My dealer is no longer Leaf certified. Now what?

A little back ground first. Skip to next paragraph if you just want to hear about the dealer. My wife and I thought we did the right thing by leasing our Leaf. We already drive a Volt but a Leaf would get us off gas even more. That was our thought. The Leaf has not been such an easy car to live with. First our dealer wouldn't sell the car at Nissan's advertised price. No big deal, they can be the dealer to service the car, I'll buy it from the next dealer away. We hardly had enough range to make the first drive home. I remember it was chilly and we got home with 7 miles left. I've had the car in for service several times. Grabby brakes, AC won't blow cold, and several little things. All has been fixed without issues. The service lady loves the Leaf. I get comments and questions about it every time I bring it in. I may be the only Leaf driver in the area. I never see any around. So, we have been happy for the most part.

Now comes the latest issue. I hope you guys can provide some advice. Last night we dropped the car off to get the heater fixed. This morning I get a call from my local Nissan dealer telling me they are not allowed to touch the car and that they are no longer Leaf certified. the nice lady was nice enough to look up where I can get the car serviced and told me that the dealer I got it from isnt certified anymore either. I have to go to the next state over to get service. 71 miles each way. My lease gives me 32 miles a day so this will cost me nearly a week of driving the car. Yes, we use every mile of our lease. Now it is winter and 71 miles is quite a long ways in the mountains here. I doubt I would make it one way without a charge. West Virginia doesn't have many chargers. I would have to pick one and drive to it hoping that it will work when I get there. This charger is also a Blink charger and I've heard about how reliable they are. Since EVs are pretty much unheard of around here these chargers are almost always ICEd. You can see I'm not happy with this situation. I either have to make this trip, loose a week of driving, or drive a car that doesn't have a heater.

My brainstorming ideas. If I called roadside assistance wouldn't they have to tow the car to the closest leaf certified dealer? Is it possible to give the car back to Nissan early. It's my first lease and I really don't know what my options are. And finally, I could get a kerosene heater to hear the car with.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

First off -where are you? Just a general city/state would be helpful here.

Secondly - have you considered calling the Nissan helpline and seeing what they suggest?

Please do not burn any fuel inside your Leaf for heat. You can always try this one, from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12v-auto-heater-defroster-with-light-60525.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I got one for my wife's car a few years ago when the heater core rusted out. Granted that our San Diego winter is much milder than most of the country, but she liked having it blow hot air on her feet. Also, they have it on sale as low as $9.99 every few months.

First off, the heater was a joke. I called Nissan. They are towing the car. I live in Charleston, WV. The closest leaf service is in Beckley, WV. No way the car can make that even in ideal conditions and no chargers along the way. I guess this is how the car will be serviced for the next two years until my lease is up. What is the argument against tesla and why we need local dealers?... Yea, my local dealer is really helpful but then again, they wouldn't even sell me the car.

Twofieros said:

First off, the heater was a joke. I called Nissan. They are towing the car. I live in Charleston, WV. The closest leaf service is in Beckley, WV. No way the car can make that even in ideal conditions and no chargers along the way. I guess this is how the car will be serviced for the next two years until my lease is up. What is the argument against tesla and why we need local dealers?... Yea, my local dealer is really helpful but then again, they wouldn't even sell me the car.

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I'd ask for a loaner as well - given that the whole towing thing is just going to slow our service. Have them drop off the loaner when they pick up the Leaf and then swap back on return.

I agree with the Tesla comment and we should add this as yet another concrete example of how the "Independent dealers" don't benefit customers... My list is now:
1) Independent dealers won't build out a consistent charging station system - each may or may not build one then may restrict use however they desire. Not in best interest of consumers.
2) Nissan independent dealers may not maintain certification and thus are unable to provide proper service; result in need to have car towed to out of range dealer

The good news is that for many owners the only "service" they ever need is the mandatory annual battery check. I wonder if they'll tow you for that?

I wonder what Nissan's policy is here? Are dealerships allowed to simply "opt out" of carrying/servicing the LEAF? I guess I had the vague idea that they required at least one certified technician at all of their dealerships.

Nubo said:

T...I wonder what Nissan's policy is here? Are dealerships allowed to simply "opt out" of carrying/servicing the LEAF? I guess I had the vague idea that they required at least one certified technician at all of their dealerships.

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I presume that dealers can opt out of selling/servicing the LEAF even after they became LEAF-certified. And, no, there are plenty of Nissan dealers that aren't LEAF certified; not much point in it for dealers outside big cities. I have to go 92 miles to the nearest one that is LEAF-certified.

Graffi said:

Please do not burn any fuel inside your Leaf for heat. You can always try this one, from Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12v-auto-heater-defroster-with-light-60525.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I got one for my wife's car a few years ago when the heater core rusted out. Granted that our San Diego winter is much milder than most of the country, but she liked having it blow hot air on her feet. Also, they have it on sale as low as $9.99 every few months.

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Speaking of that heater. I wanted to buy one but i believe the cigarette adapter runs at 10 amps correct?
This draws 15 so I have no idea how that would work...

sevenx7 said:

Speaking of that heater. I wanted to buy one but i believe the cigarette adapter runs at 10 amps correct?
This draws 15 so I have no idea how that would work...

