What if you weren't one of the 20K who reserved the Leaf?

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elsa4sound

New member
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
Messages
3
Hi,
I'm in Baltimore, MD, and thought that we'd eventually get a Leaf next year or the year after. But, our 1997 Civic died last week, and we're looking for a car now.

What if we weren't forward-thinking enough to reserve. Is there a chance to be able to get a Leaf any time in 2010 or January 2011?

Thanks!
Elsa
 
The Short answer is NO. We had to jump in within minutes on April 20. 2010. You will have to wait until the next round of reservations open up. You could get maybe if your lucky late 2011 or early 2012
 
Hi Elsa,
There is a chance, and it is called "pay dealer extra for an orphaned order".

No one from the public has taken delivery yet, and it will still be a few weeks for the first cars to be sold in the rollout areas (end of December / early January depending on the schedule). My opinion is that your best bet coming from outside the reservation / ordering system is to cozy up to a local dealer and get on his "orphan" list and be willing to pay a premium price to get a car that someone else who preordered decides not to purchase.

Otherwise I think it will be a longer wait...
 
You could talk with a few Nissan dealers with lots of Leaf orders and wait for a reserved car to become orphaned, when someone doesn't follow through with their purchase for whatever reason. Or you could buy one used when someone discovers they were wrong about its fit to their needs or circumstances change or greed beckons. Either way you'd expect to pay well above MSRP.

Or you could buy a used Prius or Sentra or anything right now for a couple of years. Then there should be plenty of Leafs available off the lot at any dealer, plus EVs from Ford, Audi, BMW, and others - even GM.
 
That's what I thought. Thanks for the options!!

Our other car is a 2004 Prius. Our pickup had died in late 2003, and we had to wait 4 months for a Prius. That was difficult in Baltimore to share 1 car between us, where the mass transit is lacking.

I think we'll probably get another Prius, and try to get on the next list of reservations, or however they'll handle the next group (where I don't have to pay more than sticker). We said we wouldn't buy another gas car, but I should have been keeping better tabs on the Leaf.

I wonder how long the Fed tax rebate will last. Hopefully for a little while.

Thanks!
Elsa
 
Elsa, I disagree that most people will try to charge more than MSRP. Most people are not buying a Leaf because they think it is an investment (like gold) that will grow in value. On the contrary, many are paying more than they have ever paid for a car and many have always frugally bought used cars up to now. By buying a Leaf they are willing to do their part to actually donate their time and money in order to help this country move (hopefully) to a much more sustainable future. If shortly after purchasing my Leaf I found I could not continue to drive it, either say because of disability or financial problems, I would want to sell it to a buyer with similar motivations to my own. If that buyer could not afford what I paid, I (and I suspect many others) would in fact be willing to discount it (even substantially). The Leaf does not represent just another car -- it represents a more hopeful future.
 
elsa4sound said:
I wonder how long the Fed tax rebate will last. Hopefully for a little while.

It applies to the first 200,000 vehicles of each manufacturer. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206871,00.html With Nissan having only the capacity to ship 20,000 cars per year to the U.S. the credit should easily extend into the 2013 model year. Then after the Tennessee plant opens building 150,000 cars per year, they should hit the limit.
 
elsa4sound said:
I think we'll probably get another Prius, and try to get on the next list of reservations, or however they'll handle the next group (where I don't have to pay more than sticker). We said we wouldn't buy another gas car, but I should have been keeping better tabs on the Leaf.

I wonder how long the Fed tax rebate will last. Hopefully for a little while.

Talk to a Nissan dealer and get a deal to buy a used car from them & return it to them for small difference when you can buy a Leaf. I think you can get one sometime at the end of 2011 or early 2012.
 
Get on the sign in sheet today. Yes you have a bit of a wait to go through the normal process. If you snag something before you can just as easy cancel the normal process.
 
smkettner said:
Get on the sign in sheet today. Yes you have a bit of a wait to go through the normal process. If you snag something before you can just as easy cancel the normal process.
I registered on the Nissan site, but it says that they won't be accepting new reservations "until the next phase begins," which appears to be next year.

I'm not sure if it's possible to find Leaf-friendly dealers in a region, but I'd love to talk to a sales person and would be willing to talk about getting a used car from them until a Leaf becomes available.

Thanks for all the helpful advice and I'm so glad I found this site!! Honestly, to me the best car is no car, but this seems like the next best thing.

Elsa
 
I'm noting that Elsa says she lives in Maryland,(phase II of the roll out) so any chance for a dealer orphan isn't until April 2011 at the earliest. If she can wait until then, I would suggest that she find a local dealer that would put her on a dealer waiting list for an orphan, or first post 20k orders(But check to see if they plan to charge MSRP+ on their orphans).

IMHO, those that missed the first 20K reservations should be working with a local dealer just like they would for any car purchase, Nissan cut off the Web reservations so they can go back to business as usual for selling the Leaf like any other model thru their dealers.
 
MikeD said:
many are paying more than they have ever paid for a car and many have always frugally bought used cars up to now.
Exactly! Hoping to squeeze another year out of my 1991 Camry until the LEAF becomes available in the "forgotten 36". The LEAF will be the first new car I've ever bought. I managed to get in before they closed off reservations, so I won't have to wait for an orphan.
 
MikeD said:
many are paying more than they have ever paid for a car and many have always frugally bought used cars up to now.

That would be me. This is my first new car, and I'm almost 50. My used cars as a kid were all junkers. My used cars as an adult have been carefully researched and purchased well, after waiting patiently for a good deal to come along. I've only once paid more than $10,000 for a car, and that was my wife's Mercedes (so not really mine), which was only 4 years old at the time.
 
There is a way to become a Nissan Leaf owner without being on the registration list. I am a Nissan dealer in Austin,TX and 2 out of 3 Nissan Leaf EV's that I have sold were orphan cars. This means that the person who originally ordered the vehicle backed out of the deal after the car arrived. This then makes the car available for purchase. My first customers walked in off the street and bought the car. They had no idea that we had one available...it was sheer luck on their part. I now have a list of people who are on the list, but would rather have one "now" instead of waiting. My dealership offers these orphaned vehicles for sticker....no mark up!!!!
 
vitocardosi said:
There is a way to become a Nissan Leaf owner without being on the registration list. I am a Nissan dealer in Austin,TX and 2 out of 3 Nissan Leaf EV's that I have sold were orphan cars. This means that the person who originally ordered the vehicle backed out of the deal after the car arrived. This then makes the car available for purchase. My first customers walked in off the street and bought the car. They had no idea that we had one available...it was sheer luck on their part. I now have a list of people who are on the list, but would rather have one "now" instead of waiting. My dealership offers these orphaned vehicles for sticker....no mark up!!!!

Maybe you didn't notice that Elsa was from Maryland. She needs to wait for Phase II and have the 'winterized' package. Also, there wouldn't be any dealers authorized to work on LEAFs yet in Maryland.
 
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