Conditions Ripe to sell Leaf? Sold mine last night!

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Phatcat73

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2013
Messages
481
Location
Buffalo Grove, Il
Sold my 2013 SV last night (44k miles, 80% SOH) & was surprised at how fast it sold. First buyer came with cash in hand.

Some background. I recently took the Leaf to a nearby Bolt dealer where they valued the trade-in at $5k. A few days later I stopped by a Nissan dealer to charge and while I was there asked the dealer to appraise my vehicle. Again, they mentioned $5k.

For grins I looked at cars.com and conducted a used Leaf search within 150 miles of Chicago. Most were S's for sale with few SV/SL's. S's were starting around $9k. There was a 2012 SV for 8k. My vehicle was directly after it when comparing costs of all trims. The next 2013 SV was in Milwaukee with 11k miles for $10,500 - looked to be private party as well. In all there were about 10 2013+ SV/SL's listed and most of these were newer used models from mostly dealers. My vehicle had the highest miles of all Leaf vehicles in the 150 mile area range.

I priced my vehicle at $8400 to account for the higher miles. The next day I saw the 2012 SV for 8k, disappear, making my car the lowest Leaf option in at least 150 miles. On day 2, my car sold for $8,200. Buyer came cash in hand and I probably could have stayed firm on the $8400. But the guy brought his HS daughter who was graduating and the car was for her and they were excited. Call me softy...

After the sale:

First thoughts were "Great! I beat the trade-in valuation significantly!" 2nd thought was "Dang, did I price it too low?" and "Why are there only a few used Leafs on the used market in a large EV friendly metro area?"

Sale influencers:
1) low price
2) original owner
3) private owner sales tax transaction $165 fixed vs dealer's 9% tax
4) Supply and demand?
5) Appealing add on options listed in ad (window tint & 3G telematics upgrade)

thoughts?
 
Pricing is still very regional - our area is about the same as yours, and retail/private party would have been in the $8500 to $9500 range for a 2013SV.

Most of the people I've seen posting or expecting extremely low pricing in the $7k range for a 4/13+ Leaf are in the California area.
 
I think it's just lack of inventory, and supply/demand.

The price/utility for a used Leaf is outstanding, so they sell pretty quickly. Even with the tax credit, it's hard to justify a $20K or more price tag for a car that you can only drive 80-100 miles (unless, of course, you just want to be an early adopter of technology and help save the planet). For $8K the math starts to make sense for a strict commuter car or teenager car.
 
We have zero used Leafs for private sale here, and they are rare on dealer lots. I might be able to do the same with my Leaf (see sig line) if I were to buy it for $5k. I'm just not certain I want to take that risk.
 
Phatcat73 said:
First thoughts were "Great! I beat the trade-in valuation significantly!" 2nd thought was "Dang, did I price it too low?" and "Why are there only a few used Leafs on the used market in a large EV friendly metro area?"
I'd say you did fine and you should be pleased with the result. There are still good deals to be had on new '16 and '17 LEAFs, so there is a limit on where the used market can reasonably go.
 
I looked at a few used ones a few months here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. All late model (2014+), low miles (30K or less), and all had their remaining factory warranties - all priced anywhere from $7000 to $8000. Private sales seem to be in the same general ballpark price wise. Now these were S models and the only SV models they had were closer to $10K. For what it's worth.
 
I just picked up a 2013 SL Premium with 800 miles for 18500--elligible for the tax credit (never been titled). Shipping is another 700.
 
bugleg said:
I just picked up a 2013 SL Premium with 800 miles for 18500--elligible for the tax credit (never been titled). Shipping is another 700.

That's an interesting find. What are the warranty details? If the warranty starts the date of purchase, you are probably guaranteed a free battery.

That said, you can pick up a new 2016 for near that price. The SL has some nice "appointments", but I'd rather have the newer base model.
 
I bought my 2014 S, with charge package, for $8300 in February. I'm fairly pleased, mostly because it still has all 12 battery capacity bars showing at 40,000 miles. As the OP has indicated, a model with the 6.6 kW onboard charger don't come much cheaper than around 8k.
 
It's amazingly true, even here in southern California the used Leaf prices are headed up. Only last December, I and two friends of mine bought 2013 Leaf S's all with less than 25,000 miles at $7200 top $7400. Now sellers are asking about $8500 to $9,500 for the same car.

I wonder what is driving the higher prices? I had thought when the Bolt, Leaf II, and Model 3 became imminent, that the used Leaf prices would crash. The opposite has happened, even the used Spark EV, Fiat 500E and eGolf have gone up in price! Even the lame Focus EV is up by $2,000!

I had read yesterday that in California, new EV sales are now 5% of purchases. Maybe it is backlash for Trump policies, people taking the climate into their own hands. Any ideas what is driving these increases?
 
I'm skeptical of anecdotal reports, but this source also reports used LEAF prices are up, ~10% since February, 2.9% up from June to July, And down only 0.5%, Y-over-Y:

https://www.autolist.com/nissan-leaf#section=affordability-rankings&s=a


Nissan LEAF Pricing Trends

Change from last month Jun '17 to Jul '17...


Prices 2.9% more expensive than last month


CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR...

Prices 0.5% less expensive than last year...

You can check any make/model you want.

Volt D curve looks similar like the LEAF, albeit with lesser appreciation since winter, leaving prices down only 2.1% YOY:

https://www.autolist.com/chevrolet-volt#section=affordability-rankings&s=a

Interesting contrast, in that Tesla s prices show a very steady decline for the entire last year:

Tesla Model S Pricing Trends

Change from last month Jun '17 to Jul '17...

Prices 0.9% less expensive than last month...

CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR

Prices 7.9% less expensive than last year

https://www.autolist.com/tesla-model+s#section=affordability-rankings&s=a

BMW i3 depreciation curve quite similar to tesla S, but price down 9.6 % YOY:

https://www.autolist.com/bmw-i3#section=affordability-rankings&s=a
 
I listed my Leaf S (2013, 30,000 miles) on Craigslist and sold it at $9,000 within a day. I was wondering about what suddenly drove all used EV prices up. My buyers just learned about the Model 3 and are buying my Leaf as they wait for a Model 3. Another friend of mine has a Model 3 coming by end of this year. He listed his similar Leaf S (though a little less pristine) on Craigslist and had a buyer in one hour at $8700. He had calls from a few people, all stating they recently got turned on to EV after hearing about the Model 3.

So, if my assumptions are correct, as per Tesla's mission, the Model 3 is really driving people towards EV ownership. In this case the unexpected adoption of used EV's. I wonder just how much new (other than Tesla) EV sales might be boosted as well?
 
Back
Top