US used Leaf market discussion

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cwerdna

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 3, 2011
Messages
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Location
SF Bay Area, CA
Use this thread to discuss the used Leaf market in the US (e.g. buying, selling, places willing/unwilling to accept used Leafs, places giving good/bad offers on Leafs, etc.)

Some guy at my work was looking to store a Leaf for a few months as he doesn't have time to sell. Someone suggested selling to Shift. He tried and apparently, they're not making offers on Leafs now. :shock: That guy has a '19 Leaf SL, to boot. I was thinking at first he had an older gen 1...
 
cwerdna said:
Use this thread to discuss the used Leaf market in the US (e.g. buying, selling, places willing/unwilling to accept used Leafs, places giving good/bad offers on Leafs, etc.)

Some guy at my work was looking to store a Leaf for a few months as he doesn't have time to sell. Someone suggested selling to Shift. He tried and apparently, they're not making offers on Leafs now. :shock: That guy has a '19 Leaf SL, to boot. I was thinking at first he had an older gen 1...
I also have a 19 Leaf SL and wanted to see how much it's worth with Carvana. They said it's worth $13,100 with 44,000 miles. Leaf resale value are in the gutter now. I sold my Pacifica Hybrid to Carvana last week and got KBB value.
 
In recent checks, used gen 2 Leafs Plus and non-Plus seem to have absurdly high prices (sold all by various dealers or Carvana). I'm contemplating a used Leaf Plus as a temp car if GM gives me a good offer on a buyback on my recalled Bolt. I started the buyback process recently.

A few weeks ago, I pinged the used car dealer I bought my former '13 Leaf from to be on the lookout for used Leaf Pluses. He said he doesn't buy Leafs like he used to and doesn't see many in post sales reports but he will check for me.

Any good places for people w/o dealer licenses to look for used Leaf Plus?

(Keep in mind the MSRPs on new '22 Leafs has dropped. See https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2022-nissan-leaf-press-kit.)
 
cwerdna said:
In recent checks, used gen 2 Leafs Plus and non-Plus seem to have absurdly high prices (sold all by various dealers or Carvana). I'm contemplating a used Leaf Plus as a temp car if GM gives me a good offer on a buyback on my recalled Bolt. I started the buyback process recently.

A few weeks ago, I pinged the used car dealer I bought my former '13 Leaf from to be on the lookout for used Leaf Pluses. He said he doesn't buy Leafs like he used to and doesn't see many in post sales reports but he will check for me.

Any good places for people w/o dealer licenses to look for used Leaf Plus?

(Keep in mind the MSRPs on new '22 Leafs has dropped. See https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2022-nissan-leaf-press-kit.)
My Bolt buyback still in limbo. Haven't heard any good news from the aforementioned used car dealer.

As with the rest of the used car market, used gen 2 Leaf prices continue to be absurd.

Not that this is my zip code (intentionally), but it's close enough, I'm looking for SV trims (not so keen on SL) at https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?dealer_id=&keyword=&list_price_max=&list_price_min=&makes[]=nissan&maximum_distance=250&mileage_max=&models[]=nissan-leaf&page_size=20&sort=list_price&stock_type=used&year_max=2021&year_min=2018&zip=95136. There's 1 private seller at $18K then I see dealers and Carvana selling for nearly $20K or a bit more (e.g. $20,990 for a '19 SV). Really?

If I paid MSRP on a new '22 Leaf SV (due to the MSRP drop) of $28,800 - $7500 Federal tax credit - $750 https://cleanfuelreward.com/ + $975 dest charge = $21,525. Yeah, that doesn't include sales tax and higher registration, but still... it's brand new, has a full warranty vs. a car that's only a couple $K less w/basic warranty over or almost over and way less EV system/powertrain warranty left.

I've tried a few other places to look for used Leafs and it hasn't really looked much better.
 
cwerdna said:
cwerdna said:
In recent checks, used gen 2 Leafs Plus and non-Plus seem to have absurdly high prices (sold all by various dealers or Carvana). I'm contemplating a used Leaf Plus as a temp car if GM gives me a good offer on a buyback on my recalled Bolt. I started the buyback process recently.

A few weeks ago, I pinged the used car dealer I bought my former '13 Leaf from to be on the lookout for used Leaf Pluses. He said he doesn't buy Leafs like he used to and doesn't see many in post sales reports but he will check for me.

Any good places for people w/o dealer licenses to look for used Leaf Plus?

(Keep in mind the MSRPs on new '22 Leafs has dropped. See https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2022-nissan-leaf-press-kit.)
My Bolt buyback still in limbo. Haven't heard any good news from the aforementioned used car dealer.

As with the rest of the used car market, used gen 2 Leaf prices continue to be absurd.

