Parting Out A LEAF

[emanresu]

I recently bought a perfect 2011 LEAF for 10 thousand bucks and was wondering at what price you could possibly make money selling the parts off it instead of driving it. Has anyone looked into this?

 

[ishiyakazuo]

The part most people would be interested in is the battery, I suspect, and few people would want the battery modules (or the whole thing) from a 2011. Someone in the For Sale forums is parting out a salvage LEAF now -- would be worth looking there, probably, but I'd suspect salvage LEAFs can be had for much less and contain many of the usable parts people would be looking for.

 

[rogersleaf]

Likely nothing to be made until there is demand for parts. With a low-volume model and most still under warranty it will be a long time to recoup that much cost.

I had hillbilly neighbors that parted out cars. Most made absolutely nothing other than postponing the expense of scrap disposal. In the meantime, was nothing but yard-art...

 

[Valdemar]

Last time I checked you couldn't simply transfer a battery from one Leaf to another as it requires programming of the battery id into the ECU with the Consult tool and a special code that only Nissan can issue. I have yet read a story about someone successfully doing it, either via DIY or with dealer's help. Opening the pack and swapping modules one by one, or just swapping the battery controller, should work though. Also your purchase price doesn't look like a very good deal unless you got a very-low mileage car with very little battery degradation.

 

[ishiyakazuo]

Also your purchase price doesn't look like a very good deal unless you got a very-low mileage car with very little battery degradation.

Errr? $10k for a good condition LEAF isn't a good deal? I don't see any LEAFs for sale in my market, 2011 or not, for less than that...

 

[XeonPony]

If you got it to make money parting it out, congrats on the new paper weight. Better idea is drive it! use it, that will make you're money back in 20 months or less when prices go up again

 

[Valdemar]

Also your purchase price doesn't look like a very good deal unless you got a very-low mileage car with very little battery degradation.

Errr? $10k for a good condition LEAF isn't a good deal? I don't see any LEAFs for sale in my market, 2011 or not, for less than that...

I suppose car mileage and battery condition can make a difference. This Leaf was sold for $8,850, including extended warranty and an upgraded EVSE. KBB, fwiw, lists mine at $8,058 good condition private party price.

 

[ishiyakazuo]

That LEAF had 65k miles on it... battery is probably in pretty nasty shape. Yours has over 70k. I wouldn't assume that a lot of the used ones on the market have that many miles.
(NOTE: I'm not saying this one didn't -- the OP didn't give us much to go on here. I'm just saying that in my search for a used LEAF, I didn't find any offered with more than 50k miles on it locally at the time, and I looked through about 30 or 40 cars' listings then. Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily assume it wasn't a reasonable deal.)