New flooded nissan leaf

Hello,

I want to buy a Leaf, but my budget does not allow for one. I was looking online and found many flooded brand new Leafs. from the pictures the carpet is not damaged and there is no sign of water.

Tell me reasons why I should not to buy it, and maybe make small repairs. because from the price I have a yes everywhere.

alilo said:

Hello,

I want to buy a Leaf, but my budget does not allow for one. I was looking online and found many flooded brand new Leafs. from the pictures the carpet is not damaged and there is no sign of water.

Tell me reasons why I should not to buy it, and maybe make small repairs. because from the price I have a yes everywhere.

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As long as you don't pay more than a couple hundred bucks for it you should be ok.

Even if you find one that runs, you could end up with corrosion on wiring harness and inside electronics that will cost much more than you paid for the car to replace.

Bicster said:

Even if you find one that runs, you could end up with corrosion on wiring harness and inside electronics that will cost much more than you paid for the car to replace.

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Although...if you get a flooded leaf and can get any of that stuff needed from a wrecked LEAF, which are also starting to show up with some regularity.

Walk away. No wait...run away. You don't want to get involved with that. You really don't know what kind of water it was in, how deep it was, etc... If it was any kind of salt water, the car may look OK now, but I 100% gaurantee you it will be an electrical nightmare for the rest of its' life. Especially a car as electrically based as the LEAF is. Even if it was fresh water, it's still going to corrode things. Problems can take months, or even years, to show up. It'll be one thing...then another...then another.

I've dealt with more flood cars than I can count, I'm in insurance. Anytime water gets into the passenger compartment, 99% of the time I instantly total the car. Obviously, I mean substantial water....not a spilled drink. I've seen many people try to repair a flooded car. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, they get lucky and the car is OK. In those cases, it's usually fresh rain water and the car is dried out immediately when the water receeds. But most of the time, they regret it. I totalled hundreds upon hundreds of cars after Hurricane Sandy last year. They were nasty.

Trust me, don't do it. The car is best left as a parts (body parts) car.

On the other hand, depending on what you can get it for, the battery is probably worth something to someone in Phoenix

Bicster said:

On the other hand, depending on what you can get it for, the battery is probably worth something to someone in Phoenix

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If you get it really, really, really cheap, worst case you part it out. How much do those headlights go for again?
Assumes you don't mind spending time on such things.

The spare parts price of Nissan Leaf are very very expensive. a small front damage to the car would be repaired for more than $10.000 . i was even thinking to get a front damaged Leaf, and a rear damaged Leaf for maybe around $7000 - $9000 each, repair the least damaged one and keep the second battery.

alilo said:

The spare parts price of Nissan Leaf are very very expensive. a small front damage to the car would be repaired for more than $10.000 . i was even thinking to get a front damaged Leaf, and a rear damaged Leaf for maybe around $7000 - $9000 each, repair the least damaged one and keep the second battery.

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And if you buy a flood-damaged Leaf, you will be buying LOTS of new parts for it, eventually if not immediately.

And for what it will cost you to buy two damaged Leafs and turn into one, you can buy one used 2011 or even a 2012, and without the hassles associated with a salvaged title.

Actually, I have considered buying a flooded Leaf for a hobby project if I ever have time and find a good enough deal on one. Essentially, I'd disassemble the car completely and clean everything up. I'd pop off every wire harness and acid-treat the connectors or scrub them down with an abrasive to remove any corrosion. Of course I'd probably have to have the carpet and seats re-done, depending on how long they were underwater and what else was in the water. I've talked to some people in the car repair business and as far as flooded cars go, in most cases it is not necessary to replace that many parts if you know what to look for. However, repairing one correctly would be a very labor intensive project. It could possibly take hundreds of hours to restore it properly.

Apparently when a normal shop gets a flooded car, their goal is to get it running and make it appear good to the customer, with as little work as possible. Long-term reliability is not a consideration for them. Thus, flooded cars get a bad reputation.

adric22 said:

Apparently when a normal shop gets a flooded car, their goal is to get it running and make it appear good to the customer, with as little work as possible. Long-term reliability is not a consideration for them. Thus, flooded cars get a bad reputation.

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Could a flood-damaged car be fixed enough to be as reliable as it was before it got soaked? Possibly. But between replacement parts prices, and as you said the hundreds of man-hours possibly required, it would cost far more than simply totaling out the car.

