Superorc
New member
Advice to prospective LEAF buyers if the Federal and State tax incentives are important considerations of your LEAF purchase decision - Make sure you will be the original owner of the LEAF before you start the negotiation process even the dealership tells you the available LEAF is an orphan.
Read our experience with the Folsom Lake Nissan below.
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We ordered a 2012 Glacier Pearl SL on line and we sent out the request for orphan 2011 model to the local dealerships in Sacramento. On August 25, 2011 we were contacted by Nissan of Folsom Lake about a 2011 Glacier White SL orphan. The dealer was willing to sell the Leaf for $385 under MSRP after several rounds of negotiation via email. The sales guy mentioned that the car just came in and preparation was needed in the shop. He said if we sign the contract Friday (8/26/2011) evening, the car would be ready for pick-up Monday (8/29/2011). We thought it sounded good so we drove to the dealership after work Friday. We looked at the car in the shop and it looked fine. We agreed to buy the car.
The first negative experience was the financing guy pushing a 96 mons/100,000 Gold Premium extended warranty for $3,997. When we said it was too expensive he gave us a "wholesale" quote of $2,997. He kept pushing the extended warranty for another 15 minutes. He really had our best interest in mind because new technology could be very unreliable. When he finally stopped pushing it, we continued with the paperwork and signed a few pieces of paper such as the contract language, DMV title, and a $500 restocking fee form in case we return the car. We thought it was common for dealers to try to make a few more bucks to sell extended warranty so we thought it was annoying but accepted it as common practice. We didn't quite understand the restocking fee thing but since we have no intention of returning the car so we just went along.
Then the financing guy showed us a Used Car form and asked us for signatures. We were totally blind-sided when he said they had to sell the car as a used car. When I asked for an explanation, he said the car was a return from a customer therefore they have to sell the car as a used car. I told him we must have a mix-up with the paperwork. I told him that the sales guy said the Leaf was an orphan, not a return so we must be talking about two different cars. The financing guy called the sales guy into the office to talk to us. Then the sales guy told us that this car was originally ordered by someone and the car was picked up. However, the buyer drove the car around for a few rounds and decided not to like it. I had to asked several times before they said the previous buyer has done more than just driving the car around for 40 miles. The person that ordered the car had actually taken legal title of the car. The sales person then had the audacity to tell us that Nissan would register the car under that person's name automatically as part of the on-line ordering process before the car get to the dealership. Fortunately we have already talked to a few dealerships and reading this forum to know that were all B.S. This dealership have to sell this leaf as a used car because the car was pre-owned. I asked them what would happen to the $7,500 federal tax credit under this scenario. They said they don't know. Of course by this time, my husband was hot that the sales guy made a critical omission of the "pre-owned" fact when he sold us the car. Both of the sales and financing guys also avoided my tax credit question. We of course stopped the transaction at this time. I told them that we are not going through with the transaction until I know I could still get the $7,500 tax credit.
When we read the tax credit qualification criteria again after we returned home, it is pretty clear to us that the person must be the original owner of the car to claim the credit. The more we thought about this, the more we think this could be a tax credit scam. Who in the right mind would go through all of the car buying paperwork to take title for a day and then pay a $500 restocking fee to return a Leaf after 40 miles of driving? There is no way a dealership would allow someone to take the car home unless all the purchase contract is all signed. 40 miles isn't enough for someone to decide it was the wrong car; that could be the distance of a extensive test drive. The previous buyer probably just want to own the car for one day to claim the tax credit. The fact that the dealership did not bring up the tax credit issue and acted ignorant about the tax implication of the "pre-owned" Leaf also made me question their practice. The fair market value of the car should be at least $7,500 less and they are trying to sell us this "pre-owned" car as a brand new car. Getting a tax credit of $7,500 and selling the car for a brand new price plus $4,000 of extended warranty is a very sweet deal, don't you think? :twisted:
We definitely won't do business with this dealer again. At a minimum, they are not being upfront with the title of the car and the tax credit implication for the pre-ownership.
