Suggestions welcome

I am the EV Sales Leader for a Nissan dealership in Colorado. Our first sold Leaf is due to arrive the end of this month! I would like to hear from current Leaf owners about their experience at the dealership when their Leaf was delivered to them. What did you like about your experience? What could the dealership have done better? I would like to learn from other's mistakes/successes.

Thank you for your input!

The only thing I was not happy with was that my Leaf was not as detailed as I would have liked. I purchased a Pathfinder in 2004 and that vehicle was spotless in and out. A full charge would be nice although most here would think 80 percent is enough....I'd go with the full charge...

Walter,

I agree that your car should be clean. My lot manager hates me because I am so picky. The full charge makes sense too. All of the other cars we deliver have a full tank of gas, the Leaf should too!

Thank you for the response.

Make sure your finance manager is up-to-speed on any special paperwork for electric vehicles. Our dealer (Campbell-Nelson) had the emissions test waiver and sales-tax exemption forms ready for us to sign, even though we were their first Leaf delivery. That was a pleasant surprise!

My suggestion would be to expand your focus to the entire duration of the relationship, from the initial ordering through delivery, rather than just focus on the delivery day. For most of us, this car-buying process lasted for months, not just one day. It's very different from just walking in off the street and buying a new car.

More specifically, I'd suggest a couple of things:

1) Be as detailed and honest as possible with your initial asking price for the car. If they're so inclined, a LEAF buyer will have a long time to think about and analyze the deal. If there are any surprises, two or three months into the waiting process (like to sudden appearance of a substantial doc fee), you are going to have a very unhappy customer.

2) Get to know your customer. Ask them what they know about the LEAF. Some of your customers may be very sophisticated and knowledgeable buyers. Others might need a bit more hand holding. Nearly all of them will not like being ignored until delivery day. Information from Nissan is pretty sparse during the build and shipping process. Any updates you can provide would help, even if it only a quick call or e-mail to let your customer know that you still remember they are there and waiting to buy a car from you.

sproqitman - Good point. Since taxes were also brought up has anyone done the paperwork for the federal tax credit yet? What is involved?

Weatherman - Your suggestions are well received. I inherited the job as EV Sales Leader after our previous person moved out of state. Since then I have had great communication with my clients with pending orders. One of them suggested this site to me. You are dead on about the pricing. I am fortunate to work for a very "transparent" dealership so I am not asked to suprise clients with hidden fees.

leafinco said:

Since taxes were also brought up has anyone done the paperwork for the federal tax credit yet? What is involved?

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With the exception of those who leased (where Nissan's leasing company applies the federal tax credit as part of the "cap reduction" on the lease), all the rest of us who bought the car in 2011 will have to take care of it ourselves when we prepare our own 2011 tax return. For us "cash buyers", the federal tax credit isn't part of the purchase process. We pay for the car as one transaction, and then, later, figure it out for ourselves (or get help from our tax advisors) on how to get as much of the $7,500 tax credit as possible.

Don't send out a notice to come in to change the oil in 3 mo / 3,000 miles :lol: :roll:

One thing that has tripped some dealers is charging availability. Nissan has touted the fact that dealers have charging facilities, and most new owners take this as an indication that they can charge at any dealer. Decide in advance how you're going to handle owners who wish to charge. Will there be limited hours? Will you limit LEAFers who didn't buy from you? Do people need to inform you ahead of time? Once you've done this, make sure that the rest of the staff are up on the policy and that it's clearly communicated to people who stop in. It might also be a good idea to list yourself on the popular EV charger sites*, noting any limits. There have been some ugly scenes where owners have really needed to charge, relied on a dealer and have been turned away because the staff on duty at the time either don't know the policy or because a clear policy wasn't set.

Fair warning: Dealers who don't let people who didn't buy from them charge at all have taken quite a beating here.

* popular sites:
http://www.carstations.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.recargo.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.evchargermaps.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My dealer here in Southern CA, Connell in Costa Mesa, agreed to do the first tire rotation and inspection (six month, 7,500 mile "service") for no charge. He also told me that he would make the same offer to any LEAF owner, regardless of where they bought the car. To me, that is a smart move to get owners into the dealership who might not have sought them out, and the actual labor cost is sunk cost anyway. This kind of service is well received by new owners, and though the LEAF will likely not need much maintenance, owners might be interested in looking at the store's other vehicles while they wait.

Offer a free battery check every 3 months.

Was happy to see this thread from a dealer rep ... one thing that we all can offer is our own experiences and in my own case what has been good and bad as for most (but not all as some have been lucky enough to buy an 'orphan') this has been a loooong process.

