Anyone know this 2013 SV w/QC listed for $13k in Raleigh NC?

[VTLeaf]

Long-time lurker (thank you all for all the fantastic free content/education) who's been scanning the market for a 13 SV w/QC ... and this one seems too good to be true: $3-5k below average .. am I missing something here? It had been in Greensborough NC until a few days ago when it disappeared and reappeared in Raleigh.

http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?id=11532769&Rp=M&AVi=0&Ep=mykmx:save%20carage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It shows all bars, and the dealer says it doesn't smell like smoke and that it displays 85 mi at full charge (not really banking on this, though - I'm looking for a used one to putter around my very short commute lifestyle and pop a new battery in to a few years down the line if needed). Says it has the charge cable.. one owner in history report, no accidents - I guess I'd have to call a Nissan dealer about the 'opt out' but I can't fathom that that'd be taken into consideration by Carmax in pricing Leafs?

Curious if I'm missing something to be suspicious of - OR if I were super lucky someone would say 'hey, I know that car'!

Thanks!

 

[knightmb]

Long-time lurker (thank you all for all the fantastic free content/education) who's been scanning the market for a 13 SV w/QC ... and this one seems too good to be true: $4-5k below average .. am I missing something here? It had been in Greensborough NC until a few days ago when it disappeared and reappeared in Raleigh.

http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/default.html?id=11532769&Rp=M&AVi=0&Ep=mykmx:save%20carage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It shows all bars, and the dealer says it doesn't smell like smoke and that it displays 85 mi at full charge (not really banking on this, though - I'm looking for a used one to putter around my very short commute lifestyle and pop a new battery in to a few years down the line if needed). Says it has the charge cable.. one owner in history report, no accidents - I guess I'd have to call a Nissan dealer about the 'opt out' but I can't fathom that that'd be taken into consideration by Carmax in pricing Leafs?

Curious if I'm missing something to be suspicious of - OR if I were super lucky someone would say 'hey, I know that car'!

Thanks!

It looks identical to mine (2013 SV, with QC, just Silver color instead of Red) and the recall was probably the car firmware update, so I would at least check to make sure that was done already. The mileage might explain the lower cost (mine was half the miles but it added an extra $2k to the price) The car history shows it being from NC its whole life; so no extreme hot temperature weather to worry about the life of the vehicle at least.
The mileage is about right for a vehicle a couple of years old, and at least the interior and exterior shots look clean. The previous owner had kids (I can tell by usage of the 3 point strap system ) The tire tread looks even, so the previous owner appears to have taken good care of it.

If you test drive it, be brutal to it, take off fast, stop hard, make sure no weird sounds can be heard, no weird feeling during acceleration or braking. Check the under the hood and look for anything leaking (not much to leak from just brake, coolant, and AC, but just in case). If it passes all the scrutiny, then it might be a worthwhile purchase.

 

[VTLeaf]

Thanks Knight. The link is now 'dead' because I asked them to transfer it to our nearest Carmax store, taking it off the market. I haven't dealt with Carmax before - and I LOVE negotiating so am sad to give that up - but based on everything I've been watching the price of this one is a real outlier - unless there's something I can't figure out that's wrong with it. Mileage is 23k, so I guess I could suspect a reset of the bars/range indicator if I want to be paranoid.

Funny that living in Vermont I consider NC a battery-cooking zone. All relative I guess! Speaking of relatives, good eye on the 'they have kids' front - if true I can't fathom how they kept the light grey upholstery so clean - if we buy it we definitely won't be able to!

Edited to add: the recall (still outstanding) was the airbag sensor one, a quick + free fix. It was a leased car turned in after a year and a half... hopefully a case of someone with an 80-mile-each-way commute saying "hey this POS won't meet my needs!! (some 100 mile car!)" - but I still don't know why it's >$1k less than all of Carmax's 2013 S models.

 

[knightmb]

Thanks Knight. The link is now 'dead' because I asked them to transfer it to our nearest Carmax store, taking it off the market. I haven't dealt with Carmax before - and I LOVE negotiating so am sad to give that up - but based on everything I've been watching the price of this one is a real outlier - unless there's something I can't figure out that's wrong with it. Mileage is 23k, so I guess I could suspect a reset of the bars/range indicator if I want to be paranoid.

It will all depend on how it was taken care of by the previous owner. With 23k miles, they used it a lot, they had kids, the interior was probably professional cleaned I would imagine but no dents and tears anywhere that I could see, so perhaps well behaved kids or maybe it was a newborn, so it wouldn't be kicking and clawing around during most of that time :lol:

Funny that living in Vermont I consider NC a battery-cooking zone. All relative I guess! Speaking of relatives, good eye on the 'they have kids' front - if true I can't fathom how they kept the light grey upholstery so clean - if we buy it we definitely won't be able to!

The last couple of years down here have been fair temperature wise, but I hear AZ is the best place to BBQ batteries

Edited to add: the recall (still outstanding) was the airbag sensor one, a quick + free fix. It was a leased car turned in after a year and a half... hopefully a case of someone with an 80-mile-each-way commute saying "hey this POS won't meet my needs!! (some 100 mile car!)" - but I still don't know why it's >$1k less than all of Carmax's 2013 S models.

Well to be fair to Carmax, they sometimes have a weird price structure. Sometimes they are too high to bother checking and other times like this, you find a vehicle that appears to defy price logic. My guess is the vehicle wasn't appraised for the feature set properly. That large price difference might be that they are not calculating properly for the QC package which would literally be that large difference. It's all mathematical formulas that they use based on prices around the area. Perhaps the area is barren of proper vehicles to compare to, so the area is surround by just basic "S" models everywhere and that is what they draw the comparison too. You'll know for sure when you get to test drive it. One thing I would check, make sure both the Heat Pump and the PTC electric heater work if you are driving around for the Vermont weather. The dash has the blue "eco" button where you can bring up the whole vehicle power usage charts, crank the heat on highest temperature, highest fan setting, windows down and make sure it is consuming at least 3kW to 4kW of power. The air should come out not just warm, but nice and hot. If you notice the power draw for the heat is only 1.5kW then only the heat pump is running (you'll get warm to fever warm air instead). Get the PTC fixed under warranty right away before next winter if you find this issue (still worth buying if you do find this issue).

Carmax should send you a "private" link to check out the pictures and specs afterwards at some point.

 

[VTLeaf]

Thanks Knightmb - followed all your test drive advice - it's part of our family now - only thing it's 'missing' is a backup camera, but for $13k and full capacity bars (and in my range test went 76 miles) I'm happy as a clam! Thanks for (knock on wood) apparently mis-pricing this one, Carmax!

 

[LeftieBiker]

Is there a Bose Stereo? With no backup camera, I'm guessing it's a rare bird: a Base SV with QC. That would explain the price as well, as most SVs seem to have have the Premium Package, including the All-Around View camera system.

 

[dm33]

Is there a Bose Stereo? With no backup camera, I'm guessing it's a rare bird: a Base SV with QC. That would explain the price as well, as most SVs seem to have have the Premium Package, including the All-Around View camera system.

Not unusual at all for this area. We've had two of them.

 

[VTLeaf]

No Bose. Still ~ 2k less than most '13 S models on Carmax. It would be interesting if there are stats on the different options - how many base/no-QC SVs, QC SVs, Premium-package SVs etc. - and how well they sell/lease/get returned.