Buy, Extend OR Turn In

[forbayca]

I know in Bay Area Nissan finance had offered several people I know month to month extension on their leaf . Very recent . Same rate and miles are pro rated per month - essentially 1000 miles if someone had 12K per yr.

 

[zevilone]

I just got off the phone with them. They confirmed the lease extension program is no longer, but if you have a flyer they sent anytime this year, the fine print says "Offer good through lease expiration date" I was told if I could email or fax them a copy of the flyer they would honor the lease extension.

 

[bradbissell]

I spoke with Nissan yesterday about a lease extension and was told flat out "no". They want $14000 for my base SV with 37000miles and 95%SOH on the battery, so I guess it is going back to Nissan to find a new home unless someone out there can convince me otherwise. Now I'm stuck trying to figure out if I want to buy a 2015, lease a 2016, or buy/lease a 2016 Volt. I have until April to decide. Hopefully the prices on all the cars come down by then.

 

[zevilone]

I spoke with Nissan yesterday about a lease extension and was told flat out "no". They want $14000 for my base SV with 37000miles and 95%SOH on the battery, so I guess it is going back to Nissan to find a new home unless someone out there can convince me otherwise. Now I'm stuck trying to figure out if I want to buy a 2015, lease a 2016, or buy/lease a 2016 Volt. I have until April to decide. Hopefully the prices on all the cars come down by then.

That stinks, I received the flyer last month and luckily i kept it since my lease is up 12/22. She said as long as I have it they will honor it due to the fine print.

 

[kurtww]

We decided not to fight Nissan on extending the lease further, and instead are buying a 2013 Leaf SL in Blue Ocean, basically a twin of our existing one except half the miles (12k) and no premium package. We also get a new Colorado electric vehicle tax credit. Net cost around $10,500. I don't recall the last time I bought a car and felt like I was getting such a deal. Also we can keep our Bill Davis hitch and EVSE upgraded charger.

It will be a bit awkward to convince people we actually have a different car. I wonder if the DMV would notice if I just switched the plates... :lol:

 

[GlennD]

We decided not to fight Nissan on extending the lease further, and instead are buying a 2013 Leaf SL in Blue Ocean, basically a twin of our existing one except half the miles (12k) and no premium package. We also get a new Colorado electric vehicle tax credit. Net cost around $10,500. I don't recall the last time I bought a car and felt like I was getting such a deal. Also we can keep our Bill Davis hitch and EVSE upgraded charger.

It will be a bit awkward to convince people we actually have a different car. I wonder if the DMV would notice if I just switched the plates... :lol:

17 years ago I hit a motorcycle and the plates were for his other bike. It turns out he had three motorcycles and just switched the plates. That worked fine until the accident! It is a bad idea since you have no insurance coverage.

 

[dm33]

I called NMAC tonight, 45 minute hold time. Nissan seems schizophrenic. Sometimes they seem very eager to get people into a LEAF and keep them there, other times they swing the other way and do everything possible to push them away.

Extend: They are no longer allowing lease extensions.

Buy: They've actually RAISED the price on buying out our car by reducing the discount that was $6500 a few months ago to $5000. It is insane. Meanwhile they are NOT reducing our insanely high residual. On our SV it was $20,600. Seriously! You could buy a new S for that after tax rebate. Obviously the car continues to lose value as it gets older and additional miles pile up, warranty expires, higher range 2016 coming out etc. Yet they are only reducing the $20,600 residual by a fraction of our payments during the extension. Its down to $19,900. Seriously.

I asked if they're able to negotiate or if I can make an offer and they said they that NMAC does not negotiate nor accept offers.

Meanwhile there are very few 2015 SVs left around in this area so its unlikely they're going to deal on them and they don't match what we'd like to have.

2016s have yet to arrive in quantity to the lease quotes here are very high, as if they don't want to sell one, because they don't have them anyway. I've heard lease rates as high as $600/mo while our current lease is $205/mo.

We've enjoyed the LEAF very much. Its been great having an electric car. In the 2 1/2 years we've had it, no other electric cars have appeared on the market other than the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S that was already available. Lease rates for the i3 are now also much higher than a few months ago.

I was in denial. I had always assumed we'd find a way to keep our LEAF or get one to replace it, but I'm coming to the realization that it is almost assured that we will no longer have a LEAF in a couple of months and will be filling up with gas again. The oil industry wins. Hard to argue with gas prices now as low as $1.87 around here.

I'm in general not please with this on again off again Nissan. Sometimes they can be nice and very interested in keeping you in the car, and for others they deny warranty if you're one mile over 60,000 or if you don't accept settlement terms.

It makes Nissan look like an undesirable company to buy a car from for any vehicle. Too erratic.

 

[alcalira]

Same boat here. 39 month lease on 2012 SL ends in 60 days. It's lost 2 bars, so as much as I love it, I wouldn't want to buy it. No option to extend, per NMAC. Maybe I should ask again? I wouldn't mind continuing to send in $225 a month if I get to keep driving it. I'm considering a 2016 SV, if there are good lease deals come February. Also considering e-Golf, which has good lease deals now. But that car doesn't have the range of the 2016 SV, and the QC (which I need) is extra cost on the SE. Hoping to minimize the drive off costs and keep the payment in the sub-$200 range. Hadn't considered the i3 but maybe it's worth a look. Fiat 500 is too small. I've got one VW dealer crunching numbers on a 2015 e-Golf that has an advertised lease of $229, 0 down, drive off of tax and license around $1500. It does have QC.