Remember too that flood-damaged cars often are not stripped out and allowed to dry properly immediately after they are retrieved. They could sit in police impound yards or insurance company/body shop holding yards for days or even weeks before a shop can get to them, allowing corrosion and mold to spread.

I hate to be blunt. If you can't afford the 220 a month to lease the car and buy later, you shouldn't be buying a project.

RonDawg said:

adric22 said:

Apparently when a normal shop gets a flooded car, their goal is to get it running and make it appear good to the customer, with as little work as possible. Long-term reliability is not a consideration for them. Thus, flooded cars get a bad reputation.

Click to expand...

Could a flood-damaged car be fixed enough to be as reliable as it was before it got soaked? Possibly. But between replacement parts prices, and as you said the hundreds of man-hours possibly required, it would cost far more than simply totaling out the car.

Remember too that flood-damaged cars often are not stripped out and allowed to dry properly immediately after they are retrieved. They could sit in police impound yards or insurance company/body shop holding yards for days or even weeks before a shop can get to them, allowing corrosion and mold to spread.

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Yes, very often a flooded car can be dried out and cleaned up enough so that it appears fine right after the loss. The issue comes a week later, two weeks later and then basically for the rest of its' life. That's why we total a car whenever it floods. They're never ending headaches. Body shops usually don't want to mess with them either for the same reason. The customer will keep coming back again and again complaining of issues. You'd think a shop would love that because it's more business for them, but they don't. They like the business that comes in once for work, then leaves. Not the kind that comes back over and over. Even if you totally disassemble every nut and bolt, which would take an eternity, and reassembe the car there will be things you can't see right away or missed that will come back to haunt you. The old saying goes "never say never", so I won't say never, but almost never have I seen a significantly flooded car work out well.

Ive done a couple flood cars.
Lessons Learned;

1) If it's salt water, seriously, run.
2) You know what always is a constant problem with a flood car? The electrical system.
(Note: Leaf' s are ALL electric)
3) Depends how deep the water was, right?

Seriously.
If you get this thing for $1000 and want to play with it, have fun. I would if I had the time.

Any more than that...........

Keep your other car

The cars I have seen have no carpet damage. And I have seen a video here of a leaf crossing water.

Is there a reason that the car electronics get damaged.

alilo said:

The cars I have seen have no carpet damage. And I have seen a video here of a leaf crossing water.

Is there a reason that the car electronics get damaged.

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The carpet should be the least of you worries.
What's that stuff cost?
Like $7?

Again, without knowing more about the situation it's hard to judge.

When submerged, the differential pressure forces the water into everywhere.
However, it has no reason to find its way back out again.

Depth and length of time submerged become critical.
If it was fresh water, and it didn't submerge the inverter, charger, and primary electrics (under the dash, by the battery, center console) you could pull an entire Leaf apart in a day, day and a half with help and a lift..

Dry/ clean/ bake all the harnesses if they have not corroded yet, clean and dry everything, and put it all back together.
See what you get.
If the battery is patent, then it should have been watertight.

But this isn't some sentra.
Nissan truly won't sell you some of these parts.
As I have discovered, they don't even have part numbers in their system for some of them.


Again, and I can't stress this enough, if it got dipped in salt water.. Take a pass on this one.
Good luck, and let us know what you decide..

Oh, and tell us where you are located.

alilo said:

The cars I have seen have no carpet damage. And I have seen a video here of a leaf crossing water.

Is there a reason that the car electronics get damaged.

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Huh? If a car goes into deep water, who cares about the carpet? Pull it out, let it dry, steam clean it. Voila.

As for asking if there's a reason electric cars get damaged in water, try throwing your laptop in a pool and let me know how it works out.

You would think that since Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and the "buyer beware" PSA's related to flood-damaged cars from such affected regions being distributed across the country, we wouldn't have to convince someone that buying a flood-damaged car is fraught with all sorts of potential issues.

I am from Morocco, unfortunately dealers do not sell plugins and a Prius here has the same price of a leaf in USA. My only option to get an electric car is to pay cash and import it. And because I have access to cheap labor I am willing to try alternatives with damaged or flooded cars.

alilo said:

I am from Morocco.... I have access to cheap labor I am willing to try alternatives with damaged or flooded cars.

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But no access to parts or wrecked salvage cars.