End of Lease Strategies?

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DuncanCunningham said:
After seeing all of this I feel a little guilty getting $8000 off our 2015 residual last February, over a year before the leased ended. We bought our car for $8960 plus $500 markup for the dealership and the usual fees, taxes etc. So I think it was $9700 in all but at the time you could see listings for 2015 S for about $9000 in our area. I was glad I didn't wait but you never know. By June this year used Leafs might be flooding the market again? But I think general EV acceptance is on the rise and last year the very low price of Nissan leaf got lots of interest.

You really did hit the sweet spot. I think the dealers got tired of being cut out of the deal by NMAC and complained so that's why were in our current situation. Was so much better when the deals were clear and in the open.

Did I mention I hate stealerships?
 
Has anyone with a low residual value (say $8500 at lease end) managed to negotiate a further discount to purchase it? I’m on the fence...
 
72andsunny said:
Has anyone with a low residual value (say $8500 at lease end) managed to negotiate a further discount to purchase it? I’m on the fence...
I think what dealerships do now is that they look at the price of your car then compare that with the market and then either give you a deal if it's worth it to them or take it off your hands and resell it themselves. Either way the dealership gets the dibs on making money or not bothering.
 
DuncanCunningham said:
72andsunny said:
Has anyone with a low residual value (say $8500 at lease end) managed to negotiate a further discount to purchase it? I’m on the fence...
I think what dealerships do now is that they look at the price of your car then compare that with the market and then either give you a deal if it's worth it to them or take it off your hands and resell it themselves. Either way the dealership gets the dibs on making money or not bothering.

You will never know until you try. Times change, conditions change and right now used LEAF values are thru the roof but with 2018's coming available, the used car market will start to drop. But, I have pretty strong evidence that the car's value is preset by NMAC. On my 2013, I received a crazy offer that I tossed because it "seemed" too good to be true. Well, it likely was true, at least in part.


I turned my 2013 in when I picked up my 2016 and 3 days later, my NMAC account received a payment for $400 less than the unbelievable offer I had received 6 months earlier. So I can believe that I now know what the perk to the dealership to sell lease returns but in reality, the dealership made a quick 60% profit because it was gone just over a month later.
 
Has anyone in CA tried getting a lease extension lately? I would like to keep my 15 LEAF until 2019 and then get a car eligible for the new HOV sticker.
 
EVforRobert said:
Has anyone in CA tried getting a lease extension lately? I would like to keep my 15 LEAF until 2019 and then get a car eligible for the new HOV sticker.

Just got new paperwork from NMAC in the mail today. Not all the way to 2019, but it's a start...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=25281&p=519534#p519534
 
Ok, to close out this saga...

The Leaf went back officially today. Had a good experience with AIM on the vehicle inspection last week. No chargeable damage. Inspection took about 10 minutes and the inspector was very professional.

When I took it back to the dealer, the salesperson was very apologetic they couldn't get me a better deal. He actually showed me where NMAC has increased the minimum buyout price to a point where, after adding fees/etc., the buyout will always be above $10k. He said this was the highest minimum buyout they've seen and it has been going up by month. So even if they are reducing residual, it doesn't matter, they won't sell it to you under $10k. This was confirmed by my contact with two other dealers here in the state. I guess they're selling them for more than I'm willing to pay. This 3.5 year old car is not worth $10k in my opinion. In the end, I got to drive it for 3.5 years for a total cost of about $4600/year. Not excellent, but not terrible I guess. If I had financed it, that amount along with the Fed and CO credits would probably have covered the whole note. I still think it's a good car and I'm actually sad to see it go.

Anyway, all that dealer nonsense is just more evidence that I made the correct decision finishing my relationship up with NMAC and Nissan. They can play shady games with other people. I will enjoy driving (mostly) electric in my new Honda Clarity PHEV until an affordable, long-range BEV is finally available. I would also pick up a Clarity BEV if I lived in CA or OR since you can get them on 36mo lease for $199/month with $900 down.

