buying a used 2012 leaf

[leafbuyer]

hi all. great forum. i'm in the market for a leaf and i'm considering a used 2012. i'm only looking at cars with all its bars and not from very hot states. my commute is short 15 miles round trip with maybe another ten if i run errands. what are your thoughts? prices are running around 18,500. some low miles some 20,000+.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Sounds good. You have a perfect range, and the $18-20k range for low miles and 12 bars, no hot climate history is reaonable.

Could you list your location in your profile? Thanks.

Good luck.

Enjoy!

 

[javan]

Sounds good. I saw a 2011 red Leaf yesterday at McCrea Nissan in Eureka that had been traded in for a 2013 model. Car has all of 3800 miles on it and priced at $18,500. My wife went over to our neighbor to encourage them to buy it. Quite a deal.

 

[Randy]

I would caution that you might not really know the origin of the car and whether it was driven in hot weather country. We've already seen instances of cars being moved around and sold elsewhere...

So if they're willing to prove that it came from a local owner (assuming you're in a cooler part of the country), then it would be okay...

On the other hand, Nissan is supposed to be launching a Certified Pre Owned program for used LEAFs (complete with warranty), so maybe you'd want one from a high temperature place so you'll qualify for a new battery sooner...

 

[SteveInSeattle]

Carfax will tell you where the car was first sold and then registered, so you should have no trouble determining an Arizona car from an Oregon car, for example. Calculate the cost of a new Leaf minus the tax incentives.. for example, in Washington state there is no sales tax on a new one, but there is on a used one, so 20K used becomes 22K and 30K new becomes 22.5K with federal tax credit. Based on the low trade-in values, you probably can get the used one cheaper than 18.

 

[RonDawg]

i'm in the market for a leaf and i'm considering a used 2012. i'm only looking at cars with all its bars...

Keep in mind that a "12 bar" car can have up to 15% battery capacity loss, and that Nissan considers 30% capacity loss to be eligible for warranty replacement if it occurs before 5 years/60k from original in-service.

 

[Staque]

I would not consider a used leaf without using Leaf Spy (formerly Leaf Battery App) to get the statistics. I would even ask the dealer or seller to charge to 80% before I arrive, and then let me watch it charge to 100% on Leaf Spy so I can see how many gids, how it balances, etc. Then take it on a test drive to turtle.

It sounds nuts, and it may sound nuts to the dealer, and it may take an entire day, but the range of possible conditions of a Leaf is so large, it would be the only way I could be confident and set a price.

 

[dgpcolorado]

It would be best for a used LEAF buyer to borrow or buy a "Gid" meter of some sort (or get the necessary cable and Android app, Staque mentions above, if one has a smart phone of that variety). Then you can check how the battery capacity is holding up, no guessing needed.

GregH sells the "Leaf Dash Display" meter for $95 shipped, last I checked. Worth every penny.