Help. I need confirmation if my dealer just cheated me.

I just purchase and took ownership of new Nissan leaf. I just notice on the VIN sticker it was manufactured in May of 2014. That means I just took delivery of a car that is over one year old.

Is this normal for the leaf owners? I was hoping if a few of you can check your sticker (beside your door) if the manufacture dates and sale date are quite that far.

Thank you in advance.

I do not believe that would be considered a 2015 model year, and should be priced accordingly. From what I have been reading the three worst things for battery capacity degradation are time, heat and sitting on a full charge without use. A model sitting on the lot for 17 months could have all of that going against it.

lemob said:

I just purchase and took ownership of new Nissan leaf. I just notice on the VIN sticker it was manufactured in May of 2014. That means I just took delivery of a car that is over one year old.

Is this normal for the leaf owners? I was hoping if a few of you can check your sticker (beside your door) if the manufacture dates and sale date are quite that far.

Thank you in advance.

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I was surprised to find out mine was made in October 2014. That would be 11 months old. I didn't think to look for the date. Does your Monroney sticker have the correct VIN and 2015 model year?
So far though the car has performed very well. I have gotten 80 miles of range very easily with some careful driving.
My avatar is a real photo of the GOM after a charge. Your car should be OK. Enjoy driving it.

EVforRobert said:

lemob said:

I just purchase and took ownership of new Nissan leaf. I just notice on the VIN sticker it was manufactured in May of 2014. That means I just took delivery of a car that is over one year old.

Is this normal for the leaf owners? I was hoping if a few of you can check your sticker (beside your door) if the manufacture dates and sale date are quite that far.

Thank you in advance.

Click to expand...

I was surprised to find out mine was made in October 2014. That would be 11 months old. I didn't think to look for the date. Does your Monroney sticker have the correct VIN and 2015 model year?
So far though the car has performed very well. I have gotten 80 miles of range very easily with some careful driving.
My avatar is a real photo of the GOM after a charge. Your car should be OK. Enjoy driving it.

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Thanks for replying. The sticker has the manufacture date and VIN number which I confirmed with my registration. This thing is going to nag me for many years to come

Wow, that seems like an awfully long time.

I got my 2013 Leaf in mid August 2013 and it appears to have been made in late July 2013.

I can't speak to whether yours qualifies as a 2015 model or what recourse you might have for them failing to mention that they sold you such old stock. I understand dealers giving good deals to move inventory before the 2016s arrive. But in the case of the Leaf, the age it has been sitting is likely a material fact that warrants disclosure for the reasons noted above.

Perhaps one of the more seasoned members here can help you with a Leaf Spy diagnostic. If it checks out fine, then you probably got a very good deal.

They key question is "Did you get the newest version of the battery?" If so, then it may well be little harmed by sitting on the lot for that long. If you have a 2013/2014 MY pack, though, some degradation may have occurred. You need to have the pack's health and capacity checked with the Leaf Spy software.

I would look at the sales contract closely, if it indicates anywhere on there that it is a 2015, but the Monroney sticker says 2014, I would think you have a pretty strong standing to back out of the contract. It does look like they were starting production for 2015 at that point though, as best I can tell.

lemob said:

Thanks for replying. The sticker has the manufacture date and VIN number which I confirmed with my registration. This thing is going to nag me for many years to come

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We are talking about the big paper sticker with the price on the window. It is called a Monroney after I believe a congressman. If it says 2015 you should be OK. My battery had good capacity even though it was a year old.

Even with a May 2014 production date, it's very possible the OP really has a 2015 model. The 2014 model year was an abbreviated one for the Leaf, and the 2015's were brought out early.

I forgot where I read this, but a model year 2015 can be sold as early as January 2, 2014, meaning it had to be manufactured sometime in late 2013. I found out about this when I saw advertisements for the 10th generation Ford F-150 (which came out as 1997 model year vehicle) during Super Bowl XXX which was aired on January 1, 1996, saying the truck would be available in Ford dealers the following day. That model's Wikipedia page said that production actually began on December 5, 1995.

As stated above, the Monroney sticker will say what the actual model year is. Another way to determine model year is the VIN; for model (not production) year 2015 cars, the tenth digit should be an F; 2014 would be E, 2013 D, etc.

lemob said:

I just purchase and took ownership of new Nissan leaf. I just notice on the VIN sticker it was manufactured in May of 2014. That means I just took delivery of a car that is over one year old.

Is this normal for the leaf owners?

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Welcome lemob. Its actually normal for all types of cars. Given your location and the relatively cool temperatures there, I imaging the traction battery is just fine. I recommend you get Leaf Spy (lots of info here about it) and you can measure the health of your traction battery and compare it to others (also lots of info here. Likely its in excellent shape.

