Leafy totaled :(

Ugh, my experience so far is nowhere near as bad as Gerry's. If not for the new battery I'd probably be relatively satisfied with their first offer. And I'm still driving the car.

Sorry to hear of your losses. I was offered a salvage buy back on a vehicle (non Leaf) in my past that was just too high. I went to the auction to bid on it and who do you suppose was there bidding it up? Yep, the insurance adjuster. He bid it up to the price that they had wanted me to pay on salvage buyback, then I quit bidding and the insurance company still owned the vehicle and probably put it through the next auction and so on, till they got what they wanted from some outside buyer. To me that is a bid rigging scam. Anyway... I have purchased several cars on salvage buyback. Only you can determine if it is right for you with all things considered. I would try really hard to get them to lower the salvage amount. Good luck!

Why do these situations always start out with an insurance adjuster estimate? IMO the opening number should be coming from the party that was harmed. I know it doesn't work this way but probably it should... forget their offer, tell the other guy and his insurance company what your loss was and demand immediate payment. Don't forget to include "administrative fees".

Found a 2011 Leaf exactly the same as mine 3 bar loser, purchased a week earlier in 2011, very low miles. Reasonable price. Got all excited I can just buy it to replace mine and hit the warranty, but with 46.65ahr and less than 4 months to go it's very unlikely I will make the warranty, sigh.

Buying yours back from the insurance company might be your best bet since you know the car. Just remember that the Nissan warranties are voided when a vehicle is totaled (or even if it is not totaled but has enough damage that it "should have been totaled"). Since you have high mileage and a new battery, the loss of warranty coverage is probably acceptable. If you are going to buy it back, don't let it sit at the insurance company storage lot.

Gerry

GerryAZ said:

Buying yours back from the insurance company might be your best bet since you know the car. Just remember that the Nissan warranties are voided when a vehicle is totaled (or even if it is not totaled but has enough damage that it "should have been totaled"). Since you have high mileage and a new battery, the loss of warranty coverage is probably acceptable. If you are going to buy it back, don't let it sit at the insurance company storage lot.

Gerry

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Keeping the car is the most likely scenario, however if I could pick this low-miles no-accident 2011 with newer tires for 2-3k more than the salvage value and it had a prospect of getting a new pack under warranty I wouldn't let it pass. There is also the itch to use this situation as an excuse for buying a new 2016 with 30kW pack or an e-Golf, but I keep fighting this thought I have the car with me, never gave it to insurance, they were okay with. Just logged 200 miles today.

A quick update. Insurance came up with about $2k additional for the new battery (could be painful if I forked out $6k last month for it), which brings up the total compensation with all taxes factored in to about $12k, or $7.5k if keep the car. Looking at the offering prices for Leafs with new packs in my area this seems like an acceptable offer if I wanted to dispose of it. If I keep the car and sell it to battery harvesters 3-4 years down the road for $2-$3k after putting 60k more miles on it this actually sounds like a pretty good deal. One concern is I probably won't be able to buy collision insurance for it, but I might just take my chances with it.

Have you tried pricing having your own body shop do the repairs? If the damage is just really 1/8" deflection in the pillar then they are just going to pull that on the frame machine at best which should only cost a few hundred dollars or so. Two new doors may cost $7,000 but a couple of used doors from a Leaf that was wrecked on the other side or either end should only cost a few hundreds to maybe $1,000. While the accident will be on the car fax afterwards at least with a $2.000 estimate to repair using "Barely Used" parts the car won't be totaled or get a salvage title.

Yes, that's what I did. Sourced driver's door same color from a dismantler. It was a bit more expensive than I hoped as it had it had to be shipped, couldn't find one in matching color locally and wanted to avoid a paint job. Kept the rear door with damage for now as it wasn't too bad. Overall with all DMV and related salvage fees and repairs I'm probably out $1800. Could have been better but not too bad overall considering the insurance payout, will probably keep the car for 5 more years / 100k miles, then will sell it for a song.

Sounds like keeping it worked out for you based another post you made today. The jacked up bids on wrecked Leafs must be coming from overseas biders. I finally won one from an insurance auction for parts but in hindsight I could have picked up a used one off of Craigslist unwrecked and with a clear title for the same $$$. Having a used Leaf with a new battery sucks if someone runs over you.

GaleHawkins said:

Sounds like keeping it worked out for you based another post you made today. The jacked up bids on wrecked Leafs must be coming from overseas biders. I finally won one from an insurance auction for parts but in hindsight I could have picked up a used one off of Craigslist unwrecked and with a clear title for the same $$$. Having a used Leaf with a new battery sucks if someone runs over you.

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Yup, it worked out okay. Bought a new front drivers door from a wreck yard, perfect color match. After that accident had a couple of minor fender benders not our fault, so got more insurance money in my pocket The car is banged up a bit but drives okay, I don't really care at this point about the aesthetics. The replacement pack is no comparison to the original - still at 8 bars after 5 years and 90k miles. My son will learn how to drive on it next year, then after much drama the Leafy's mission will be officially complete.