Bad news if you own your LEAF

[apvbguy]

How About Buying a Pre-Owned EV For 15% of Its Original Price Tag?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12180005/1/you-could-buy-a-used-electric-car-for-15-of-its-price-when-new.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[stjohnh]

How About Buying a Pre-Owned EV For 15% of Its Original Price Tag?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12180005/1/you-could-buy-a-used-electric-car-for-15-of-its-price-when-new.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Only if I sell it. Planning to kelp it for 10+ years.

 

[stjohnh]

How About Buying a Pre-Owned EV For 15% of Its Original Price Tag?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12180005/1/you-could-buy-a-used-electric-car-for-15-of-its-price-when-new.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Actually good news. I'm thinking of buying a used LEAF for my teen daughter.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

The holy grail would be to pick one up for a song that is just under 5 years old, then have it lose its fourth bar just in time to get the battery replaced under the warranty with improved chemistry.

 

[abasile]

The level of depreciation isn't ideal, but the government credits/rebates make it look much worse than what owners truly experience. After incentives, and including sales tax and registration, the out-the-door price of my 2011 SL+QC was just a bit over $25K. I believe its value is now somewhere in the teens. Not good, but not terrible.

 

[Berlino]

The article is misleading because it doesn't take into account rebates.

At the articles "could be only worth 15%," a MSRP $30,000 LEAF would sell for $4,500 after five years.

However, what if the new car buyer pocketed both the $7,500 federal tax credit and the $2,500 California rebate, and paid $1,000 less than invoice? Then, $4,500 would work out to 26.5%, not 15%. Note that the Sentra used for comparison doesn't qualify for the first two rebates. You could negotiate a price under MSRP for it, but certainly not, barring special circumstances, $1,000 under invoice.


Additionally, if government rebates go away, used EV sale prices will rise.

 

[garsh]

Additionally, if government rebates go away, used EV sale prices will rise.

If government rebates go away, I would expect new EV prices to fall to cover the difference. If not, then that will be the end of mainstream EVs. Premium cars would probably be ok, but cars like the Leaf won't survive unless the manufacturers can drive production costs down.

 

[epirali]

The article is misleading because it doesn't take into account rebates.

At the articles "could be only worth 15%," a MSRP $30,000 LEAF would sell for $4,500 after five years.

However, what if the new car buyer pocketed both the $7,500 federal tax credit and the $2,500 California rebate, and paid $1,000 less than invoice? Then, $4,500 would work out to 26.5%, not 15%. Note that the Sentra used for comparison doesn't qualify for the first two rebates. You could negotiate a price under MSRP for it, but certainly not, barring special circumstances, $1,000 under invoice.


Additionally, if government rebates go away, used EV sale prices will rise.

It's worse than that, it is pure FUD. It says they COULD and it's based on "comfort level" not actually utility.

Regardless anyone who buys ANY commuter car as anything as our depreciation is just nuts. For me I have spent a net $22k for a 5 year commuter, vs any of my other cars that depreciated that in the first 1-2 years. Even if I drive it off a cliff in 5 years I'll be ahead quickly (not counting any gas savings).

And I am loving the car. So to each their own.

 

[Turnover]

I noticed that our dealer hasn't posted a newspaper add to sell a used Leaf for over a year. I then asked one of the sales people if they were having trouble getting rid of Leaf lease returns. They said absolutely not; that they sell right away on Craig's List. My wild guess is there may be an incentive for dealers not to have it known how cheap these returns actually sell for. I too noticed that the Kelly Blue book now gives a wholesale price for our Leaf as around $8k less that the lease values it at the end of our lease ... in about 11 months.

 

[smkettner]

Who has a five year old LEAF for sale?

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I noticed that our dealer hasn't posted a newspaper add to sell a used Leaf for over a year. I then asked one of the sales people if they were having trouble getting rid of Leaf lease returns. They said absolutely not; that they sell right away on Craig's List. My wild guess is there may be an incentive for dealers not to have it known how cheap these returns actually sell for. I too noticed that the Kelly Blue book now gives a wholesale price for our Leaf as around $8k less that the lease values it at the end of our lease ... in about 11 months.

Like a sales guy would tell you if they were having trouble unloading them

 

[LKK]

All these negative predictions won't be worth much if someone comes out with a low cost battery replacement. I think such a battery might be a realistic probability sometime soon.

 

[Stoaty]

I own my Leaf, and don't see how some guess at future value will undermine the usefulness of my Leaf. Even if my Leaf drops to 50% capacity I will still be able to do most of my driving with it. Much ado about nothing.

 

[Phatcat73]

In 5 years I'll save about $6k in gas

 

[planet4ever]

I then asked one of the sales people if they were having trouble getting rid of Leaf lease returns.

I doubt seriously if they have had any yet. Unless I am mistaken, there were no two-year leases on 2011 cars, and only a couple were sold or leased in December 2010.

Ray

 

[epic]

gosh,wonder who is behind the bogus article?

 

[braineo]

Wait for Iran, the Saudis and Israel to get at it with a nuke and kaboom, electric cars will become a hot commodity.

 

[johnrhansen]

Doesn't matter to me. The money is gone, and more has been earned to replace it. I have a car that should run well for some time. What it is worth isn't that important to me. What would be a huge downer was if it stopped running, and I'd have to part with way too much more money to make it work again. I know people immediately think, battery. But I can still use the car with half of the battery capacity. Might be nice to find a cheap used one. Something to tear apart and play with.

 

[TomT]

If that happens, NOTHING will be a hot commodity! :roll:

Wait for Iran, the Saudis and Israel to get at it with a nuke and kaboom, electric cars will become a hot commodity.

 

[kubel]

Wait for Iran, the Saudis and Israel to get at it with a nuke and kaboom, electric cars will become a hot commodity.

Electric cars wouldn't be the only 'hot' commodity in the US if that happened.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQz91Cx0Ato[/youtube]