Not that this is my zip code (intentionally), but it's close enough, I'm looking for SV trims (not so keen on SL) at https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?dealer_id=&keyword=&list_price_max=&list_price_min=&makes[]=nissan&maximum_distance=250&mileage_max=&models[]=nissan-leaf&page_size=20&sort=list_price&stock_type=used&year_max=2021&year_min=2018&zip=95136. There's 1 private seller at $18K then I see dealers and Carvana selling for nearly $20K or a bit more (e.g. $20,990 for a '19 SV). Really?

If I paid MSRP on a new '22 Leaf SV (due to the MSRP drop) of $28,800 - $7500 Federal tax credit - $750 https://cleanfuelreward.com/ + $975 dest charge = $21,525. Yeah, that doesn't include sales tax and higher registration, but still... it's brand new, has a full warranty vs. a car that's only a couple $K less w/basic warranty over or almost over and way less EV system/powertrain warranty left.

I've tried a few other places to look for used Leafs and it hasn't really looked much better.

Unfortunately not everyone has enough tax liability to take advantage of the full $7,500 tax credit. Plus many will not qualify for a new car loan at MSRP. Therefore for those people a used Leaf may be a the only option if they want a leaf.

At my stage in my life I pay cash for vehicles so buying new, negotiating hard for discounts, taking every available rebate and taking tax credit makes sense for me. I was not always in that financial position.

The new reduced MSRP for 2022s without rebates is a shell game. Looking last night several Florida dealers were listing 2022 Leafs at $2,000 OVER the new MSRP plus tacking on a $800-$1000 dealer fee.

The current vehicle market is crazy now. Less than 2 months ago I sold my 20 month old Ford F-150 to Carvana for $14,000 more than I paid for it when i bought it new. When I bought it in November 2019 I negotiated a $9000 dealer discount, Ford offered a $6500 rebate and I had a 3,000 private cash bonus offer that I applied. Today these trucks when new are not being discounted and there are no rebates. Some dealers are even selling them for $3000 OVER MSRP.

It will be a while before things get back to normal.

With current gas prices I can see New and Used Leaf prices rising
 
cwerdna said:
Any good places for people w/o dealer licenses to look for used Leaf Plus?
That's the rub (bold emphasis added by me).
You can only buy a salvaged Leaf without a dealer license, which is what I did for the battery pack. Even those are going for several thousand $ more than the one I bought earlier this year.
 
When I bought my 2017 S it was the first new car I ever bought in my life. At that point, due to utility rebates, buying new was less than buying used. I don't think markets are very rational so it doesn't surprise me that new prices are lower than used. Eg, here on the front range of CO, used 2017 SV/SL Leafs have asking prices of $15k or more. That's $4k more than they cost new in 2017 with all rebates applied. Compare that cost to a new 2022 SV and those prices are nuts.
 
Triggerhappy007 said:
Carvana. They said it's worth $13,100 with 44,000 miles. Leaf resale value are in the gutter now.
How much did you pay for the car after tax credits ?

My envelope math guess suggests that your cost/mile was not terrible although you are certainly right that you are not seeing the jump in used car prices that is pretty common these days. Being able to buy low and sell high is mostly luck. The market is rarely stupid.

---
By the way, you might wish to check Vroom. I'm selling my Tesla Model 3 to them for $39k. Carvana offered $32k
 
Stanton said:
cwerdna said:
Any good places for people w/o dealer licenses to look for used Leaf Plus?
That's the rub (bold emphasis added by me).
You can only buy a salvaged Leaf without a dealer license, which is what I did for the battery pack. Even those are going for several thousand $ more than the one I bought earlier this year.
Actually, as I posted at https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=436921#p436921, Manheim (where lease return Nissans and Infinitis used to go) does have public events. See https://www.manheim.com/publicauctions/sales.do?WT.svl=m_uni_hdr.

But none are in my state and back then, if there were any in my state, they were of repo cars. I don't want repo cars. If the driver was so careless or in such straits to let their car be repossessed, they likely weren't interested in taking great care of it.

What now sucks is that this morning, I received an email from my work telling us not to bring our Bolts to work. :( Yet another place that has banned Bolts. I spent an hour typing up a reply about the recall details, list of Bolts that are known to have caught fire due to battery, no ETA, approx # of vehicles in the recall population, procedure (dealer gets to book 4.5 to 5.5 hours of labor) provided they even have parts, battery production only having recently resumed, examples of plenty of other ICEVs that have been recalled for catching fire while parked and off, # of vehicle fires per day in the US (about 500 per day), etc.

Since I have no idea how long it'll take for a buyback (if offered) or repair, I've offered to park it outside on the roof of the parking structure and charge it up there away from other cars. Due to COVID, so few people show up to the office that there are 0 or 1 cars parked up there and nobody charges up there (no need).

That sucks to hear about the markup (second sticker) on new '22 Leafs.
 
SageBrush said:
Triggerhappy007 said:
Carvana. They said it's worth $13,100 with 44,000 miles. Leaf resale value are in the gutter now.
How much did you pay for the car after tax credits ?

My envelope math guess suggests that your cost/mile was not terrible although you are certainly right that you are not seeing the jump in used car prices that is pretty common these days. Being able to buy low and sell high is mostly luck. The market is rarely stupid.

