Is it worth to transport cross country

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Rodriguez

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2019
Messages
24
Hi all,

Im looking for a (preferably) 2013+ Leaf to export to the carib. At the moment I am looking in the region of Florida to minimize the transport costs over land(it has to be trailered to Miami for shipping) but the supply is quite meh compared to California.

Is it worth looking in places like California where there is more supply despite the added cost for shipping overland?

There are two reasons I want a 2013 or newer leaf, the battery is better equipped to handle the heat and in about two years I'm moving back again to Europe and the 2013 has a more efficient heater. For the rest Chademo is a must have.

Oh btw when the time is ripe I've already arranged for a battery swap at Muxsan :D
 
When I bought last month I noticed some online sellers were quoting reasonable shipping rates. In the end I went looking in the pick up truck and rented a U-haul car carrier for $100 for the 200 mile trip home so I was only one day buying and getting the Leaf home by myself. I was planning on getting a 2015 off Craigslist but went with a 2016 from a Nissan dealership that I liked when I went to look at their Leaf. Buying sight unseen has some risk but I have done it successful in the past.

Find the car you like and see what the shipping costs are to the port of your choice I guess is about all you can do if you do not have state side contacts to do it for you.

I found a Leaf with 21.5K miles on it for about the same price of a 2013 and a new battery. In my case having a dealership to lean on if needed was a plus but I do not think that would be factor in your case importing it once or twice.

Best of success. Do you have any EV options locally?
 
When you look at 2013 leafs, remember that the old, bad battery chemistry was used through the March builds in 2013, and there may be a small handful of April builds with it as well. I drove a 4/2013 build with the newer chemistry for 5 years, but if you want to be absolutely safe, look for May or later. The build date is on the door sill sticker on the driver's side door.
 
GaleHawkins said:
When I bought last month I noticed some online sellers were quoting reasonable shipping rates. In the end I went looking in the pick up truck and rented a U-haul car carrier for $100 for the 200 mile trip home so I was only one day buying and getting the Leaf home by myself. I was planning on getting a 2015 off Craigslist but went with a 2016 from a Nissan dealership that I liked when I went to look at their Leaf. Buying sight unseen has some risk but I have done it successful in the past.

Find the car you like and see what the shipping costs are to the port of your choice I guess is about all you can do if you do not have state side contacts to do it for you.

I found a Leaf with 21.5K miles on it for about the same price of a 2013 and a new battery. In my case having a dealership to lean on if needed was a plus but I do not think that would be factor in your case importing it once or twice.

Best of success. Do you have any EV options locally?
I can't do the pickup thing myself, I have contact with a local importer that deals with the paperwork and shipping for me.
Funny thing is that I am already driving a Nissan Leaf that will be sold locally, due to some errors on my side when exporting it when I moved it it would be quite hard to move with the car again. But I don't mind though, I can sell the car for a profit locally and take the new Leaf with me home. Where I'm from a high milage 2011/2012 model starts at €10.000 so it makes sense to import one from the states while I live close anyway.

LeftieBiker said:
When you look at 2013 leafs, remember that the old, bad battery chemistry was used through the March builds in 2013, and there may be a small handful of April builds with it as well. I drove a 4/2013 build with the newer chemistry for 5 years, but if you want to be absolutely safe, look for May or later. The build date is on the door sill sticker on the driver's side door.
I'll keep that in mind, was already trying to weed out all the pre april cars. I'm planning to swap later anyway but a better battery also has a better value down the line when I sell the pack.

Also, for the the first years was chademo only on the SL trim or was it also optional on the lesser trims?
 
To add on my previous post, it's quite hard to determine if the car has Chademo or not, I believe there was a guide on what to look for in a picture of the engine bay somewhere but I can't find it. IIRC something like two extra orange HV wires?

I found an interesting 2013:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/786979608/overview/

And three nteresting 2015's:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/785588307/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/782613837/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/788947989/overview/

The trimlevel is a bit confusing though, the sticker doesn't say SV but G?
 