Anyway, best of luck all. I'll check in on the Battery and Charging section from time to time as this was truly the land of pioneers and the stuff there is of great value, historic and current.
 
AlanSqB said:
I will enjoy driving (mostly) electric in my new Honda Clarity PHEV until an affordable, long-range BEV is finally available.
I looked up the car -- it looks like a very good choice, and probably better than my Prius Prime depending on actual prices paid.

How far is the 17 kWh battery taking you compared to the LEAF ? Quick arithmetic says that Honda is using some 76% of the battery capacity, which is quite a bit more than the ~ 63% of my Prime. I suppose time will tell if Honda has figured out battery longevity or we get a replay of the battery mess Honda found itself in with hybrids.

If you bought the car, you may wish to consider avoiding use of the bottom 10% of available battery and putting some effort into not letting the battery sit at full charge for long. As a prior LEAF owner you should be well trained ;-)
 
It keeps a "hybrid reserve" at the bottom. It can still run in hybrid vehicle mode even when EV range gets to 0. I will admit to not having figured out all the numbers. There are others on the Clarity forums that are working on those details.

As for my range right now, it's been crappy since it's so freaking cold here (also in CO). I am getting about 33 miles before the engine has to kick in, but I have also been driving "normally" and enjoying full heat and preheating the cabin before every drive, even off the charger. So, I could probably hypermile, etc and get a little more. I'll do some real tests once the temperature gets back to a reasonable level.

Honda still hasn't gotten it 100% right. The Guess-O-Meter on this car is a hot mess. They also haven't given the dealers any chargers. They delivered the car to me with almost no EV range remaining. I had driven it two days before, right off the truck and had used most of the battery range that it was shipped with. Bought it that Saturday night but they couldn't deliver until Monday due to needing to complete the prep. I naively expected that they would at least plug it in for a bit before delivery, but no dice. I told the dealer they really have to get a J1772 installed because the thing is not nearly as fun to drive when the EV battery is out of range. They explained that it had a "full tank" to which i had to roll my eyes. They really broke the bank on the fill of the 7 gallon gas tank. I did get really nice, free, all-weather floor mats though.

On the other hand, the car is super comfortable and really nice inside. It drives really well. It's no Model S, but it's making me very happy. I've just never had a Hybrid, so the dissonance between the expected engine pitch and what it actually makes is still a little odd. Having your engine rev up out of sync with where your foot is on the pedal is like dancing to the wrong music, but I guess I'll get used to it.

In other news, do you still have your Model 3 reservation? Sounds like non-owners are getting orders in now.
 
AlanSqB said:
In other news, do you still have your Model 3 reservation? Sounds like non-owners are getting orders in now.
Yup!

I'm set with my current cars so whenever Tesla calls my number I'll sell either my LEAF or the Prime. I'm going to gamble and buy the AWD Model 3 in hopes that it can be a 20 year car.

I don't know anything about the Clarity PHEV but the Prime (and the Volt, IIRC) let you switch to HV mode even if battery charge remains. The car uses the SoC at the time of the switch to HV mode as the baseline for HV mode.
 
After reading all the posts here, no point in shopping around dealers for my 42 month old black 2015LEAF (S no QC) with one bar missing and 38K miles old. Also, i called Nalley Nissan and they told me the same thing. Even 9000 is not doable. They said the best time woudl have been earlier in the lease. Looks like I should have checked more seriously for offers when the 2 year lease was over. Oh well, it was a good run. 5 months free. So paid 209 per month for 35 months. 5000 state rebate cashed in with GA. No maintenance costs except for 2 sets of tires(I drive rashly as I am used to my other car , an infiniti, and have driven it jackrabbit style and taken it to 90mph often). Practically a free alternative to a gas car over that same period.

