Leaf Price / Discount discussion thread

lorenfb said:

SageBrush said:

You are not going to get a "deal" on a car that is just now arriving on the dealer lots. If the past is a guide you have to wait ~ 3-6 months into the MY.

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Or later when Nissan U.S. realizes that the 2019 models won't sell much better than the 2018s, i.e. about 1300/mo, even with more range.

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IIRC Nissan had to offer incentives to reach the ~ 1300 sales a month you mention. I presume the sales targets are set to meet CARB compliance.

LeftieBiker said:

What is the actual dollar value of the residual? (I'm very tired tonight.) If it's below $16k then you have a pretty good deal. If it's much lower, then you should consider trading a higher residual for a lower payment if you don't strongly plan to keep the car.

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The dealer mentioned that Nissan guideline for residua on SV is 39%. so it is about $11,959 as residual.
They said that if they try to put more than 39%, NMAC might reject it. Are other getting higher residual on their offers? BTW this is in Southern California (LA)

SageBrush said:

lorenfb said:

SageBrush said:

You are not going to get a "deal" on a car that is just now arriving on the dealer lots. If the past is a guide you have to wait ~ 3-6 months into the MY.

Click to expand...

Or later when Nissan U.S. realizes that the 2019 models won't sell much better than the 2018s, i.e. about 1300/mo, even with more range.

Click to expand...

IIRC Nissan had to offer incentives to reach the ~ 1300 sales a month you mention. I presume the sales targets are set to meet CARB compliance.

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Good point!

prash1111 said:

The dealer mentioned that Nissan guideline for residua on SV is 39%. so it is about $11,959 as residual.
They said that if they try to put more than 39%, NMAC might reject it.

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Yes, as I mentioned before Nissan credit (NMAC) controls the bottom number for any lease deal. Given the $12K max residual,
NMAC has finally "learned" over the years that a Leaf off of a lease can't be assumed to have a similar depreciation as an ICEV,
e.g. Maxima. The car market eventually correctly values a marginal product the result of its characteristics, i.e. in the case
of a Leaf - battery degradation. So even if the dealer is motivated to "unload" a vehicle, the dealer is constrained by NMAC.
And then add to that NMAC's willingness to fully credit the $7.5K fed number to the lease, the deal becomes more problematic
for a Nissan dealer.

2018 used Fleet SL with Tech Package and 1800 miles. $27,000. before taxes and tag fees. Any thoughts? I cannot use Fed Tax credits. Florida Resident. Thanks. Want to pull the trigger but do not really need to. Wonder if these fleet deals will end soon. Would do a lease deal that is offered by Nissan but I find no dealer really honors it! Thanks in advance for your thoughts and wisdom.

deasnealy said:

2018 used Fleet SL with Tech Package and 1800 miles. $27,000. before taxes and tag fees. Any thoughts? I cannot use Fed Tax credits. Florida Resident. Thanks. Want to pull the trigger but do not really need to. Wonder if these fleet deals will end soon. Would do a lease deal that is offered by Nissan but I find no dealer really honors it! Thanks in advance for your thoughts and wisdom.

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If the car is in very good shape that's a good deal. Check the build date on the door sill sticker: if it's before March of 2018 it may have defects.

LeftieBiker said:

deasnealy said:

2018 used Fleet SL with Tech Package and 1800 miles. $27,000. before taxes and tag fees. Any thoughts? I cannot use Fed Tax credits. Florida Resident. Thanks. Want to pull the trigger but do not really need to. Wonder if these fleet deals will end soon. Would do a lease deal that is offered by Nissan but I find no dealer really honors it! Thanks in advance for your thoughts and wisdom.

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If the car is in very good shape that's a good deal. Check the build date on the door sill sticker: if it's before March of 2018 it may have defects.

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Thanks. Appreciate the tip. Can you elaborate on the defects or point me to another post that could educate me on what to look out for.

There have been more battery cell failures and front radar unit failures in the early builds. A cell failure usually gets you a new battery (although they may just replace the bad cell) but the radar failure is just a PITA. They have to order a new unit.

Hi,

I want to lease a Nissan leaf SV 2018.
here's what I got from a dealer:
Term: 36 mo
down payment: $500
Monthly payments: $435
Residual value: $13,388.44
State: Kansas
Taxes and other fees are all included.

Is this a good deal or overpriced?

Thanks all

eleceng said:

Hi,

I want to lease a Nissan leaf SV 2018.
here's what I got from a dealer:
Term: 36 mo
down payment: $500
Monthly payments: $435
Residual value: $13,388.44
State: Kansas
Taxes and other fees are all included.