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The spec at the link said it drew 8.5 amps, but wanted a 15 amp socket.

Nissan just authorized $250 rental car reimbursement. They are doing a good job making this right given the circumstances. It still is a crapy situation that doesn't help the EV movement.

Great to hear that Nissan Corp is doing what they can to 'make it right' but it sure is disappointing none the less. Sounds like support for the Leaf has taken a few steps back in your area and that is the part of the story that is most concerning...

I just wanted to give an update. My Leaf is still at the dealer. Tomorrow they are supposed to get the new part. The dealer told me it needs a heater yet Nissan customer service told me it was a blower motor. Whatever it needs is a full day job as they have to remove the entire dash. As of today it will be a week without the car. I used a rental for two days as I didn't need it longer and I didn't want to make Nissan just pay for something I didn't need. I still might get another rental. It all depends how long this process takes.

I would really like to know what is happening locally with Leaf service. Did my dealers choose not to service the Leaf anymore or did Nissan take their certification away? When I had my grabby brake issue worked on the local dealer accidentally "bricked" the car and had to provide me a loaner until they could get a Leaf expert to help them out. I hope I don't have many more issues. 23 months left on my lease. I wish my Leaf experience was better.

It's relatively common for a manufacturer to require factory training & certifications for a technician to work on a specialty vehicle. This can be a sizable investment for the dealer to make in an employee, especially if they don't sell many units. I had a similar experience a few years ago with a Jeep Liberty CRD diesel. There was only 1 Jeep dealer in the area with a certified CRD tech. Others dealers openly told me they would not ever sell the product because they didn't want to pay to train a tech (and run the risk of loosing that tech to another dealer or creating an employee with leverage). Eventually traded the Jeep after 16 months it because it was clearly the worst machine I had ever owned and could not trust it anywhere outside towing range of the selling dealer. So far, I've found the LEAF to be a much less problematic machine than the Liberty CRD so would not feel the same push to dump it at a loss. As long as Nissan is willing to accommodate your servicing needs, would not worry.

My understanding was that a dealership needs to have one Leaf-certified salesperson and one Leaf-certified technician in order to be Leaf Certified. If either of them quit, the dealership loses their Leaf Certification until they can get a replacement trained. There are plenty of Nissan dealers out there that were clearly Leaf Certified at one time (the Level 2 stations outside are a giveaway) but aren't anymore.

The dealer where I leased my Leaf has only one Leaf-certified tech, and he's the same guy that works on all the GTR's, too. He only works M-F so I can never bring my car in for service on the weekend. He is also consistently busy, so I have to make appointments far in advance. I haven't seen my dealer list a Leaf for sale in over a year, so I wonder if they even have a Leaf-certified salesperson anymore.

You used to be able to see which certifications a Nissan dealer had right on the Nissan website, but I can't find that feature anymore.

I guess I can count my lucky stars that my preferred dealer is not only leaf certified but doesn't ask about the "big red box" under the hood.

Latest update.

Two weeks later. The car should be done tomorrow. I asked to coordinate the return tow and Nissan told me they only tow one way. So, the car is an hour and a half drive away now, in the mountains. It's winter, so range is down. I'm going to end up calling roadside anyway.

I was entitled to a loaner since the repairs would take over night. I used two days of the 16 days it has been in the shop. Yet they won't tow the car back to me? To say I'm furious doesn't do it justice. I have two years left on this lease. No place within range to repair the car if something goes wrong again. I'm sure it will since its been in the shop 4 times already.

Any suggestions? Isn't there a law that requires Nissan to service the car or something? Isn't this what the Toyota Rav4ev people are doing when they live outside of CA? I've got some more research to do. I may even call a lawyer and see what my options are legally.

Probably not helpful, but it would be amusing if you used a couple of your rental days to rent a truck capable of towing the LEAF home, then go get it and bring it home that way passing the cost on to Nissan....

JeremyW said:

I guess I can count my lucky stars that my preferred dealer is not only leaf certified but doesn't ask about the "big red box" under the hood.

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HA!
Mine has seen so few LEAF's that I don't think they noticed it.

Twofieros said:

Latest update.

Two weeks later. The car should be done tomorrow. I asked to coordinate the return tow and Nissan told me they only tow one way. So, the car is an hour and a half drive away now, in the mountains. It's winter, so range is down. I'm going to end up calling roadside anyway.

I was entitled to a loaner since the repairs would take over night. I used two days of the 16 days it has been in the shop. Yet they won't tow the car back to me? To say I'm furious doesn't do it justice. I have two years left on this lease. No place within range to repair the car if something goes wrong again. I'm sure it will since its been in the shop 4 times already.

Any suggestions? Isn't there a law that requires Nissan to service the car or something? Isn't this what the Toyota Rav4ev people are doing when they live outside of CA? I've got some more research to do. I may even call a lawyer and see what my options are legally.

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Can you just call AAA and have them tow it? I have used it all the time for towing friends' cars around town and as far as I know it is free anywhere within 100 miles, or 150miles to a service station if nothing exists within 100miles.

Go to http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=18706#p402848" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for some other parts of the story.