The good: my 'first contact' with the rep at my 'certified' LEAF dealer was great, he showed a lot of enthusiasm, was genuinely interested in making the whole quote process go smoothly with no surprises (or extra fees) and initially kept in touch with updates on when they expected their demo car, install of EV chargers at the dealer, etc. And, as I was their first reservation/quote holder, he occasionally called when he had another potential customer LEAF customer with a question he hadn't been exposed and/or trained on (i.e., special IL EV plates, getting a waiver on the home inspection, etc.). He also, like the OP here their EV Rep so had direct access to the dealer site information.

The bad: nothing against his replacement, but as this is a looong process, things can change at the dealer and they did when my original rep left the dealer (no fault to the dealer as he moved closer to his home at another dealer) they dropped the ball -- although the rep that took over was my guy's 'shadow', they didn't give him access to the dealer site (not sure why) but he needs to go to his GM for ANY updates. Further updates, etc. are like pulling teeth, it took longer than I've experienced to get an offer on my trade (was lowballed until I brought up an offer from Carmax) but we did finally work things out; remember although we know there is not the 'normal' Nissan markup on the LEAF like other Nissan's, most dealer's are getting MSRP so just be reasonable when it comes to trades. So bottom line --- if for whatever reason, you yourself leave the dealership (or perhaps even get promoted!) make sure the guy who works with your customer is consistent throughout the sales cycle --- nothing more frustrating than starting other again!!

Many of your LEAF customers (at least at this stage) are strong advocates for EV's so if you develop a relationship with them, they'll actually help you sell more cars!! This is different from just about anything out there today and the 'window of opportunity' won't last forever (no matter how rabid some of us on this forum may seem!!) so learn from both us and your peers and thanks for listening.

I really appreciate all the good feedback.

redLEAF - Being the "replacement" myself I understand what you are saying. It is a whole new scenario for myself and my clients and you are right. Staying in contact is key.

garygid - That is a good idea.

Boomer23 - We already offer a free oil change to all of our new clients (not so useful for the Leaf owner) so the tire rotation and inspection is a very logical first service visit to take care of.

davewill - You bring up a point that I had not even considered yet. Thank you. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even know if our stations are L2 or L3 (I have a call into our installer to find out). I will bring this up at my next manager's meeting.

smkettner - LMAO

Weatherman - thank you

leafinco said:

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even know if our stations are L2 or L3 (I have a call into our installer to find out). I will bring this up at my next manager's meeting.

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Actually, there is no L3 charging yet. It's still in the planning phase. What some people are calling L3 is really CHAdeMO DC Quick Charging (DCQC). And please remember, the L1 and L2 charger (3.3kW) is in the LEAF. The L1 and L2 charging device is called an EVSE or charging station/dock. The L1 EVSE comes with the LEAF.

The best thing our dealer did (Nissan of Clovis, California) was to let us take an extended test drive. We had test driven the LEAF once before in a very structured environment. To be really sure I wanted the car, the dealer let us test drive it 53 miles round trip up Sierra Nevada foothills. Only after this drive did the dealer ask us if we were ready to buy it. By the way, we were very impressed with that test drive! The dealer/salesman went with us and learned more about the car by coming along.

This idea might sound extreme, but people aren't familiar with the LEAF and may need extra time with the car to be sure it's the one for them.

The worst part was the sales pressure for buying a maintenance agreement and an extended warranty. The finance person pushing these tried to sell us agreements for a regular "ICE" car, and tried to argue with me about the value of these items.

About allowing other LEAFs the opportunity to charge at your dealership, please also consider the goodwill this shows to other (non-LEAF) customers. I've had some great experiences talking with other customers about the helpful dealers. I've discussed my positive LEAF experiences with sales people near the Service department. Sometimes, customers waiting for their cars will join the discussion. Also, I've posted these experiences, with photos, to the dealer Facebook pages.

Actually check the tire pressure, don't rely on the idiot light. Mine went off the day after I got the car home. I was stressing trying to figure out what that exclamation point was for.

and if you sell a demo car be sure to tell people up front if the warranty will be "shortened". I wish I'd known that before driving far to get to my dealer to get my car. I hope nothing happens in the last 4 mos of my lease...

My dealer did a great job for me although I knew more about the car than they did, as I was the first delivery for this area.

Even though I pointed them to this forum, they didn't spend much time here, so they lost a great opportunity to get some really good information. You are, at least, doing the "right" thing by hanging around here -- there are plenty of folks who are more than happy to share their experiences and although it will take a while to sift through all the information here, it has been invaluable to me as I watched other people go through the whole waiting, watching, and finally, taking delivery.