Read our experience with the Folsom Lake Nissan below.
--------------------------------------
We ordered a 2012 Glacier Pearl SL on line and we sent out the request for orphan 2011 model to the local dealerships in Sacramento. On August 25, 2011 we were contacted by Nissan of Folsom Lake about a 2011 Glacier White SL orphan. The dealer was willing to sell the Leaf for $385 under MSRP after several rounds of negotiation via email. The sales guy mentioned that the car just came in and preparation was needed in the shop. He said if we sign the contract Friday (8/26/2011) evening, the car would be ready for pick-up Monday (8/29/2011). We thought it sounded good so we drove to the dealership after work Friday. We looked at the car in the shop and it looked fine. We agreed to buy the car.
The first negative experience was the financing guy pushing a 96 mons/100,000 Gold Premium extended warranty for $3,997. When we said it was too expensive he gave us a "wholesale" quote of $2,997. He kept pushing the extended warranty for another 15 minutes. He really had our best interest in mind because new technology could be very unreliable. When he finally stopped pushing it, we continued with the paperwork and signed a few pieces of paper such as the contract language, DMV title, and a $500 restocking fee form in case we return the car. We thought it was common for dealers to try to make a few more bucks to sell extended warranty so we thought it was annoying but accepted it as common practice. We didn't quite understand the restocking fee thing but since we have no intention of returning the car so we just went along.
Then the financing guy showed us a Used Car form and asked us for signatures. We were totally blind-sided when he said they had to sell the car as a used car. When I asked for an explanation, he said the car was a return from a customer therefore they have to sell the car as a used car. I told him we must have a mix-up with the paperwork. I told him that the sales guy said the Leaf was an orphan, not a return so we must be talking about two different cars. The financing guy called the sales guy into the office to talk to us. Then the sales guy told us that this car was originally ordered by someone and the car was picked up. However, the buyer drove the car around for a few rounds and decided not to like it. I had to asked several times before they said the previous buyer has done more than just driving the car around for 40 miles. The person that ordered the car had actually taken legal title of the car. The sales person then had the audacity to tell us that Nissan would register the car under that person's name automatically as part of the on-line ordering process before the car get to the dealership. Fortunately we have already talked to a few dealerships and reading this forum to know that were all B.S. This dealership have to sell this leaf as a used car because the car was pre-owned. I asked them what would happen to the $7,500 federal tax credit under this scenario. They said they don't know. Of course by this time, my husband was hot that the sales guy made a critical omission of the "pre-owned" fact when he sold us the car. Both of the sales and financing guys also avoided my tax credit question. We of course stopped the transaction at this time. I told them that we are not going through with the transaction until I know I could still get the $7,500 tax credit.
When we read the tax credit qualification criteria again after we returned home, it is pretty clear to us that the person must be the original owner of the car to claim the credit. The more we thought about this, the more we think this could be a tax credit scam. Who in the right mind would go through all of the car buying paperwork to take title for a day and then pay a $500 restocking fee to return a Leaf after 40 miles of driving? There is no way a dealership would allow someone to take the car home unless all the purchase contract is all signed. 40 miles isn't enough for someone to decide it was the wrong car; that could be the distance of a extensive test drive. The previous buyer probably just want to own the car for one day to claim the tax credit. The fact that the dealership did not bring up the tax credit issue and acted ignorant about the tax implication of the "pre-owned" Leaf also made me question their practice. The fair market value of the car should be at least $7,500 less and they are trying to sell us this "pre-owned" car as a brand new car. Getting a tax credit of $7,500 and selling the car for a brand new price plus $4,000 of extended warranty is a very sweet deal, don't you think? :twisted:
We definitely won't do business with this dealer again. At a minimum, they are not being upfront with the title of the car and the tax credit implication for the pre-ownership.