I also like the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car, and I can get one because there are fueling stations here in CA. But it's $3700 down and $499/mo. Not comfortable with that, much as it would be fun and interesting to have that car.

I'll be facing this quandary again in May, when 2013 SV lease ends (yes we have two).

For you, one thought would be to return your Leaf and then buy a lower-mileage used one. I saw a 2012 SL the other day at CarMax with only 8K on the odometer for $13,000. There are quite a few out there with 20,000 or fewer miles. You could also get into a 2013 that way, and get several improvements such as the heat pump and 6.6 charger.

 

[dm33]

Same boat here. 39 month lease on 2012 SL ends in 60 days. It's lost 2 bars, so as much as I love it, I wouldn't want to buy it. No option to extend, per NMAC. Maybe I should ask again? I wouldn't mind continuing to send in $225 a month if I get to keep driving it. I'm considering a 2016 SV, if there are good lease deals come February. Also considering e-Golf, which has good lease deals now. But that car doesn't have the range of the 2016 SV, and the QC (which I need) is extra cost on the SE. Hoping to minimize the drive off costs and keep the payment in the sub-$200 range. Hadn't considered the i3 but maybe it's worth a look. Fiat 500 is too small. I've got one VW dealer crunching numbers on a 2015 e-Golf that has an advertised lease of $229, 0 down, drive off of tax and license around $1500. It does have QC.

I also like the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car, and I can get one because there are fueling stations here in CA. But it's $3700 down and $499/mo. Not comfortable with that, much as it would be fun and interesting to have that car.

I'll be facing this quandary again in May, when 2013 SV lease ends (yes we have two).

For you, one thought would be to return your Leaf and then buy a lower-mileage used one. I saw a 2012 SL the other day at CarMax with only 8K on the odometer for $13,000. There are quite a few out there with 20,000 or fewer miles. You could also get into a 2013 that way, and get several improvements such as the heat pump and 6.6 charger.

I had seen 2013 used sv going for $10,200. But it was only one with quick charge. I've seen several at that price but without quick charge. And they've been sitting there for over a month so they're hard to sell even at that price.

We've received a decent quote on a 2015 but we're not sure it's worth the risk. Hard to know how little it might be worth in a couple of years when the 200 mile LEAF is out and the Bolt and the Model 3. 86 mile car with degraded battery might be worthless given Nissans attitude of not supporting newer batteries in the older vehicles for regulatory reasons despite having not technical reason why it wouldn't work.

We're debating between a Mini Cooper and a VW golf. I've grown weary of Nissan on again off again games. If I were in CA I'd go for the eGolf. But they refuse to sell it here.

 

[cwerdna]

buy a lower-mileage used one. I saw a 2012 SL the other day at CarMax with only 8K on the odometer for $13,000. There are quite a few out there with 20,000 or fewer miles. You could also get into a 2013 that way, and get several improvements such as the heat pump and 6.6 charger.

Yes, to possibly buying a used one.

$13K for a 2012 Leaf is way too much, despite the low mileage.

I bought a used '13 SV w/premium package only that was about 25 months old and had under 24K miles for $9,325 + tax and license back in mid-July 2015 (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=430825#p430825). Unfortunately, used prices did get worse not long after I bought. I haven't tracked them since but it sounds like they're still higher than when I bought.

 

[TomT]

Yep, for that and some other reasons, they have lost me as a repeat customer. The Leaf will be my first and last Nissan...

It makes Nissan look like an undesirable company to buy a car from for any vehicle. Too erratic.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The only other car I bought new was a 1986 Honda Civic Si. That experience was great: the salesman was low-key (we had tried to buy an Accord from him a year earlier, but were disproved for credit because I hadn't been at my job long enough then) and polite, and the whole experience wasn't especially unpleasant, and equally important, it didn't last for six hours. Over the years, though, that same Honda dealership, run by the same people, has transformed into the sort of TV-AD-pitching, sleazy operation that many of us have now come to associate with Nissan. I see ads by the same hucksters selling Toyotas as I do Hyundais - only the brand seems to change in the ads. IOW, I think the problem is more systemic than it is brand-specific.

 

[jpa2825]

If anyone would like me to send them a copy of my letter which included the "right to extend the lease exists up through the end of the lease" language, PM me. If you don't have your actual letter, I would think if you read the exact language off the letter an NMAC representative would be hard pressed not to allow you to extend. I know they have a form for doing so because I did it at the very end of NOV when my Lease expired (11.24.15) and the rep confirmed that it was basically a month-to-month extension and could be turned in at any time after the extension was granted. I even wrote that on the amendment they sent me before I signed it and sent it back to them. If they want to fight with me about it when I turn it in before 12.31.15, I'm ready to go on that front.