The good aspects:
- My dealer was happy to do MSRP, recognizing that this was a limited-availability vehicle.
- I dealt with one person through the entire process, which was excellent.
- I got to drive their demo LEAF for one entire day. That sold the car for me.
- The entire delivery process went very well. I got the phone call at 2pm, the car had arrived at the dealer overnight and they immediately detailed it to make it ready for me to take delivery. We went through all the paperwork methodically, which was important because it helped him ensure that nothing was missed. I picked it up that afternoon and the car wasn't on their lot more than 24 hours!

The bad:
- Add-ons that I didn't ask for were done to the car: pinstripe, etc., and he tried to get me to pay for it. I immediately kicked up on that and refused to pay, after which he found the "original" paperwork with the original price and options that we'd agreed on. I also made them remove the pinstripe and other stickers (dealer identification stickers, etc) that were on the car. I know he was doing the "salesman" thing but we had previously agreed on a price and options, and I expect you to stick to that agreement.

Suggestions:
- Make sure that you know if your customer is really paying cash or getting a loan, as the paperwork is different, and it surprised me as although I had taken a loan I expected to just write a check for the full amount, but it didn't go that way. Of course, it all depends on what arrangements you have with various financial institutions. Just make sure that your customer is fully aware of any dealer charges, doc fees, and loan arrangements well in advance so they don't get surprised.

All in all I had a good experience despite a few bobbles along the way. We were both keen to make this work and it was obvious that he was doing what he could to keep me happy so I can't fault him for that. My advice to you is: keep a line of communication open to your customer, let them know what to expect as soon as you can, and don't surprise them. The customer wants this to go smoothly; they're already nervous about putting down a big chunk of change -- make sure you earn it!

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Bert

I'd like to add some good and bad points about my dealer experience.

The good:
- The GM was friendly and approachable and open to meeting with me during my process of dealer selection long before LEAF ordering was available. He was interested in the LEAF and Nissan's EV push and he had reserved a LEAF for his own daily driver. He stayed up to date on the sparse information about the release of the car and was open to sharing what he knew with me.
- The GM was very willing to extend a $1,000 discount for ordered LEAFs bought through his dealership when some other dealers offered the same deal.
- The GM gave me his cell phone number and when my chance came to RAQ, he completed the order online for me over the phone from his home computer around 9 am one morning. He clearly understood the anxiety that customers had, at least at that time, about getting their orders in to Nissan's system to get their best place in line.
- Delivery was straightforward, with no pressure to buy extra products or packages, and at the agreed and expected lease rates and costs.

The bad:
- The prep and cleanup of the car took a bit longer than I would have expected. It had come in the previous day and I still needed to wait perhaps an extra hour during the delivery process, which took about 3 hours overall.
- That's it, nothing else to complain about. The dealership was friendly, no nonsense, predictable and honest. I can't ask for anything more.

Many if not most new owners are confused by the battery information on the right side of the dash, behind the steering wheel. Before they drive away in their new car it is important for them to understand that there are three distinct types of data there:

• The 12 short bars at the far right show how healthy the battery is. They should expect all of those bars to be lit up all of the time for the first few years they own the car. If not, bring the car back for analysis.
• The 12 longer blue and white bars show how full the battery is. They are like a gas gauge, and like most gas gauges there will still be some energy left in the battery when they show "empty", i.e. when all 12 bars have disappeared. In Colorado winters, LEAF drivers may at times need to use nearly all of the available energy. They should not be afraid to use the last two bars; they are not red (only the "heath" bars next to them are red) and there is nothing bad about them. The car will give you three warnings: Low battery, very low battery, and time to stop at the closest safe place ("turtle"). Those are what drivers need to pay attention to.
• That big number in the middle of the bars is just a guess as to how far you can go. The car's computer is no better at predicting the future than you are, so don't become euphoric if it is high or panicked if it is low. In fact, as a driver you can do a better job than the computer on this, because you know where you are going, and you can control your speed and route.

Finally, there is a four-page document that new owners must sign before they take the car. There is a tendency for that to be pushed through with all of the other papers the finance person is getting the owner to sign. Don't do that! This contains very important information that the owner should really read and understand before signing. Someone who knows a lot about the car should go over this with the new owner. They need to fully accept that batteries do wear out, that they probably won't be able to go 100 miles on a charge even when the battery is new, and that there are special maintenance and repair requirements.

Ray