Annual Battery Check service

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Jefe

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2015
Messages
137
Location
Raleigh, NC
I'm sitting in my local Nissan dealership getting the airbag recall done. I asked them how much it would cost to also do the annual battery check. I haven't had this service done before. I understand it is covered for the first two years of warranty, but I purchased an out-of-warranty Leaf.

I was shocked to hear that the cost of the service was $124. For something that Nissan "requires" to maintain the battery warranty and that sounds like essentially requires no technical time or skill, just hook it up to the computer and run a report, it seems excessive.

My question(s): 1 - Is this inline with others' experience, or is my dealership marking this service up. 2 - If I don't do this service what's the risk?

I feel like I get all of the information I personally need from LeafSpy. And it's enough to know that my car will likely never qualify for a warranty replacement anyway (unless something catastrophic happens).

Anyone else forgoing this service?
 
The battery check they do appears to be a red herring to the customer...

The printout they give is about as useful as a PASS/FAIL report card. I imagine that they charge Nissan for the technician's time, and I would bet that they record data on the car's battery (in detail) so that NISSAN can get information on how their product is holding up over time. I would also imagine that they can then determine what is normal wear and what is a defect in the car.

As you say, I would forget paying for this "service" (HAHA) and keep an eye on the battery with your Leaf Spy. If your car is out of warranty and still working well, then consider yourself lucky... good luck.
 
I second powersurge's response. Their battery test/report is virtually useless info compared to LeafSpy. If you don't think your battery will degrade enough to take advantage of the warranty, then my vote is to forego it.

Especially since you're in NC. You might as well save all those inspection fees towards replacing it with a new 30kwh (still waiting to see someone actually do this though) one in the future instead!
 
desiv said:
Had mine done several weeks ago and it was under $40...

Hmmm...

desiv

That is more in line with what I was expecting. If they had charged me $40, even though the info may be useless to me, I probably would have done it just to maintain the warranty. Even though I still think it unlikely that I'll ever qualify.

thanks for the info, all. Yeah, I've owned the Leaf for a little over a year now, and have paid $0 in maintenance (apart from new tires). Though, here in NC, I have to pay a $200/year electric vehicle fee to register it.
 
Amped said:
I had mine in Aug 16. It was also around $120.

So what made you go through with it? Are you thinking you have a shot at a warranty replacement? Did the results give you any insights that you didn't have before?
 
Jefe said:
Amped said:
I had mine in Aug 16. It was also around $120.

So what made you go through with it? Are you thinking you have a shot at a warranty replacement? Did the results give you any insights that you didn't have before?


I had just purchased the car and wanted to ensure the battery check was done. It was also an opportunity to check for recalls. It gave no insights. Just 5 stars. When Nissan sent me a survey, I conveyed I thought the price was exorbitant for the service as well as being uninformative. I shared I got extensively more information from Leafspy. In regards to warranty replacement, I didn't think so at the time. But, I am now at 9 bars and 46.08 Ahr. There's a chance considering health has been dropping almost 1 Ahr a month and i have until 11/15/17.
 
Amped said:
But, I am now at 9 bars and 46.08 Ahr. There's a chance considering health has been dropping almost 1 Ahr a month and i have until 11/15/17.

Wow. that is some droppage. Was it sub 12 bars when you purchased it? Mine was 64.45 Ahr when I bought it back in Dec. 15. As of this past Dec, it is 58.154. I saw a sharp decline over the hot summer.

I would think in MA you would have cooler temps and not see such a rapid loss.
 
Jefe said:
Amped said:
But, I am now at 9 bars and 46.08 Ahr. There's a chance considering health has been dropping almost 1 Ahr a month and i have until 11/15/17.

Wow. that is some droppage. Was it sub 12 bars when you purchased it? Mine was 64.45 Ahr when I bought it back in Dec. 15. As of this past Dec, it is 58.154. I saw a sharp decline over the hot summer.

I would think in MA you would have cooler temps and not see such a rapid loss.

The dealer had a picture of it with 11 bars. When I bought it, it had 10. So, I am guessing it dropped in the short time they had it.
 
I had mine in for the airbag recall, an A/C recall, and the annual battery check back in late Nov. No charge for anything. Don't know if it was just my dealer or what, but I thought they said it was covered under the Nissan One-to-One program.
 
The battery check came up during my recall visit, but I told the service manager that I know all I need to from LeafSpy. He smiled.He did mention that the first two years were free... cool, I am not going to take my "work from home" day to have something done because it is free. Furthermore, the data that is streamed from the vehicle does contain the information that they are looking for, right?
 
Amped said:
It gave no insights. Just 5 stars. When Nissan sent me a survey, I conveyed I thought the price was exorbitant for the service as well as being uninformative.

As Amped stated, it gives no insights at all. I got 5 stars across the board with seven capacity bars gone and five remaining. They had to call Nissan to confirm that those results were correct. I had 26 miles between fully charged and Low Battery Warning.

As stated around this forum, the annual battery check is essentially worthless, a method to allow dealers to charge LEAF owners something every year after the first two years which are free. There is debate whether somebody who hasn't done the battery check will qualify for the battery warranty replacement, so far nobody has been able to offer any data. As far as I understand the Klee settlement, there is no mention of the annual battery check requirement. For the 8 year / 100K mile warranty against manufacturing defects though, it might be required. There is one person I have read about who has made a successful claim under this warranty, but I think all annual battery checks had been done, as there was no mention in his story.

If you figure $80/year, for three years payments to the five year mark that is $240. That will possibly let you sit down with a lawyer. So unfortunately people have been somewhat coerced into this ripoff. Now, to eight years it gets to be almost $500, the odds have so far seemed pretty low for that warranty, and I don't know if people are continuing to have them done after five years.

I've had the batteries replaced under warranty in my 2011, and I won't be getting or paying for any more.
 
Jedlacks said:
The battery check came up during my recall visit, but I told the service manager that I know all I need to from LeafSpy. He smiled.He did mention that the first two years were free... cool, I am not going to take my "work from home" day to have something done because it is free. Furthermore, the data that is streamed from the vehicle does contain the information that they are looking for, right?
I think the reason most people have the checks done is just the backup for the warranty..
Yeah, without having it down, you could probably still get it honored.
But I think Nissan has shown with the way they have handled some people just over the 60k for battery issues that they are letter of the law people. And Leaf Spy is great, but not something Nissan recognizes..

There have been a few posts here where people have tried to show Dealers Leaf Spy data, and they generally ignored it..
It has to come from their hardware/software..

desiv
 
I really don't think that that an annual check is required, or even relevant to the warranty of the battery...

I have heard of people on this site talk of buying a used Leaf (with no knowledge or history of the vehicle) that has a low battery . They then try to pound and abuse their battery so that the can win the free battery LOTTERY... Even if they just bought the car!! Stories like this sound like the NISSAN battery warranty is a blind adherence to the number of months of service and/ or vehicle mileage.... period....
 
powersurge said:
Stories like this sound like the NISSAN battery warranty is a blind adherence to the number of months of service and/ or vehicle mileage.... period....
I don't disagree that the actual battery report is useless.. ;-)

I just wonder if Nissan, in the event of a battery failure, would start by asking "did you perform the annual battery check?"

I think most people do the battery check as a "just covering my bases" type of thing... ;-)

The one I just did, I'm close to 60k, so it will be my last...

desiv
 
I had mine done after the service manager did not think I really needed. The tech noted on the report that battery was excellent (I had taken care of it) and I only needed one more bar to drop for the warranty to replace it.

I put that piece of paper in the. Vault.
 
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