Helllllp!

We just purchased a 2011 Nissan Leaf from a used car dealer in Cincinnati. It was intended to be a gift for our daughter’s 17 th birthday.
The car has 26k miles on it and is in pristine condition. However, the battery only reads 8 bars, and when charged fully, it will display a 51 mile range. This was just fine with us...until we drove the thing off the lot, and could not even get it to the house which was 40 miles away. The range depleted rapidly, and resulted in a three hour trip... It was complete debacle. We were more than willing to replace the battery, and pay the new battery price because the car is so pristine, and could give our daughter years of use...
HOWEVER...the dealer is quoting $12k for the replacement and we just won’t pay that... are there any options anywhere? We have searched endlessly and it seems we are stuck with a lemon with no hope. Help!

I'm not sure if you did, but this post covers things you need to know before buying a used LEAF: https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662&p=538030

Sadly, the "range" shown on the LEAF dashboard is *not* to be believed as the real world range. It depends upon how and where you drive. Driving at highway speeds will reduce the real range substantially.

How long ago was the purchase? Does your state have a lemon law that might apply to the purchase?

Return the car if you can, otherwise call other dealers for battery replacement quotes. With a little luck you will find $7,000 - $8,000. I would not pay that for a replacement 24 kWh battery (that may have been sitting on a shelf for years) but you may decide differently.

You should also consider getting an OBD2 wireless connector and the LeafSpy app. If the low range is due to a weak cell you have a better argument with the dealership (or the court) that the '8 bar' battery capacity is misleading. I doubt that is the case, but you should check for the $30 or so dollars it costs, and if you are stuck with the car the app will help you drive further than the built-in display suggests since you will know the exact amount of charge remaining.

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Sorry to say, the dealership took advantage of your lack of LEAF-fu

If you can return the car, read my buying guide before buying another used Leaf. Heck, read it anyway, as the first section covers your problem...

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662&p=538030

Give these guys a call:

https://www.greentecauto.com/locations/cleveland

Apparently, they do LEAF battery pack swaps. If you can have them retrofit a 40kWh pack then that would be your best option.

Eggplant1 said:

We just purchased a 2011 Nissan Leaf from a used car dealer in Cincinnati. It was intended to be a gift for our daughter’s 17 th birthday.
The car has 26k miles on it and is in pristine condition. However, the battery only reads 8 bars, and when charged fully, it will display a 51 mile range. This was just fine with us...until we drove the thing off the lot, and could not even get it to the house which was 40 miles away. The range depleted rapidly, and resulted in a three hour trip... It was complete debacle. We were more than willing to replace the battery, and pay the new battery price because the car is so pristine, and could give our daughter years of use...
HOWEVER...the dealer is quoting $12k for the replacement and we just won’t pay that... are there any options anywhere? We have searched endlessly and it seems we are stuck with a lemon with no hope. Help!

Click to expand...

It's really a shame, a car that probably looks like new very low miles but is really only good for local trips.
Like others, I'd strongly suggest trying to get your money back if you could, my state has something like a 48hr return period on cars but I believe this only applies to dealers, not a private party.
An '11 and almost as bad a '12 lacks several features on the 13's and on, I have both and really don't care for the '12, also the battery on the '11/12's were crap, also '13's up to 4/'13, after that they got better.
I personally wouldn't spend even $5k on a 24kwh battery on an almost decade-old car, low miles or not but you may feel different. Now if you got it for say $3-4k and you could get a new battery for $5k'ish but even that you'd have a decade-old first-generation car, I might be more inclined to do a battery swap on a '13+ Leaf but as someone mentioned you'd have to worry about how long the replacement battery has sat around, maybe a 40kwh battery but 24 is really outdated.

jjeff said:

my state has something like a 48hr return period on cars but I believe this only applies to dealers, not a private party.

Click to expand...

It does? If so, can you point me to a URL stating it exists for used cars in your state?

I never got an answer of a single state that actually mandated ths when I asked at https://priuschat.com/threads/which-states-have-a-cooling-off-return-period-on-new-cars.103928/.

Have you checked with a different dealer on battery replacement pricing?

cwerdna said:

jjeff said:

my state has something like a 48hr return period on cars but I believe this only applies to dealers, not a private party.

Click to expand...

It does? If so, can you point me to a URL stating it exists for used cars in your state?

I never got an answer of a single state that actually mandated ths when I asked at https://priuschat.com/threads/which-states-have-a-cooling-off-return-period-on-new-cars.103928/.

Click to expand...

I've been told by salesmen at several dealerships that such a law ("3 day cooling off") exists in Massachusetts, but I've never found actual proof of it. I just consider it yet another lie the dealership tells.


E.g., https://www.mass.gov/service-details/what-to-know-about-buying-or-leasing-a-car

Can I cancel the purchase of my car?

You do not have a 3-day right to cancel your purchase of a new or used vehicle if you are unhappy with the vehicle. Once a contract is signed, it is considered legally binding. However, you should still review all the terms of the vehicle sales contract or other written agreement to see if there is any part of it that would allow you to cancel the contract after it has been signed.

Click to expand...

In California, every new car dealer I've been to has very obvious signs at the desks you sit at w/the sales droid saying that there's no cooling off period and might even cite the lack of CA mandate.

according to this link below...no cooling off period in Ohio for motor vehicles.

https://ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/sit...cancellation must be,-mail, fax or telephone.

The auto lobby would NEVER allow a state to pass such a thing, because a substantial portion of their sales come from people who have been pressured for hours, and buy a car in large part to get out of the dealership and home. Sometimes that horrible process works in favor of the car buyer/lessee (it did for me in 2013) but usually it benefits only the dealership. If people could back out of those high-pressure contracts, the industry would lose a noticeable amount of money.

^good point. Maybe people are confused with the time allowed when buying a house. I seem to remember when buying and selling a house that there is a short period after the deal is signed that the buyer can back out without penalty.

Eggplant1,

I was able to make my 52-mile round trip commute (26 miles each way) with normal air conditioning use in my 2011 when it was down to 8 capacity bars before Nissan replaced the battery, but there was not much reserve. These cars have significant range after the first low battery warning if one is not afraid to use it. Information available using the Leaf Spy application with a suitable Bluetooth OBDII adapter helps manage the remaining range and also shows more information about the condition of the battery. I strongly recommend getting Leaf Spy if you keep the car.

If you are unable to return the car to the used car dealer, look for a Nissan dealer that has more experience with LEAFs. I priced a replacement battery pack for my 2011 during negotiations with the other driver's insurance company after the crash in 2015 and for my 2015 when its range became insufficient for my round trip commute last summer. The prices were $5,000 to $6,000 at my dealer (who has a lot of experience replacing batteries) so your quote of $12,000 seems way out of line. I doubt that the price has doubled since last summer.

cwerdna said:

jjeff said:

my state has something like a 48hr return period on cars but I believe this only applies to dealers, not a private party.

Click to expand...

It does? If so, can you point me to a URL stating it exists for used cars in your state?

I never got an answer of a single state that actually mandated ths when I asked at https://priuschat.com/threads/which-states-have-a-cooling-off-return-period-on-new-cars.103928/.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected, like a previous poster said the auto lobby would probably never let it happen.
You have a 3-day cancel policy on door to door sales which I was probably thinking about but not cars.