Is this a good deal or overpriced?

Thanks all

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First, make sure that the car has the "All Weather Package." If it doesn't, it won't have the heatpump (which you need in your climate in Winter), heated seats, or heated steering wheel. You then need to post the final "selling" price for the car, after discounts. Is the first payment included in the down payment, or will you owe a full 36 payments? A rough guess is that you will be paying a little over $16000 for the lease. If any sales tax owed is not included in the monthly payment then it isn't a very good deal. If there is no all weather package on this Leaf, then walk away.

Thanks, LeftieBiker for the advise, it turned out it doesn't have "All Weather Package" but it has Technology Package.
Other dealer offered me same trim level but 2019 for $430/ mo and $500 down. If I go "All weather package" the payment would jump to $499/mo. too much for Leaf if I'm not mistaken!.
is that "All weather package" include battery thermal management system like Tesla beside the convenience it offers?

Nissan still has NO Leaf with thermal management. The All Weather Package may add a battery warmer if that is no longer standard, but no TMS. Please, please, don't get one with no AWP! There is a topic here started by someone who got one of those, and ran out of charge during a trip because of the high drain from the heater, without even heated seats to help with range. Many car dealerships will do anything to sell a car, including lie, so make sure the window sticker mentions it.

So after lurking on this forum for almost a year, I finally bought a Leaf today (4/30). I picked up a silver 2019 Leaf SV with the All-Weather package. The deal worked out like this:

MSRP: $35,195 (in addition to the All-Weather package, this car has $910 of add-on crap that the dealer refused to take out)
Dealer Discount: $1,195
Selling Price: $34,000
Dealer/Doc Fees: $270
Taxes: $2,092.29 (combined state and county sales tax is 8.875% in my area)
Total Price: $36,362
NY State Drive Clean Rebate: $2,000
Con Edison Discount (utility): $5,000
Trade-in Value (2016 Honda Civic LX with 30,000 miles): $10,500
Out the Door (not including the trade-in value): $29,362
Out the Door (after the trade-in): $18,862
Total out of pocket cost after $7,500 federal tax credit: $21,862

My car insurance also went down $100 a year by switching from a 3-year-old used Honda Civic to a new Nissan Leaf.

Also, my best estimate is that my wife and I stand to save about $2,300 a year in operating costs by trading in my Civic for the Leaf. Part of these savings will come from aggressively using the Leaf almost everywhere we go, while limiting the use of her CRV to under 3,000 miles a year. Part of this will also come from massively cheap electricity through a Con Edison/Fleet Carma partnership that bills EV charging between midnight and 8 AM at effectively 2 cents per kWh in my area.

Did I do OK? This is the first new car I've ever owned. Two years ago I was driving a 2001 Honda Civic.

I debated for a long time whether to get a 40 kWh Leaf or 62 kWh Leaf Plus. At the end of the day, my wife and I drive about 19,000 miles a year, and through some smart reorganization of our car usage, we can do 16,000 of those miles in the 40 kWh Leaf, while we could do 17,000 miles in the Leaf Plus. The lowest total out of pocket cost I could find for a Leaf Plus S was about $27,000 (after the federal tax credit), and this was just too much money for me to spend on a car, especially for one that would only allow me to drive 1,000 more electric miles a year. I was also underwhelmed by the Leaf Plus' somewhat choppy ride and somewhat stiff driver's seat.


In terms of Leaf Spy, are these the things I should be buying?

Leaf Spy Pro
https://www.amazon.com/Turbo3-Leaf-Spy-Pro/dp/B00PMLTPN0

OBDII Reader
https://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner/dp/B005NLQAHS


Cheap Android: which ones are best these days? I have a Kindle Fire from 2014. Can I use that?

And it's my understanding that I need to get an extension cord that I would leave plugged in always, that was I don't damage the OBD port by constantly plugging in and unplugging the dongle. Is that right? If so, what kind?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Sorry, for some reason, every time I try to post the Amazon link to the OBD dongle I'm looking at, MNL deletes the link from my post.

What is the best OBD dongle to get right now? The one I've seen recommended recently on MNL is the BAFX OBDII Reader.

Congrats! You got your Leaf exactly one year to the day after I leased my 2018 SL. About the OBDII extension cable: be careful to choose one with good reviews. The extra thin one I got last year to make it easier to install (which I never quite did, happily) seems to have failed already, after almost zero use. So I'm still carefully plugging in and unplugging the reader directly.