---
By the way, you might wish to check Vroom. I'm selling my Tesla Model 3 to them for $39k. Carvana offered $32k
I think it was about $22k. Vroom was about the same price. Remember this was in September 2020, probably when used car prices were the lowest. I ended up trading it in at the end of November for a Plus for about $5k. I'm happy with my cost/mile plus my 7 cents/kWh charging.

BTW, my one year old Leaf Plus is worth $4k more than what I bought it for.
 
^^ $5k to swap was cheap.

The LEAF can be good value if it meets your usage profile over time. Our LEAF is used as a city car. We paid $7k for it 5 years ago come December, and it still appears to have years of life left. It's also nice to have cheap car insurance, and of course great to have all the other perks that go along with EV ownership.
 
The used car dealer I bought my former '13 used Leaf from (he buys cars at Manheim auctions) suddenly sent me a list w/an "EV sale" tomorrow. It had over 45 '18+ Leafs!

I'm busy with work so I don't have time to ask him more questions right now... Oddly, I see like about a dozen '20 SV Plus or SL Plus in there with under 5K miles. Weird. Maybe due to COVID WFH?

Since I still don't have a buyback offer with numbers in hand on Bolt, I'm not prepared to risk spending $ and being stuck with an extra car. I hope this is a sign that more used Leafs are coming and the timing can line up.
 
The used car dealer guy didn't go to the auction so he wasn't able to tell me who was there bidding but sent me a list of closing prices. Holy cow!

I skipped over the '18 and 19 SL non-Plus as there's no longer a non-Plus SL for '22. But, in looking the SV and SL, Plus and non-Plus, the closing prices are nuts. Due to the '22 model year MSRP drop, that makes comparisons whacky.

ALL of the '20 SL Plus closed at a price higher than '22 MSRP minus $7500 US Federal tax credit. WTF?!?!? New '22 SL Plus would have MSRP of $37,400 + $975 dest charge - $750 CA clean fuel reward - $7500 = $30,125. Yet, all the used '20 SL Plus were above that.

The '18 and '19 SV non-Pluses don't have great prices either. I don't know how well equipped they are but if they have no packages, they're also more than '22 MSRP + dest charge - $750 CA clean fuel reward - $7500 Fed tax credit. '20 SV non-Plus has a crazy high price.

'22 non-Plus SV should be $28,800 + $975 - $750 CA CFR - $7500 = $21,525.

'19 and '20 SV Plus are also mostly overpriced but also unclear how well-equipped they are. Assuming all these prices are accurate, it seems like there's a lot of overbidding going on. I wonder how many are being exported. Prices are so high that they'd only make sense for someone buying new but can't claim the full $7500 Federal tax credit.

MSRP figures come from PDF on right side of https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/2022-nissan-leaf-press-kit. I used $750 for https://cleanfuelreward.com/ since it will go down to that on 11/2/21.
 
joeriv said:
Just to see what my 17 Leaf S (14,000 miles) would bring, I went to Edmunds and CarMax would give me $15,100!!! Talk about insane!
You should also check Carvana and Vroom. Sometimes they give you more than Carmax, but it depends on the area.
 
cwerdna said:
Use this thread to discuss the used Leaf market in the US (e.g. buying, selling, places willing/unwilling to accept used Leafs, places giving good/bad offers on Leafs, etc.)

Some guy at my work was looking to store a Leaf for a few months as he doesn't have time to sell. Someone suggested selling to Shift. He tried and apparently, they're not making offers on Leafs now. :shock: That guy has a '19 Leaf SL, to boot. I was thinking at first he had an older gen 1...
On a related note, I did reach out to that guy (who got let go from my work) about whether he still had that Leaf when I was in the buyback phase of my now former '19 Bolt. Unfortunately, he didn't, otherwise I'd have considered buying it. I surrendered my former Bolt at end of Jan 2022 and had no other car in my household.

But anyway, www.shift.com has gone bankrupt. Web site confirms. There's been plenty of news on it today like https://www.marketwatch.com/story/shift-technologies-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-wind-down-33602dbf.
 
Datapoint:

2012 LEAF SL bought new in February 2012. Sold last month (September, 2023). Numbers:

Mileage: 16,517 (yeah, after 11½ years)
Range @ 100% charge: 35 miles in town
Condition: TCU no longer working after 3G network disabled, all other features working well. Fairly large dent in right rear quarter panel from backing into the corner of a parked F-250’s rear bumper in an unlighted parking lot at night. Otherwise very clean in and out. Clear title. By the way, no damage whatever to the F-250 in case you were wondering.

CarMax offer: $2800
Carvana offer: $2100

I accepted the CarMax offer. They came to my home, inspected the car, transferred title and key fobs, received bank check, deposited check with bank’s mobile deposit feature using my iPhone. Car picked up (flatbed tow) a couple of hours later. Easy peasy. Thus ended my one and only LEAF and Nissan experience.
 
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