LKQ Price Negotiation

Hi Everyone,

I came across a used Nissan Leaf batter from LKQ. They want $3k for it and it's a little too much I'm wanting to pay for it. I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with negotiating prices with LKQ?

If I can get it for $2k then I would be happy. Any suggestion would be helpful.

Haven’t ever heard of this outfit. Do you have any details on this “batter”? Might not even be worth $2K.

Buyer beware...

cwerdna said:

Haven’t ever heard of this outfit. Do you have any details on this “batter”? Might not even be worth $2K.

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I don't know anything about it yet. I'll call them up today and ask for details.

LKQ is a nationwide seller of used automobile parts, ie they operate junkyards. The MO is to buy wrecked cars at auction, drain the fluids, cut out the catalytic converters, etc and leave the car in the yard for 6 weeks or so while folks come in and pull parts off it. At that point the remainder is crushed and sold for scrap.

Their website lists prices on parts and it appears to be fairly standardized nationwide so I doubt individual operators have much leeway on pricing something as expensive as a Leaf battery. I'd ask them about the car first. You should be able to get the VIN for the car and lookup its history from that.

Good luck and keep us informed. $3k for that much storage isn't a bad deal if you're planning off-grid storage so I wouldn't be surprised if the battery sells fairly quickly.

I've bought a few things from LKQ off of eBay. Largest item I bought from them was a manual transmission for a 2005 Ford Focus, which shipped down from Canada. It was in generally good shape, but needed consumables like seals replaced. I don't remember them entertaining offers in any of their auctions. Edit: I looked up the auction and it actually appears I made an offer of $300 on the $345 transmission, which they accepted.

Well, they already took the car apart so they can't turn it on to check the number of bars.

Is there an easy way to check the health of the battery pack after it has been removed?

MaxLeafPower said:

Is there an easy way to check the health of the battery pack after it has been removed?

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No. Your best bet would be to get the VIN and find out the year of the car and where it resided.

You could also look on Ebay. There are sellers that are selling large lots of used Nissan leaf cells. This has the advantage of not having them all wired up in 400V in series (safer).

Gen 1 is the 2011/2012 (avoid)
Gen 2 is the 2013+


But generally you'll save money by buying whole packs. Also, keep in mind that people list these batteries by faceplate value, not actual capacity. So if you bought the cells from the 2011 (original) pack in my car, it'd be 24 kWh faceplate, but it'd only give you ~12kWh of actual storage, since the pack is 50% degraded.

$2000 would be a steal, unless the pack is destroyed. $3000-$3500 appears to be about the going rate for a pack with modern chemistry in good condition.

The battery is from a 2014 leaf. I'm still reluctant to pay $3k for a battery pack I don't know the condition of. I don't know really know how well the 2014 batteries degrade but I've seen a lot of 2013 leafs that have lost 4 or 5 bars.

I'm curious how this turns out. Any information confirming where it resided? If northern or temperate areas, it would be a good gamble.

It's in the NW. I decided to buy it and get it over with. Hopefully it's in good condition.

Rant time: I'm now in at $12k on a car that is worth $6k. Plus I have to spend several days swapping out the batteries. I LOVE that leaf is an electric car and HATE everything else about it. I'm never buying another Nissan again. Yes, it was my fault I bough it and I should have taken my time to research so it's my 100% fault. Next car is going to be a Tesla.

It's great having 1st world problems :lol:

Don't forget that the old used up batteries from the current pack are worth something, especially for someone who wants battery backup for something like off-grid solar. I'd document the condition of the battery before removing it so you have the data when it comes time to sell the old pack.

Well I decided against buying the pack without knowing the condition of the battery pack. I won't be able to return it unless I prove that the batteries are degraded which basically I won't be able to do unless I open the battery pack.