Insurance called: Leaf being TOTALED

Last Saturday morning my wife was hit in the left rear bumper and quarter panel. When I arrived and saw the damage to the Ford F-150 right front bumper and quarter panel I knew that there could be more Leaf damage than it looked. The good news is that no one was hurt.

I need advice from those that have gone through this before. What should I keep out of the Leaf (other than our personal belongings)?

Any other recommendations as to how to negotiate with the insurance company to make sure we are not cheated?

Less than three months ago we purchased the Leaf after 3.5 years of leasing. We were talked into the $3,500 4-year extended warranty. What are our options with this?

Thanks for your wisdom in this matter.

Graffi said:

Less than three months ago we purchased the Leaf after 3.5 years of leasing. We were talked into the $3,500 4-year extended warranty. What are our options with this?

Thanks for your wisdom in this matter.

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So sorry to hear about your Leaf but very glad no one was hurt!

You will be able to cancel the extended warranty and get the prorated portion back. Depending on the warranty, you may have to go the the dealership to cancel it once the insurance is settled. Stay on top of this!

Good luck!

First, I am glad no one was hurt--the car can be replaced.

Keep the EVSE so you can send it off for upgrade and have a portable 240-volt unit. Make sure to keep all documents such as registration, insurance cards, warranty cards, etc. that have your names or addresses on them--don't leave them in the car. Clear all personal information such as home GPS location and cellular phone address books from the navigation system. Take lots of photographs showing the condition of the car, especially undamaged areas and the complete interior to document the condition before it goes to the storage yard. Be prepared to argue with the other driver's insurance company over the appraised value--they will low-ball you to start. Shop around your area for comparable cars to get an idea of your local price.

In my case, the car was trashed after it left the body shop but I had no way to prove it. The appraisals noted stains on seats and body damage in areas not involved in the crash, but I had not taken enough photographs to prove that the damage happened while in the insurance company's storage yard so it made final negotiations more difficult. The appraisals even noted excessive wear on the gear shifter and pedals (in an electric car--I could not believe what they were claiming).

I hope the other driver's insurance company treats you better than my experience was.

As expected, the other party's insurance is not going to pay for repairs, but offered me a "reasonable" amount for our Leaf. Of course, it is probably less than half what is needed to make us whole again, so I replied that to them and asked then to try again.

What I need now is to know how much I should expect to pay for a replacement.

2013 Leaf SL with Premium Package.
under 50,000 miles
lost first battery bar at 48,600 miles

I was unable to find any 2013 Leaf SL in southern CA, but I did find some 2014 in the $13K to 14K range.

In addition to the price, we will also have to pay for taxes, license and transfer fees, etc.

Any info would be appreciated. Also, if someone had success with the insurance company please tell me your secret. I do not want to have to hire an attorney and go to court.

Call Anaheim pre owned cars fro comps... 714-400-5274 that is a place to start...then what is the pay off if you have one? good luck the whole thing sucks. sorry

There seem to be quite a few in your area:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/cars+under+15000/2013/Nissan/Leaf/San+Diego+CA-92101?zip=92101&showcaseOwnerId=1237247&startYear=2013&numRecords=25&sortBy=derivedpriceDESC&maxPrice=15000&firstRecord=0&endYear=2013&modelCodeList=LEAF&makeCodeList=NISSAN&searchRadius=100&trimCodeList=LEAF%7CSL

Don't know if any have the premium package, but that's worth maybe $500 used.

Looks like the value is $11,000 - $12,000

Premium package adds more like $1k, especially in the SL. No one wants an SL without even a backup camera.

FYI, you can use this search instead:

https://goo.gl/9b562J

That expands the search radius to 300 miles and adds a "premium package" keyword search.

I paid $8300 for a 2013 Leaf Model 'S' in excellent shape with QC and back--up camera earlier this year.

OP: you should keep looking. With a bit of luck the impending release of the next Gen LEAF will work to your favor. You may also wish to consider a new LEAF from a region with the $10k discount.

I don't know the rules in CA, but the insurance company was required to include sales tax and transfer fees in the total settlement (sales tax calculated on the final settlement vehicle value). Arizona also refunds a pro-rated portion of the registration fees (or allows them to be transferred to the replacement vehicle).

Look carefully at the vehicles they list as comparable (trim level, options, mileage, etc.) and tell them to do better with the appraisal if they are not truly comparable. In my case, they tried to claim that the SVs or SLs without quick charge ports and with deteriorated batteries they found were comparable to my SL with QC and replaced battery.

Graffi said:

What I need now is to know how much I should expect to pay for a replacement.

2013 Leaf SL with Premium Package.
under 50,000 miles
lost first battery bar at 48,600 miles

I was unable to find any 2013 Leaf SL in southern CA, but I did find some 2014 in the $13K to 14K range.

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I bought my 2013 SL Premium (26K miles) at just over $10,000 back in January of this year, and California is typically much cheaper still. That being said, there has been some noise about used Leaf values increasing by a little bit over the last few months.

silverone said:

That being said, there has been some noise about used Leaf values increasing by a little bit over the last few months.

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That was one speculator in the Detroit area making news for a day through a local PR contact.

SageBrush said:

silverone said:

That being said, there has been some noise about used Leaf values increasing by a little bit over the last few months.

Click to expand...

That was one speculator in the Detroit area making news for a day through a local PR contact.

Click to expand...

What I've noticed is the "bottom" end priced cars (in the retail market) always show January to March then prices go up a bit, rinse and repeat.

All EVs follow the yearly variation, volts could be had for $6000 in January,
now bottom at about $7500, no doubt $6000 or less cars will show up again as they come back into season.

Monthly variation doesn't mean much in such a small market like EVs