New member, new LEAF with a question

Good morning from Hope Maine from a very happy driver. Got my first LEAF (2015) two weeks ago and could not be more satisfied. The body seems to be well constructed and everything works as advertised. Great fun to drive with a more than adequate "scat gear", which I will use as little as possible. It charges to a range of a little over 100 miles.

My question involves the "deal". I came to the dealer with a checkbook ready to pay the whole price on the spot and we began to discuss price. They almost insisted that I pay for it over a three period with zero percent interest. Having grown up in the 1940's in a moderately poor, "if you can't pay cash you can't afford it" family, I questioned the deal. They added that it came with $2500 off the list price! They offered a reasonable price for my 12 year old Honda Insight and that was it. So I've been driving it for 2 weeks without paying a penny to Nissan waiting for a monster to jump from the glove box. Is this a deal to bring in more buyers or something else?

Bob

Hi,

I'm quite a bit south of you (New Hampshire) and got a similar, unexpected 0% deal in 2013 on my Leaf. To state the obvious, there really is no downside to this 0% loan, assuming that you are able to make the payments and are not concerned about having another item in your credit score.

Yes, they are really anxious to sell Leafs (Leaves?) and 0% financing on cars they really want to sell is one of the incentives.

From a global economic perspective, today, big companies are able to borrow money at very low rates (often <1%), so when they offer you 0%, it isn't costing them much.

On a local level, each loan generates money for clerks and financial agents. The loan business is actually a profit center for Nissan. So Nissan has a general incentive with dealers to encourage them to sell loans as well as cars. Of course, the 0% loan is not much of a money maker, but they still keep the incentives to sell loans. Even though you think that the dealer is trying to help you by encouraging you to get this great deal on a loan, they are actually making more money when someone takes out a loan vs when they pay cash.

Congratulations on your new baby. I hope yours is as good to you as mine has been to me.

another Bob

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply. It makes sense and is really best for me since the money is in my hands, there is more interest in my pocket. Also my new car budget slot will grow by 3 years by the time the debt is all payed. It will still be less than zero at that time but that is the way it was set up.

I Nissan wants to increase sales they should install quick charge stations at all dealers IMHO. Happy no gassing.

Bob