So I will arrange for an inspection next month. The rear bumper has three impacts over the years on the rear bumper. And 2 or 3 small scratches in other places of the car. There is also a chipped wheel cover. The collision place told me it would cost 900 bucks to fix the rear bumper and luckily all 3 parking lot dents all happened on the same part in different areas. not worth getting insurance to pay for it because of my deductible. Should I let them inspect it first and see what they want or get the rear bumper fixed and they said they can buff out one or two of those scratches. THat will leave just chipped wheel cover(a tiny portion) and probably a stray scratch elsewhere. Do you think they will take into account the length of the lease and give me a break on any scratches the body shop cant get buff out. Also, should I just let the adjuster see the whole car and see if their total bill might cost less than getting the bumper repaired?
 
I backed into some ice about three weeks ago and it cracked the rear bumper under the license plate. I was sure that was going to cost me because the crack was about 7 inches long. it was kind of a hairline crack, but absolutely noticeable to anyone who looked. However, between that and the few dings and some curb rash on the wheels, I still got no chargeable damage.

You might be surprised by the results of the inspection. I'd go ahead and schedule it and see what you get.
 
I bought a replacement bumper for my old Prius Wagon for under $100 from Ebay. I'm fortunate to have found a local guy who paints bumpers for about $150 and does a great job so the total cost was ~ $250
 
Glad to see this thread I started so long ago is still alive!!

My (Atlanta based) 2015 Nissan Leaf S with QC is rolling off lease in April 2018. This was originally a 24 month lease, but I extended a year ago when they offered 3 free payments.

I only have 20,500 miles on the Leaf and it hasn't lost any bars yet. Residual value is $9200. KBB Private Sale says the car is worth around $12k in good value. It's a great/cheap commuter car for me, but it's hard to use with a growing family of 4 kids.

I'd consider buying this vehicle if I could get out the door for $5 - 6k total, but from what I'm reading Nissan Finance isn't inclined to make many additional incentives right now. I may go back to a used ICE minivan.

Does the KBB value even apply? Or is it simply the residual value minus any Nissan Finance incentives the dealerships may share part of with me?

Thanks.

P.S. Can anyone share sample email scripts you have used with the dealerships?
 
sonnylax said:
Glad to see this thread I started so long ago is still alive!!

My (Atlanta based) 2015 Nissan Leaf S with QC is rolling off lease in April 2018. This was originally a 24 month lease, but I extended a year ago when they offered 3 free payments.

I only have 20,500 miles on the Leaf and it hasn't lost any bars yet. Residual value is $9200. KBB Private Sale says the car is worth around $12k in good value. It's a great/cheap commuter car for me, but it's hard to use with a growing family of 4 kids.

I'd consider buying this vehicle if I could get out the door for $5 - 6k total, but from what I'm reading Nissan Finance isn't inclined to make many additional incentives right now. I may go back to a used ICE minivan.

Does the KBB value even apply? Or is it simply the residual value minus any Nissan Finance incentives the dealerships may share part of with me?

Thanks.

P.S. Can anyone share sample email scripts you have used with the dealerships?

Nissan has spent the last 8 months increasing the value of used LEAFs and have succeeded. The average of used LEAFs in my area has jumped 20-40% in value.

Now phase 2 is starting. Put out new LEAFs with MUCH greater features but also at an average selling price that is $5-8,000 higher than the 2017's which helps keep used LEAF values high.

I personally think you can't go wrong with that residual. You might still get a bit of discount but nothing like they were offering a year ago. I know someone who recently got $1500 off theirs but their residual was much higher. Residuals in your range are getting very little if anything taken off.

What is your monthly? If its low, ask for another lease extension.
 
You probably won’t get anything off with that residual. That’s less than the “minimum payoff amount” I was told about from NMAC. Sounds like the cars are just worth more to them now than they were a year ago.
 
My 2015 SL lease ends in 1 month. Residual of $14k, which is what I've been quoted as buyout price, so I've made my peace with it going back. Had the inspection and all is well. Currently at 43,600 miles and hope to get as close to 45k as I can. SOH still showing at 99%, updated today in Leaf Spy since I had 5 temp bars, so it's a great car. Will be sad to send it back. Hope to test a new LEAF, but after reading some of the initial reviews here am leaning towards the Bolt.
 
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