I intentionally bought a LEAF that had been sitting on a dealer lot for a long time (well over a year). It too was in a cooler climate and Leaf Spy showed that the traction battery was just fine. The thing you might actually worry about is the health of the 12 volt battery. If the car sat a long time, that battery might well have run down several times and be in a weaker state. Mine certainly was. I made sure to charge it well for a few days and likely it will have to be replaced early, but that's what the warranty is for.

You received the model year and car you wanted to purchase so just enjoy it. I think you will find it to be an excellent car

Thanks to everyone who replied. It's quite helpful. I have ordered the OBDII and hopefully I can check what's the status of the battery. It definitely is a 2015 model as I checked.. It's just quite upsetting to find out you got screwed. I will be calling the business bureau and see course of action I can take. I will update again later.

lemob said:

Thanks to everyone who replied. It's quite helpful. I have ordered the OBDII and hopefully I can check what's the status of the battery. It definitely is a 2015 model as I checked.. It's just quite upsetting to find out you got screwed. I will be calling the business bureau and see course of action I can take. I will update again later.

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Did the dealer tell you the vehicle had been manufactured more recently? If not I can't see how you were screwed. They advertised a 2015 model and you purchased it. You could have checked the manufacture date before purchasing. If they sold you a 2014 model advertised as a 2015 that would be a whole different story.

lemob said:

It definitely is a 2015 model as I checked.. It's just quite upsetting to find out you got screwed. I will be calling the business bureau and see course of action I can take. I will update again later.

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AFAIK you weren't screwed. You were sold a new 2015 model, and that's what you got. BTW in many if not most states, a "new" car is one that has never been titled, and doesn't mean "factory fresh." I once bought a dealer demo Maxima that was technically a "new" car even though it was put in service 6 months earlier and had just under 7k miles.

If it's any consolation, the 2015 batteries are supposed to be more resistant to premature degradation than ones from earlier cars.

So I got the ODBII with Spy Leaf Pro. My Ahr and SOH is only 95% left. That means I lost 5% of the battery.

Not necessarily. The 2015 batteries seem to respond well to several 100% charges until the SOH actually gets better. If it has been just sitting on the lot, I'm sure it has been charged very rarely, so maybe that's all it needs.
I agree with the others here who don't think you have been cheated. Most manufacturers introduce their new model year many months before in the previous year, so manufacturing them had to begin several months before that.
If this Leaf was anything except a 2015 I would be worried too, but the new chemistry seems to be much better, so it has hopefully suffered less damage from sitting so long.

lemob said:

So I got the ODBII with Spy Leaf Pro. My Ahr and SOH is only 95% left. That means I lost 5% of the battery.

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A single reading doesn't tell you much.

Even when packs have been replaced they sometimes show low #s initially.

Also if you haven't been fully charging and discharging they can be low.
Use of DCQC often causes the readings to go higher.

AHr isn't a %.
What was the reading?

TimLee said:

lemob said:

So I got the ODBII with Spy Leaf Pro. My Ahr and SOH is only 95% left. That means I lost 5% of the battery.

Click to expand...

A single reading doesn't tell you much.

Even when packs have been replaced they sometimes show low #s initially.

Also if you haven't been fully charging and discharging they can be low.
Use of DCQC often causes the readings to go higher.

AHr isn't a %.
What was the reading?

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I did the readings after 3 cycles now. From about 30% to 100%. I do not have the Level 3 quick charge available to do this.
the reading doesn't change. The Ahr is 59.4

Look at it this way, if the lizards are not a huge improvement. You have a head start on getting a free battery as your warranty did not start until the day you bought.

gemrough said:

Look at it this way, if the lizards are not a huge improvement. You have a head start on getting a free battery as your warranty did not start until the day you bought.

You may also want to check, some states require a 3 day return policy on new cars.

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Funny, my friends told me the exact same thing about hoping the battery dies quicker for the free battery. This is the hope I'm holding on to now.

I have a MY 2015 car that I purchased in August 2014 and my MFG date is 4/14 based on the sticker on the inside of the door. I believe that 4/14 is the first month that the 2015 cars were made. They started selling 2015 cars in June or July of 2014. So it looks like you do indeed have a 2015 model year car, just an early manufactured one. Based on statements that Nissan has made, every 2015 car has a Lizard pack. I may be wrong, but only lizard packs have read charges of max Gids as high as 292. I can state that my car (mfg 4/14) read 292 for the first 5,000 miles or so at 100% charge.

Your dealer didn't necessarily screw you, but given that you bought a car that has been sitting on the lot for over a year, you may have experienced some degradation of that battery before you even took delivery. Best way to see is to buy an OBD reader and take some readings at 100% charge.