TonyWilliams said:
lostinthetrees said:
Thanks for the quick response, Tony. I just got the estimate today, and will talk to the adjuster tomorrow. Hopefully you're right.
Tell the adjustor that you wouldn't feel safe in an electric car that has been this damaged. What if you get electrocuted and die?
You'll have a new car on Wednesday.
It certainly hasn't worked out that way for us. 3 weeks later and we're without a replacement and no hope of getting anywhere near our previous lease deal.
We did total our 2013 SV. A full size commercial van didn't see the red light at all and ran through the intersection at 50 mph. Very lucky they didn't t-bone us or we'd have been in the hospital. As it was, all four of us walked away with minor injuries and a very totaled LEAF. It looks really bad. The LEAF did great. No intrusion into the passenger compartment. Battery undamaged. I assume Tony is joking, trying to fan the flames (so to speak) of those who don't understand EVs to try and get the vehicle totaled.
I was worried because we have/had such an exceptional lease deal of only $205/mo.
I've been told there are two options.
1) The normal case is that the insurance company works with NMAC (which owns the car). NMAC comes up with a payoff amount which is generally the residual you have on the lease + payments left. The insurance company values the car. The insurance company pays NMAC the value of the car.
If the insurance payment is not enough to pay off the car, NMAC leases all have 'gap' insurance built in which will cover the difference. If there was no gap insurance, you would be liable for the difference.
Because there is gap insurance, whatever the insurance company pays NMAC for the car is enough and will end the lease.
You should still pay the lease until the car is declared totaled and that process is well in hand.
2) The second case involves "substitution of collateral". In this case, they find another vehicle that they can substitute for your and continue your existing lease.
We very much wanted to do this, but turns out not so easy. For whatever reason, NMAC says this has to go through your purchasing dealership. They get the money from the insurance company to find a replacement vehicle, same model, trim and mileage.
Gap insurance does not come into play if attempting substitution of collateral. If the payment from the insurance company isn't enough for a new car, then you'd have to pay in the difference.
In our case, the payment from the insurance company exceeded the payoff amount and the stealership, I mean "very helpful dealership" has now (3 weeks later) totally lost interest in pursuing this. They claim that substitution of collateral messes up the $7500 tax rebate. The dealership would have to apply for the rebate, not NMAC, not the lessor. So essentially, save your effort, a substitution of collateral doesn't work in practice. I wish we had been told that 3 weeks ago.
In our case, no one has any unique incentive to get us into a car again. We're out of our current lease and everyone is done. Its up to us to negotiate a new lease or purchase, and we're being given typical dealership treatment since we now really need a car and its mid-month.
Our current lease was $205/mo. with 1st month at signing. We did VPP but had gotten much better than VPP originally. All lease rates below where due at signing = monthly payment amount.
We were initially quoted $258 3 weeks ago by the dealership we had originally leased from.
Another dealership 3 weeks ago quoted us $315/mo.
More recently, I sat with a third dealership's manager who came up with a no-profit quote of $280/mo. I thought that was high because I thought we had $258 on the table. He said residuals had dropped since our lease in May, but the money factor was better.
When we went to verify our $258 offer from our original dealership, they had apparently lost interest. They wouldn't call back for 4 days, then came up with $330/mo for the same car. A manager said multiple obvious lies within the first two minutes on the phone and then claimed residuals and money factor had changed between October and November leading to this dramatic rate increase. I'd appreciate it if anyone had insight into the differences in residual and money factor between October and November this year. I doubt it would be that dramatic.
So here we sit. The insurance company has been paying for a rental while this sorts out but we have to turn it in today. We're down to 1 car which isn't enough for us. My current plan is to rent a car for a month at our cost and see if the lease deals sweeten as the 2014s start rolling out.
I'm hopeful lease rates will drop and dealerships will be more motivated because...
1) 2014s are about to come out.
2) 2014s include more content (rear camera). I think its likely Nissan may keep the same prices or even lower the price, but not raise it. That means a better car for your money.
3) Production has finally be increased to 2700/mo from 2000/mo.
4) Inventory levels have suddenly risen to a record high similar to production level. Its been around 2000 cars all year yet suddenly up to 2900 cars now.
5) Opportunities for end of month (November) and end of year motivation to make their numbers.
6) Gas is coming down to the $3 level. Already getting press. May depress EV sales through year end.
We are also seriously considering ICE vehicles. I've been running around car shopping. Not very happy about it. We've always purchased when we wanted to. This time we need a car. Spending a ton on a rental isn't my idea of fun.
Leased the car around June 1 and it has about 5000 miles on it. The body shop came back with an estimate of $18,600 for repairs, but notes that there may be additional damage once they get into it. I think this can't possibly be worth repairing, but I don't know how it works with a lease. 
