EPleafAZ
Member
Woohoo! My Leaf arrived today at ABC Nissan.
I have to say the eco-design package doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would. The decal looks really sharp on the black paint. I am still worried about the decal and how it will hold up over time. Jim Springer was my sales contact (awesome guy!) and made the good point that if I leave it on for a long time and decide to remove, there might be variations in paint color. Decisions decisions...
As for the blue center console piece, it looks SO MUCH BETTER than in the pictures that Nissan has posted on their site. Not sure if they made a change or what. Yeah it's still really blue, but doen't have that marble pattern like the one in the pictures.
After over a year of since my reservatoin (and who knows how much longer before that) I am so happy!!!
Quick recap for anyone who might be interested:
On the sales side, Jim was amazing at answering all of my many questions and helping me line up the numbers before I even stepped through the door. I prefer to do that via email, and he accomodated me there. I was on the fence on leasing vs. purchase, so I ran through so many scenarios with him. Very patient with all my requests to model those, which made purchase day simple in terms of knowing exactly what to expect. He even had me in for a test drive, which was a cool preview and helped me get familiar with the car before I took delivery.
I ended up purchasing since that works best for me... Now, that means a trip to the finance department...
The finance process was OK. I brought my own bridge financing through capital one to finance the entire purchase until I sell my Prius. Capital One offered a 4.5 rate. My Credit Union offers 2.49, but won't do a loan that large - so I can't use them until I sell my car. Unfortunately the LTV was too high with the vehicle being sold at MSRP, so I would had to of paid aroud 3-4k cash. I was ok with that and set on doing that but they offered their financing at 3.9, which was pretty decent and lower than my bridge financing. They really pushed their financing even though I wanted to do capital one and could pay the cash, but once I stopped digging in my heels I realized they really were saving me some money. The only screwy part was the amount financed was 700-800 higher than what it was supposed to be, so I spotted that right away and they fixed it.
Once I sell my Prius I am re-financing with my credit union at 2.49. Neither NMAC, Capital One nor the CU have a pre-payment penalty. I told them that I intend to re-fi in a month so I think it's cool that they still offered their financing to save me coming out of pocket. (I know, they probably get a bonus or something - but it was win-win). Worst case I am paying less on the bridge financing should the sale take longer than expected - so not bad.
Of course the normal hard sell on the warranty for the vehicle, plus some crap about the warranty being cheaper at time of purchase (well maybe that's true if you buy from them.) Told them I intend to buy from out of state dealer since it's much cheaper, and based upon the prices they quoted it still is. I am also going to wait to decide which program is best for me. I have to say the program Nisan of Santa Rosa has is pretty impressive with really discounted rates and 0 interest to split it up over 17 months. ABC was at least $300 bucks higher on the one they quoted. Didn't want to get it today anyway so I didn't bother to see if they would match.
They also offer a 3-year tire warranty program and try to push that for 300 or 400 bucks. I think it includes nitrous. I hadn't researched that so I declined. Was told that's only available at purchase. Still might look into something like that, but it seems like 300-400 would get me a set of tires all around. Plus my commute is super short, so hopefully won't be needing new tires any time soon.
I did end up opting in to the ZakTek exterior protection as Jim had provided info on that in advance. Since that includes re-application every 6 months for three years and I can't be trusted to do that on my own, seemed like a good thing to protect the car from my laziness. I guess they also have an interior protection, which I am really interested in and might follow-up on. With such a light interior, seems like it could get dirty easily. If anything I think they should have been pushing that more.
In summary...
All in all I have to say the dealer process went well. Normal finance stuff with the finance guys pushing product, but it all worked out and you just say yes or no. I get really annoyed with them not providing copies of everything you sign by default. If I'm putting my name to it, it's only fair that I should get a copy. That said, I'm one of those crazy people that likes to read and know what they are signing and deal with purchase price versus payment. Not everyone is like that. However for what it was, they remained polite and were never disrespectful, and ended up helping me out. More than you can say for most.
On the sales side, it couldn't have been any better. ABC Nissan was brilliant to have Jim handle the leaf purchases. He is extremely professional, so passionate about the technology, and really goes out of his way to make the customer happy. Jim remembers that almost dead concept called customer service and seems like an all around good guy. On the sales side, it was exceptional from day one working with him. That's why I kept my order in-state with them versus going out of state to save some money.
I'm glad to have this miracle in my hands. A big step towards sustainability. Thanks Nissan for bringing the EV back.