Rodriguez said:
...Also, for the the first years was chademo only on the SL trim or was it also optional on the lesser trims?
It's available on all Leafs, my '13 S has a QC port as it had the "charge" package, I believe all SV and SLs have a QC port but some of the earlier S's and SV's lacked a backup camera if that's important. I believe by '14?? a backup camera was on all N. American Leafs.
 
Rodriguez said:
Got it, I'm reaching out to all the dealers above to ask. May I ask what you think of the ads above?
Truthfully they are a bit of a mess :?
One mentions a power lift gate :? never been available on a Leaf. Then one says a S but lists features only available on a SL or maybe SV but not S.
Oh if CC is important to you, it wasn't available on S models in '13 and maybe '14? I believe all Leafs had CC by '15. As I only use mine in-town I don't care but you might. You also gain the "B" mode on later Leafs, again it was not an option on my '13S but I believe by '15(or maybe '14??) it was on all Leafs.
 
Yeah weeding it out is a bit of a job indeed. Now I know to look for the words charge package helps a bit narrowing down. The price difference between a 2013 and 2015 is small enough for me to go for a 2015.

For now I like this one because the low milage, spare tire and evse but im waiting to find out if it has chademo.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/782613837/overview/

This one should have it according to the description and has a similar milage and price, no spare wheel though:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/785588307/overview/
 
Rodriguez said:
Yeah weeding it out is a bit of a job indeed. Now I know to look for the words charge package helps a bit narrowing down. The price difference between a 2013 and 2015 is small enough for me to go for a 2015.

For now I like this one because the low milage, spare tire and evse but im waiting to find out if it has chademo.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/782613837/overview/

This one should have it according to the description and has a similar milage and price, no spare wheel though:
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/785588307/overview/
It looks like in '14 to get the QC on a SV you need to have the "LED Headlight" package, again in '14 to get the QC on a S it needs to have the "Charge Package".
Your first link is the one that mentions "power liftgate".....again never a feature on any Leaf and they mention Bose Stereo but it's not pictured with one nor was the Bose available in the S model, I can't tell from the photos if it has a QC port.
Leafs never came with a spare tire, not sure why someone put one in one of your links but again other than aftermarket it wasn't available but rather the Leaf came with a small air compressor and can of fix-a-flat goo that was stored in the drivers side?? storage area inside the back of the vehicle.
 
Yup the whole listing is a bit of a clusterfuck. Reached out to both of them, I'll have to see what's in my inbox tomorrow morning.

The roads here are of meh quality, I'm currently carrying a spacesaver in the trunk just to be sure. Don't like the goo because the tireshop hates it when they need to plug it.
 
To add on my previous post, it's quite hard to determine if the car has Chademo or not, I believe there was a guide on what to look for in a picture of the engine bay somewhere but I can't find it. IIRC something like two extra orange HV wires?


Yes. Two orange-red HV cables running from the "engine" bay to the nose.
 
LeftieBiker said:
To add on my previous post, it's quite hard to determine if the car has Chademo or not, I believe there was a guide on what to look for in a picture of the engine bay somewhere but I can't find it. IIRC something like two extra orange HV wires?


Yes. Two orange-red HV cables running from the "engine" bay to the nose.
Thanks, that confirms for me that this car also has it despite not being mentioned in the ad:

https://www.greenwaynissanvenice.com/vehicle-details/used-2013-nissan-leaf-s-1N4AZ0CP0DC424887

It's late 2013, It doesn't have cruise control but at little more than half the price of the previous ones I'm willing to let that go :p
 
I shipped mine from way up north and glad I did.
It only cost me about $800 to ship from about 1,000 miles away.
Glad I got one with a battery from a cool climate instead of a fried local one.
 
Called with the dealer of the blue car(https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/785588307/overview/) and the first otd export price they send me is $10.900.

Is that reasonable? At a big box dealer like hgregs dealer how much wiggle room is there? Sorry about these questions I am totally unfamiliar with dealers in the US, where I'm from sticker price is otd price.
 
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