Car in shop--who pays for loaner?

dvu said:

Thanks for that... I've always own EU brand and one Lexus beside the leaf so I wasn't aware of this. It has always been as you described, gotten a pretty decent loaner.

Definitely a good to know so I don't go screaming at Nissan SA when I have to Uber home. Lol

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FYI - My local Nissan dealer made a loaner vehicle available when I had an extended service on my vehicle. Obviously, that was their choice as the dealer, but I guess it does differ dealer to dealer.

FYI--printed factory warranty terms for my 2011 clearly said Nissan would provide a loaner (and my dealer always did) so I assume Nissan reimbursed the dealer as part of the warranty or recall claim. Printed factory warranty for my 2015 does not clearly say a loaner will be provided so the language was changed between 2011 and 2015.

Thanks everyone for your input.

I spoke to the service mgr. this morning. He reports that one of the four battery packs that make up the main battery is leaking, and he says he ordered a replacement today, as well as putting in a formal request to extend the rental I have currently (which would otherwise expire Monday morning). The two techs who have been working on it are both Leaf-certified, and the regional Leaf tech advisor was in to take a look at it today.

Now I'm just here with my fingers and toes crossed that Nissan has a battery pack in stock somewhere in my part of the country and that they see fit to ship it ASAP.

ReisheJ said:

Thanks everyone for your input.

I spoke to the service mgr. this morning. He reports that one of the four battery packs that make up the main battery is leaking, and he says he ordered a replacement today, as well as putting in a formal request to extend the rental I have currently (which would otherwise expire Monday morning). The two techs who have been working on it are both Leaf-certified, and the regional Leaf tech advisor was in to take a look at it today.

Now I'm just here with my fingers and toes crossed that Nissan has a battery pack in stock somewhere in my part of the country and that they see fit to ship it ASAP.

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Did he mean twenty four or forty-eight battery packs, not four? It's also possible that as the service mgr, he was just repeating what the tech said. If the tech truly thought there were four packs in the battery, I would definitely be thinking about taking the car somewhere else or alternative options.

For your knowledge, this is the inside of a 24kWh Leaf battery (48 battery modules):
https://acarisnotarefrigerator.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/nissan_leaf_battery_pack.jpg

And this is a 30kWh battery (24 battery modules):
http://evsenhanced.com/services/30kwh-leaf-cell-imbalance-and-complete-cell-failure/

You can see clearly the metal battery modules, and there are way more than four. By the way, the second article I linked talked specifically about cell failures, why they happen, and how you solve them.

Hopefully this knowledge can let you have a constructive discussion with them if you continue to see a lack of progress. There are also videos on Youtube of people disassembling Leaf battery packs, which can give you a general idea of the work they need to do, if this is in fact the problem.

I'm leasing 2018 SV, looking in the 2018 Leaf Warranty Information Booklet under Roadside Assistance page 39 spells out about Complimentary rental car program. So during the first 36 months/36,000 miles of service a Nissan Leaf certified dealer will provide you with a complimentary rental when a warrantable repair is performed.

List 4 requirements; warrantable repair; over 21; proof of insurance; and of course; other restrictions may apply to loaner car including mileage use and DAYS use limitations.


Note: This program is NOT a warranty, is NOT part of the Nissan New Vehicle Limited Warranty and is subject to change without notice at anytime.


*Rental vehicle model subject to dealer availability.


**Ask your dealer for details.

Thank you Lothsahn for the information and links. It's always good to know more. I never worked on any of my old gasoline-powered cars, but made sure I understood the basics so I could handle problems and understand the mechanic. I've only had an all-electric car for a year.

As the whole process has been with the oversight of the Nissan regional tech advisor, particularly since he was here in person today, I don't believe I would get a different answer from any dealer in my region--and the next-closest dealer certified for Leafs is an hour away.

I might have mis-heard or misunderstood the mgr's explanation--honestly I was focusing more on the resolution they were offering, rather than the problem. I understood it to mean that he was describing the battery as four banks of modules (and yes, that might also be an inaccurate description, but the service mgr. was doubtless relating what the Leaf techs told him. Could be message got distorted). My takeaway from the conversation was that after testing all of the modules, they identified the bad and had requested new.

Thanks also to Lars36 for the newer text about repair and rentals.

Just following up, here.

Corporate eventually promised to cover a rental car for as long as I shall need one. Which is a good thing, b/c I still don't have my Leaf back. They say they have installed the battery w/the new component(s)... and don't have enough sealing material to seal/weatherproof it, so now I'm looking at Wednesday, ETA. She's been in the shop 32 days as of today.