I have to say the eco-design package doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would. The decal looks really sharp on the black paint. I am still worried about the decal and how it will hold up over time. Jim Springer was my sales contact (awesome guy!) and made the good point that if I leave it on for a long time and decide to remove, there might be variations in paint color. Decisions decisions...
As for the blue center console piece, it looks SO MUCH BETTER than in the pictures that Nissan has posted on their site. Not sure if they made a change or what. Yeah it's still really blue, but doen't have that marble pattern like the one in the pictures.
After over a year of since my reservatoin (and who knows how much longer before that) I am so happy!!!
Quick recap for anyone who might be interested:
On the sales side, Jim was amazing at answering all of my many questions and helping me line up the numbers before I even stepped through the door. I prefer to do that via email, and he accomodated me there. I was on the fence on leasing vs. purchase, so I ran through so many scenarios with him. Very patient with all my requests to model those, which made purchase day simple in terms of knowing exactly what to expect. He even had me in for a test drive, which was a cool preview and helped me get familiar with the car before I took delivery.
I ended up purchasing since that works best for me... Now, that means a trip to the finance department...
The finance process was OK. I brought my own bridge financing through capital one to finance the entire purchase until I sell my Prius. Capital One offered a 4.5 rate. My Credit Union offers 2.49, but won't do a loan that large - so I can't use them until I sell my car. Unfortunately the LTV was too high with the vehicle being sold at MSRP, so I would had to of paid aroud 3-4k cash. I was ok with that and set on doing that but they offered their financing at 3.9, which was pretty decent and lower than my bridge financing. They really pushed their financing even though I wanted to do capital one and could pay the cash, but once I stopped digging in my heels I realized they really were saving me some money. The only screwy part was the amount financed was 700-800 higher than what it was supposed to be, so I spotted that right away and they fixed it.
Once I sell my Prius I am re-financing with my credit union at 2.49. Neither NMAC, Capital One nor the CU have a pre-payment penalty. I told them that I intend to re-fi in a month so I think it's cool that they still offered their financing to save me coming out of pocket. (I know, they probably get a bonus or something - but it was win-win). Worst case I am paying less on the bridge financing should the sale take longer than expected - so not bad.
Of course the normal hard sell on the warranty for the vehicle, plus some crap about the warranty being cheaper at time of purchase (well maybe that's true if you buy from them.) Told them I intend to buy from out of state dealer since it's much cheaper, and based upon the prices they quoted it still is. I am also going to wait to decide which program is best for me. I have to say the program Nisan of Santa Rosa has is pretty impressive with really discounted rates and 0 interest to split it up over 17 months. ABC was at least $300 bucks higher on the one they quoted. Didn't want to get it today anyway so I didn't bother to see if they would match.
They also offer a 3-year tire warranty program and try to push that for 300 or 400 bucks. I think it includes nitrous. I hadn't researched that so I declined. Was told that's only available at purchase. Still might look into something like that, but it seems like 300-400 would get me a set of tires all around. Plus my commute is super short, so hopefully won't be needing new tires any time soon.
I did end up opting in to the ZakTek exterior protection as Jim had provided info on that in advance. Since that includes re-application every 6 months for three years and I can't be trusted to do that on my own, seemed like a good thing to protect the car from my laziness. I guess they also have an interior protection, which I am really interested in and might follow-up on. With such a light interior, seems like it could get dirty easily. If anything I think they should have been pushing that more.
In summary...
All in all I have to say the dealer process went well. Normal finance stuff with the finance guys pushing product, but it all worked out and you just say yes or no. I get really annoyed with them not providing copies of everything you sign by default. If I'm putting my name to it, it's only fair that I should get a copy. That said, I'm one of those crazy people that likes to read and know what they are signing and deal with purchase price versus payment. Not everyone is like that. However for what it was, they remained polite and were never disrespectful, and ended up helping me out. More than you can say for most.
On the sales side, it couldn't have been any better. ABC Nissan was brilliant to have Jim handle the leaf purchases. He is extremely professional, so passionate about the technology, and really goes out of his way to make the customer happy. Jim remembers that almost dead concept called customer service and seems like an all around good guy. On the sales side, it was exceptional from day one working with him. That's why I kept my order in-state with them versus going out of state to save some money.
I'm glad to have this miracle in my hands. A big step towards sustainability. Thanks Nissan for bringing the EV back.
Where do you go to get a RFID card from ECTY ?
