navi module broken - how much to fix/replace?

Hi folks -
I'm a newbie, looking to buy my first leaf asap. Not sure whether this is the right area of the forum, but I have a question about a problem...

There's a 2012 leaf, 30k miles, at a small local used car dealer with a broken navigation console. When installed, it turns itself off and on constantly (every minute or so). The owner says that his son's friend who is an electric whiz has been promising to fix it for a month, knows what little part he needs, and can't find it or get Nissan to sell it to him, and has been just sort of sitting on it. He's mad at his son and wants to just get rid of the car with the navigation module still broken for what he has in it ($8200). It's listed for 10,900, and he says he's had people willing to buy at that price but hasn't been able to get the navigation module fixed and back in, and is just done at this point. This is not a dealer that usually sells leafs, and is not in a super EV-friendly area (rural, mountainous). He seems honest and gets good reviews -- I don't think he's telling me a tall tale.

I test drove the car, and it seems fine otherwise. A little brake noise, which they say is because it's been sitting for weeks and has rust on the rotors (which seems true -- it had literal cobwebs on the wheels). Clean carfax. One owner, just off lease (and just barely off full warranty, which is another reason the dealer says he's so frustrated).

This could be a great deal, or it could be a headache. How much is it to just put in a whole new navigation system if necessary? Would it actually be easy to fix if the right part could be found? Does it suggest there might be other problems?

Thanks so much

New the navigation/display unit is about $3400, but they can be had used from around $1300-1600 (on average) from car-part.com. I used to have a chart with the different unit part numbers for the different model years, and there are a few so you gotta be careful if you're buying used. I'll see if i can find it again and get the part number you need. If you're buying new the current part number is 25915-3NA1B and it replaces all previous part numbers.

You didn't say which "rural, mountainous" area you live in and you didn't mention anything about capacity bars. I wouldn't buy a used 2011-12 Leaf without putting a CAN-bus meter on it to measure Ahrs.

Better assume you'll have to replace the whole thing. Sounds just like a used car dealer to try and snow you into thinking it will be a cheap, easy fix. If it was, he would have done it a long time ago.

Thank you for the advice.

Ok, I called the Nissan dealership 20 miles away, and they said it would cost 3300 new, but that they could "switch it out" for 500. Why would the dealership be able to get one for 500 if they are 1300-1600 online? 500 sounds worth it, though.

I assume measuring the battery life (it has full bars, just based on the display) also needs to be done at the dealership? What's the test I should ask for?

Otherwise I'm looking at buying the same car, basically -- 2012, mileage in the 20s -- from another larger dealer for about $11k. And still no guarantees re: battery, etc. The difference just seems so large that I'm not sure why it makes sense to not buy this car... but also I agree if he could just switch out the navigation system for 500 and then sell the car for 2500 more, why wouldn't he just do that?

I think I have to test drive more leafs, but there just aren't many 2012s for sale where we are (western massachusetts).

The $500 dealer switch out undoubtedly gets you a remanufactured unit. They take your old one, and send it out to be rebuilt for the next guy. If a used NAV from a junkyard is really going for >$1000 it sounds like a much better deal to get a rebuilt one from the dealer.
The dealer battery test is worthless, they always come back "5 stars!", no matter how degraded the pack is. The only right way to test the remaining capacity is with an ELM327 OBDII bluetooth dongle and LeafSpy for Android. There are several threads on MNL about where to buy it, and there is an equivalent Apple compatable product now.