Using Carfax to determine Date of Manufacture?

[jakepeters]

Q1) Is the Carfax record Date of Manufacture reliable?

Many people state that you must look at the driver door sticker to see the manufacturing month/year. However, Carfax also lists this date.

Q2) Best location for minimal battery heating from the environment (Southern CA Vs Northern CA vs GA)?

The car dealer listed below seems to get most of the used Leafs from either Georgia or California (some LA, some SF), see the Carfax page details. As far as a less-hot environment, the northern California Leafs would be a better choice (all other battery specs being the same, which is saying a lot)?

Background

There's a decent chance I'll need a second car in the next 4-6 months and am considering a used Nissan Leaf, hopefully <$10k, SV with QC. I'm in the Seattle area (not very cold), but my wife is serious about heat, so I think the heat pump of the 2013+ SV/SL would be valuable. It would be used for a 5 day/week commute of <12 miles round-trip.

This is a great forum to learn about the details of the Leaf and how to determine battery state.

I am considering trying to find a later 2014 model, in the hope it has the "lizard" battery. Not sure that I really need it, but it would be nice.

Example: In the Seattle area Paramount Motors NW sells BEVs (http://www.paramountmotorsnw.com/index.asp), if you click on any car details, there's a Carfax link in the lower right. This seems pretty useful, as it lists the date of manufacture as well as location.

JP

 

[LeftieBiker]

Have you actually seen the date of manufacture (as opposed to the in service date, which can be helpful but less so) in a Carfax report?

 

[jakepeters]

Have you actually seen the date of manufacture (as opposed to the in service date, which can be helpful but less so) in a Carfax report?

I guess that is another way to state my question. Is the Carfax "Date of Vehicle Manufactured", just the in-service date?

Example: http://imgur.com/a/egMpy

JP

 

[VitaminJ]

I have. I checked a few cars and the "manufactured and shipped" date is the same as is inside the door.

 

[LeftieBiker]

That's great, then! I'm surprised that this info hasn't been shared before.

 

[jakepeters]

I have. I checked a few cars and the "manufactured and shipped" date is the same as is inside the door.

Thanks Vitiminj for checking this!

I will use this method for pre-shopping for used Leafs, whereever I can easily get the Carfax info.

JP

 

[cwerdna]

Have you actually seen the date of manufacture (as opposed to the in service date, which can be helpful but less so) in a Carfax report?

Yes. Both the Carfax and Autocheck report for my Leaf show a 5/23/13 vehicle manufactured date. Build month sticker on my car is 5/2013.

The in-service date of 6/22/13 I posted at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440419#p440419 matches w/vehicle sold date from Premier Nissan of Stevens Creek on Carfax. Carfax also has a 6/22/13 CA DMV Saratoga odometer reading reported date. Autocheck only has the latter.

 

[LeftieBiker]

When someone writes that Leaf Buying FAQ, that tip should be one of the first few items.