic part had an oily film on it, the seats still had food crumbs.
Test drive went well, no issues.
I checked every function, every switch, every handle, every button. Everything worked, except... and here's my question... the heater. What I've read on here is that the heat pump should give near-instant heat, since it doesn't rely on an ICE to provide heat. The air blowing from the vents was ambient temperature, approximately. I had it set to Heat and the maximum of 90 degrees F and the fan speed up, a manual configuration. I tested the heater before, during, and at the end of the test drive, just to give it multiple chances, with the same result. The salesman was not familiar with the Leaf, so was unable to help. He talked to the manager and we went back out to the car and tried it with the same result. While out there, he said a few things about the Leaf I knew to be completely untrue, though with great authority. Then, when the direct topic of the heater came up, he stated that the car was 'Smart' and since it was 80F outside, the car would not generate heat because it would drain the battery (and also over heat it!!). His thought was that when the temperature was lower, the heater would actually generate heat. Is there any truth to this? Is anyone able to test their Leaf in similar conditions and receive warmer air from their vents?
Putting the heater aside for the moment, assume it works fine, how does this deal sound? I have not tried negotiating at all, this was just a test drive and info gathering visit. I will be getting a quote for a thorough detailing and negotiate that into the price. I will probably put them on hold until I get my OBDII adapter to fully check the battery health, but honestly none of these guys know anything about the Leaf and I doubt they could figure out how to reset the dash battery read out, or even know that it was important. The offer on my Grand Prix is low-ball, but at least within KBB value range. I can try to get a few hundred more. It's clean, but also 12 years old. I'm ready to get out of it while everything still works. It's a miracle a GM product has been this reliable for so long.
Thanks in advance for any insight.