Dealers buying the replacement battery packs?

[gatedad11]

Just curious if we might start seeing dealers buying and then installing the replacement battery packs on used LEAFs that have come off lease? A 3 year old, 36,000 mile LEAF took a real beating in depreciation. With the advent of the battery replacement program, I wonder if more than a few dealers will buy the pack and install them in some of the older models? Would mean an essentially new car for a much lower price.

Lou

 

[MikeinDenver]

Knowing dealers I highly doubt it. I think they would find it hard to recoup the full cost honestly. With so many people being ignorant about the LEAF they wouldn't know the difference.

 

[pkulak]

Yeah. It's probably way easier to find a sucker than to recoup 5-6 grand.

 

[mctom987]

With a sucker born every minute…

But agreed, it probably wouldn't be worth the dealer's money. But, maybe you could find a sucker that would pay the extra $8k for the brand new battery. Who knows?

 

[jsongster]

With a sucker born every minute…

But agreed, it probably wouldn't be worth the dealer's money. But, maybe you could find a sucker that would pay the extra $8k for the brand new battery. Who knows?

At most it is only 6k ... 5499 + 200 for older cars.... +300 install...

unless you are adding markup...

 

[myleaf]

With a sucker born every minute…

But agreed, it probably wouldn't be worth the dealer's money. But, maybe you could find a sucker that would pay the extra $8k for the brand new battery. Who knows?

At most it is only 6k ... 5499 + 200 for older cars.... +300 install...

unless you are adding markup...

Can dealers get the battery at less than MSRP ?

 

[mctom987]

If a dealer only got out what he puts in, there is 0 gain with >0 risk. I said $8k because the dealer needs to make a profit.

I'm sure the dealer could get batteries below MSRP, but even still, $6k extra is a lot.

KBB pegs a 2011 Leaf SL with 36k miles at <$12,863
The same car with 0 miles is $12,530, with 1 mile it's $14,417

Might be a bug in KBB… or it might be assuming excessive degradation from sitting at 100% for 3 years.

In any case, the dealer would probably need so sell for somewhere around $18k minimum to make it profitable. With what KBB says, it doesn't look like it's even close to possible. Though, KBB is more oriented to ICE, and can't yet make accurate estimates for battery condition.

 

[TomT]

The sales price of a used car is determined primarily by mileage and age. It is highly unlikely that a dealer would ever recover the cost of a new pack in the resale market. So, no, it is very unlikely.

Just curious if we might start seeing dealers buying and then installing the replacement battery packs on used LEAFs that have come off lease? A 3 year old, 36,000 mile LEAF took a real beating in depreciation. With the advent of the battery replacement program, I wonder if more than a few dealers will buy the pack and install them in some of the older models? Would mean an essentially new car for a much lower price.

 

[adric22]

I seriously doubt many dealers would bother to replace the battery on a working car. A few years ago I used to be in the business of selling refurbished laptops. If the battery worked "good enough" I would just sell the computer with a used battery in it. Typically I would shoot for at least an hour and a half of run-time on battery. If it were less than that I would usually replace the battery with an aftermarket battery pack for around $40. But that $40 was hard to justify in many cases. More often than not, if I had a customer wanting to buy one I could offer him a $30 discount for a computer with an inferior battery and they'd happily take it.

So in the case of the Leaf, I'm having a hard time believing anyone would buy a used Leaf for a $6,000 premium just because it has a brand new battery in it.

 

[pkulak]

Now that I think about it, you could probably do alright if you went in to a dealer, found some 2011 with a 50-mile range, then offered 4 grand more than asking if they put in a new battery before you drove it home. 16 grand for a 2011 with a brand-new lizard battery could work for a lot of people. If my lease ends before Nissan or Tesla have a new model out, I may do just that.

 

[mctom987]

Now that I think about it, you could probably do alright if you went in to a dealer, found some 2011 with a 50-mile range, then offered 4 grand more than asking if they put in a new battery before you drove it home. 16 grand for a 2011 with a brand-new lizard battery could work for a lot of people. If my lease ends before Nissan or Tesla have a new model out, I may do just that.

You're assuming the dealer could install it for less than $4000. While you might be able to dip into their margins on adding the battery pack, I don't think it would be that steep. Say they make $3k on selling the car, now they're only making $1k on it. Still at a profit, but that's just the tangible costs. Salesman still needs his commission on it.

 

[OrientExpress]

The short answer is no.

A leased car is owned by the Leasing Company (usually NMAC), not a dealer. What happens with a lease return, is that the leasing company takes possession of the car and it is taken to an wholesale auction house where it is reconditioned, and then sold at auction to a licensed dealer. That might be an independent or franchised one.

If the battery is to be replaced prior to auction it will be done there.

 

[keydiver]

Now that I think about it, you could probably do alright if you went in to a dealer, found some 2011 with a 50-mile range, then offered 4 grand more than asking if they put in a new battery before you drove it home. 16 grand for a 2011 with a brand-new lizard battery could work for a lot of people. If my lease ends before Nissan or Tesla have a new model out, I may do just that.

I have thought that this is particularly a good deal for people like my parents, on Social Security, who can't take advantage of the $7500 tax credit. I think there are a lot of people out there who have considered a Leaf, but don't have enough tax burden to be able to take the credit, so they don't buy one.

 

[MikeinDenver]

Now that I think about it, you could probably do alright if you went in to a dealer, found some 2011 with a 50-mile range, then offered 4 grand more than asking if they put in a new battery before you drove it home. 16 grand for a 2011 with a brand-new lizard battery could work for a lot of people. If my lease ends before Nissan or Tesla have a new model out, I may do just that.

I have thought that this is particularly a good deal for people like my parents, on Social Security, who can't take advantage of the $7500 tax credit. I think there are a lot of people out there who have considered a Leaf, but don't have enough tax burden to be able to take the credit, so they don't buy one.

So just lease it and Nissan takes the credit right off the top.

 

[pkulak]

Now that I think about it, you could probably do alright if you went in to a dealer, found some 2011 with a 50-mile range, then offered 4 grand more than asking if they put in a new battery before you drove it home. 16 grand for a 2011 with a brand-new lizard battery could work for a lot of people. If my lease ends before Nissan or Tesla have a new model out, I may do just that.

I have thought that this is particularly a good deal for people like my parents, on Social Security, who can't take advantage of the $7500 tax credit. I think there are a lot of people out there who have considered a Leaf, but don't have enough tax burden to be able to take the credit, so they don't buy one.

So just lease it and Nissan takes the credit right off the top.

I'm leasing for the first time now, and it's okay, but it kinda sucks that I can't just sell it if I want to. I'm really stuck to this car, no matter what. And worrying about miles is a bit lame. Next car I get I'm going to buy. Hopefully it's a 150-mile Leaf.