Nissan dealership wanting to move me to a 2013, suggestions?

[philipscoggins]

I received an email from my Nissan dealer I purchased my LEAF from last year asking what it would take to put me in a new car.

I replied with, let me trade in my 2012SL for a 2013SL for $0 down and match or beat my current payments (about $550/month)

They called me withing 5 minutes & are trying to work a deal. Payoff on my car loan is $29,100, 6.3%

I've got almost 23,000 miles on my 2012 in 11 months & the 6kWh charging would be a pretty big deal to me along with the heat pump. I'm driving about 90-100 miles/day right now and probably will during school months for the next 2 years. It's working, but when it gets cold and my range drops I have a feeling my kids & I are going to freeze to death.

I think they are going to try to put me into a lease & let me buy it out so they can get me the $7500 federal, TN has $2500 incentive off the top.

Am I asking for Nissan to play Santa or is this something vaguely possible?

Any thoughts?

 

[MrIanB]

That's a big pay off considering what trade in values are on the Leaf. Good luck but don't get your hopes high.

Ian B

 

[Berlino]

As long as your children won't ruin the leather, it will be a great step-up for someone racking up that kind of mileage.

and match or beat my current payments (about $550/month)

This is the easy part, because dealers can adjust the length of the loan to meet any cap on monthly payments. It's the overall price which counts. You may be able to get a good deal because they don't realize the extent to which your mileage has degraded the battery.

 

[RonDawg]

OK class it's time for math.

Let's assume the out-the-door price on a 2013 SL is $35k. If the OP can swing giving up or borrowing $10k in cash until he receives all government incentives on the car, at 6.3% for 5 years, the payment on a $25k loan will be $486.82. Sounds great, except it's just for the new car alone.

Now to deal with that upside car loan on the trade-in. Let's be generous and say the trade is worth an even $20k. (KBB shows the trade-in value of a 2012 Leaf SV with 23k miles in "Excellent" condition to be $18,655 in my area). So that leaves $9100 to be dealt with.

If rolled into the loan, now the payment jumps to $664.02. In order to keep the payment down to near $550/month at the same term and interest rate, the loan value has to be below $29k ($564.71/month). That would mean an additional $5100 of cash outlay on top of the government incentives.

Now, leasing could very well bring that price to the OP's $550/month desired price point for less cash out of pocket. But with the OP's mileage needs, the lease would have to be bought out, or mileage penalties assessed. He will have to determine if the total of the lease payments, the drive-off cost, and the lease residual is going to be more than $39,841 ($664.02 x 60). And remember that the residual would also have to be financed as well, leaving the OP in debt beyond the car's warranty.

 

[Elephanthead]

Not going to happen unless you have the 10k tax credits on the first one to throw into the deal. Even then if you haven't gotten them yet the IRS has given up on issuing refunds for the time being.