Kieran973 said:

So after lurking on this forum for almost a year, I finally bought a Leaf today (4/30). I picked up a silver 2019 Leaf SV with the All-Weather package. The deal worked out like this:

MSRP: $35,195 (in addition to the All-Weather package, this car has $910 of add-on crap that the dealer refused to take out)
Dealer Discount: $1,195
Selling Price: $34,000
Dealer/Doc Fees: $270
Taxes: $2,092.29 (combined state and county sales tax is 8.875% in my area)
Total Price: $36,362
NY State Drive Clean Rebate: $2,000
Con Edison Discount (utility): $5,000
Trade-in Value (2016 Honda Civic LX with 30,000 miles): $10,500
Out the Door (not including the trade-in value): $29,362
Out the Door (after the trade-in): $18,862
Total out of pocket cost after $7,500 federal tax credit: $21,862

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I followed your math up to the last part. Wouldn't your total out-of-pocket after Fed Tax Credit be $11,362? Assuming you qualify for the full credit of course.

Anyway, if the $11,362 amount is correct, with a $2300 per year savings, you made out nicely. At least you got some sort of discount, unlike the stories I hear from others.

Kieran973 said:

My car insurance also went down $100 a year by switching from a 3-year-old used Honda Civic to a new Nissan Leaf.

Also, my best estimate is that my wife and I stand to save about $2,300 a year in operating costs by trading in my Civic for the Leaf. Part of these savings will come from aggressively using the Leaf almost everywhere we go, while limiting the use of her CRV to under 3,000 miles a year. Part of this will also come from massively cheap electricity through a Con Edison/Fleet Carma partnership that bills EV charging between midnight and 8 AM at effectively 2 cents per kWh in my area.

Did I do OK? This is the first new car I've ever owned. Two years ago I was driving a 2001 Honda Civic.

I debated for a long time whether to get a 40 kWh Leaf or 62 kWh Leaf Plus. At the end of the day, my wife and I drive about 19,000 miles a year, and through some smart reorganization of our car usage, we can do 16,000 of those miles in the 40 kWh Leaf, while we could do 17,000 miles in the Leaf Plus. The lowest total out of pocket cost I could find for a Leaf Plus S was about $27,000 (after the federal tax credit), and this was just too much money for me to spend on a car, especially for one that would only allow me to drive 1,000 more electric miles a year. I was also underwhelmed by the Leaf Plus' somewhat choppy ride and somewhat stiff driver's seat.


In terms of Leaf Spy, are these the things I should be buying?

OBD Dongle:

https://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner/dp/B005NLQAHS

Leaf Spy Pro:

https://www.amazon.com/Turbo3-Leaf-Spy-Pro/dp/B00PMLTPN0

Cheap Android: which ones are best these days? I have a Kindle Fire from 2014. Can I use that?

And it's my understanding that I need to get an extension cord that I would leave plugged in always, that was I don't damage the OBD port by constantly plugging in and unplugging the dongle. Is that right? If so, what kind?

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

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As for the OBD dongle, why not just keep it connected? I've kept mine connected for almost 3 years now, and have only taken it out maybe 3 times to use on other people's cars.

OK, thanks. Good to know. And speaking of your 1 year anniversary with your Leaf, I'd be curious to know what your battery health readings are these days on Leaf Spy.

As for the OBD dongle, why not just keep it connected? I've kept mine connected for almost 3 years now, and have only taken it out maybe 3 times to use on other people's cars.

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Is yours a mini, with auto power off? Most of them get in the way of the driver's legs and/or knees. That, plus the power drain issue.

LeftieBiker said:

As for the OBD dongle, why not just keep it connected? I've kept mine connected for almost 3 years now, and have only taken it out maybe 3 times to use on other people's cars.

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Is yours a mini, with auto power off? Most of them get in the way of the driver's legs and/or knees. That, plus the power drain issue.

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Mine is indeed a mini, but it's a manual power switch.

It's the Hikeren OBD2, Mini Bluetooth OBD2 with POWER SWITCH, for Android ONLY

Unfortunately, that product has been discontinued. Considering the plethora of competing OBD II readers, I think any of them will be fine (assuming you do like me and just keep it plugged in). The constant removal and reconnection is probably what causes them to fail early?

Unless they have power off capability, then the only really safe way to use them always plugged in is to re-wire the OBDII port plug pins to achieve port auto-power-off.