STUPID price on hail damaged 2017 Leaf SV

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eatsleafsandshoots

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
105
Location
Denver, CO
We just suffered a terrible hail storm here in western Denver. Luckily, only one of my cars was damaged, and though no glass was broken it now resembles an expensive golf ball in need of paintless dent repair. Sigh.

Turns out, a local dealership was hit very hard by this storm too... and they're willing to move some Leafs at a discount. I just got a quote for a '17 SV for $12,999 + tax + $599 dealer handling, inclusive of all but the Fed tax rebate (yes, I understand that I need to wait until next year to receive it and that it's not a net-refundable credit). Note I am eligible for an Xcel $10k rebate which helps a lot.

That means the price would be $12,999 + $599 - $7,500 = $6,098 plus tax for a hail damaged model which has apparently had everything repaired but the metal. AKA, $6,098 for a brand new car that looks exactly the same as it would have if I had just bought it at a higher price the day before the hail storm.

I haven't seen it yet, but I figure I'll pay $1k at most for paintless dent repair as that where it tends to end up after a bad storm, if not less. If I can actually get the car for this price, it'd be stupid not to, right? I'm pretty sure I'd be able to sell this car for $6k in a few a years, especially if I repaired the dents. I leased a '13 Leaf and liked it a lot... and the fact that I could snag one for damn near scrap value has my eyebrows firmly raised.
 
Hi there. I'm in the Denver area too and am interested in this type of deal. Can you let me know what dealership you spoke with? Thanks
 
I'd do it in a hot minute. A few hail dents (after repair) won't hurt the car any for your purposes, I would just make sure that the title won't be affected, banded as salvage, etc.
 
Spoke with Empire Lakewood. Every single car on their lot has damage!

Ended up with an S after all as it was a bit less damaged and had the bigger battery I needed anyway. Net cost is $4,279 OTD plus tax, all broken plastic is fixed and metal dimpling is mild.
 
Incredible! That's an amazing deal. As long as they don't hose you up on the state of the title you've got a fantastic deal there. Please post some before / after pictures I'd like to see it!
 
Ended up being a true $4,367 OTD + tax after Federal tax credit... funny how $100 always seems to sneak in there somehow. This model has floor mats and the charge package.

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Passenger side picked up the least amount of damage, with the most being on the back. Got a signed "We Owe/You Owe" to replace the taillights and black plastic cowl under the windshield for free. I figured white would be the most appropriate color for my little dimple golf ball :)
 
My Prius suffered hail damage in 2007 that looks similar to yours. Rather than repairing I took cash and pocketed ~ $6,700 from the Insurance company, so perhaps upwards of $8,000 in today's money.
 
Yeah, it'd probably cost a penny to fix, even though the plastics are being replaced for free. Still, I'd rather have a dinged up new one (with full warranty) at the price of a nice one from 2012 or so!
 
I am a bit doubtful about it costing "only" $1k to fix via paintless dent repair. If it was that cheap, more places would do that, rather than offer the car for a fire sale price.

A couple of years back I needed to rent an ICEV for a road trip and was given a very low mileage GMC Terrain with lots of sheetmetal "acne" on it. I recognized it as having hail damage, and indeed the car had Texas license plates on it. The agent told me that they got lots of near-zero-mile cars with hail damage like that, so my guess is rental car outfits are popular disposal places for such cars, since they're going to get abused anyway, and when done they'll go to some BHPH lot since they're too cosmetically damaged for a new car dealer's used car section, or CarMax.

I personally would just buy the car and leave the dents as/is. Then I don't have to worry about it being dinged by a careless person. A marketing person should offer these up as "CPD: Certified Pre-Dinged" :lol:
 
RonDawg said:
I am a bit doubtful about it costing "only" $1k to fix via paintless dent repair. If it was that cheap, more places would do that, rather than offer the car for a fire sale price.

A couple of years back I needed to rent an ICEV for a road trip and was given a very low mileage GMC Terrain with lots of sheetmetal "acne" on it. I recognized it as having hail damage, and indeed the car had Texas license plates on it. The agent told me that they got lots of near-zero-mile cars with hail damage like that, so my guess is rental car outfits are popular disposal places for such cars, since they're going to get abused anyway, and when done they'll go to some BHPH lot since they're too cosmetically damaged for a new car dealer's used car section, or CarMax.

I personally would just buy the car and leave the dents as/is. Then I don't have to worry about it being dinged by a careless person. A marketing person should offer these up as "CPD: Certified Pre-Dinged" :lol:

Ron, I think you're right. There's probably at least $2-3k of PDR on this car, and even that probably wouldn't get it to perfect.

In a way, though, I kinda like it. I don't need to worry about keeping it perfectly ding free, parking in the back of the lot, etc. It's no virgin, but, hey, that can be fun... in this case, for my bank account! The beauty is on the inside, anyway - 30kWh of it!
 
eatsleafsandshoots said:
Yeah, it'd probably cost a penny to fix, even though the plastics are being replaced for free. Still, I'd rather have a dinged up new one (with full warranty) at the price of a nice one from 2012 or so!
Then by all means, get the car. Just expect to live with the cosmetic damage and do not expect the car to be worth much of anything on resale.
 
SageBrush said:
Just expect to live with the cosmetic damage and do not expect the car to be worth much of anything on resale.

Not that an undinged version is worth all that much more on the used car market.
 
I figure a drivable Leaf, especially a 2017 with the 30kWH pack and assuming it doesn't smell like ass inside, probably has a price floor of 2k. If I can drive this thing for five years and sell it for $1,999 I will have made out like a bandit.
 
Geez, I'm almost tempted to get something like this for maybe if I could get a '17 SV w/premium package for maybe $2 or $3K more as long as the car isn't black and is still covered by all the rest of the warranties and not declared totaled or salvage. White would probably be best, as well.

I probably wouldn't bother repairing the outside. OP, you mentioned some Xcel rebate. I found http://connect.xcelenergy.com/electric-vehicle-nissan-offer-colorado/. Obviously, I'm not in CO so I can't qualify. I wonder what kind of deals could be swung for a CA resident. If it was $10K more, I'd probably pass.
 
It is a great deal as long as you have documentation in writing that all warranties are intact. Nissan (and most other manufacturers) has language in warranty that voids all warranties if car either has been or should have been declared a total loss.

It may not work for a white car, but I popped many hail dents out of one of my vehicles by letting it sit in the sun to get the sheet metal really hot and then touching ice cubes to the centers of the dents to shrink the metal. I repeated this process several times and was able to make the damage much less noticeable. There was over $5k damage and body shops recommended against repair because it would require cutting off all original body panels and welding new panels on (of course followed by complete painting). The insurance settlement became a down payment on a new house. I still have the vehicle and the hail damage is not noticeable after 27 years.
 
Thanks to the OP's pics, the dealer is http://www.empirelakewoodnissan.com/. They even advertised it at https://www.facebook.com/mydenvernissan/photos/a.415402075214906.98273.120938021327981/1422794047809032/?type=3&theater on May 9th, ending close of business Saturday (which would be today).

I just called them and they said of the hail damaged '17 Leafs, they only have S trims left. They sold out of the SV and they don't have any SL.

Bummer.
 
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