About a year ago I purchased a 2011 Nissan Leaf for what I thought was a steal — at $2000, it was the cheapest Leaf on the market. Now, only a short amount of time has past, and that Leaf appears to be worth less than used chewing gum. I cannot for the life of me sell it, and while part of me understands why, another part of me doesn’t get it at all.
When I bought my Nissan Leaf in September of last year, I knew it was dealing with a steaming pile whose battery had severely degraded over just 60,000 miles. In fact, the conclusion of my introductory article — in which I describe struggling to limp the car 20 miles home after my purchase — includes the following: “For the majority of people, though, the Nissan Leaf is a paperweight, largely useless.”
So it’s not like I’m surprised that it’s not for everyone, but at the same time, I kind of am. You see, a year ago, Leafs were selling for $2500 and up — even ones with bad batteries. I managed to snag mine for just $2000 due to the dent on the driver’s side front fender. You’d think that, if the market rate for such a Leaf was $2000 a year ago, I should be able to get close to that now.
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But no. I have my Nissan Leaf listed on Facebook Marketplace for $1800, and nobody has even offered me something similar. And again, you may be thinking: “Well, I mean, the thing only drives about 35 miles in town and 15 on the highway,” but consider this: This Leaf, after rebates, is almost free.
Seriously, if you qualify for the IRA used vehicle rebate, you get 30 percent off. So that’d make the car only $1260+fees, so about $1500. If you have a power company like Southern California Edison, they’ll give you another $1000 (or more) off, so that’s $800 for this machine if you don’t qualify for the IRA rebate and just $500 if you do! That little money for a beautifully driving, air conditioned machine!
Yes, the Leaf’s utility is limited. I get that. Like I said, you can only drive about 35 miles in town, and only about 15 on the highway at 60 mph. But you know what else has similar range? Golf carts. Look at this $10,722 Club Car Onward 4-passenger lacking air conditioning, lacking doors, lacking trunk space, lacking any crashworthiness, lacking standard bluetooth connectivity, and on and on. The thing uses Trojan T-875 lead-acid batteries and goes only 19 mph, with a range of probably only about 20 miles! And it’s nearly $11 grand!
Then look at the Club Car CRU Electric; it costs $24,995, and its max speed is just 25 mph, with regular 12-volt AGM car batteries offering a range of “15-20 miles” according to the manufacturer:
So people are dropping between $10,000 and $25,000 on little golf carts that are slower, smaller, less well-equipped, less safe, and offer much less range, but my Nissan Leaf isn’t even worth $500/$800/$1800? I don’t get it!
If I owned a resort I’d buy every dang one of these Leafs for $2000, paint each a fun color ,remove the doors, and save bundles on transportation costs.
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As for me, I’ll just be patient. The right buyer will come along, and if I have to offload it for a song, that’s OK. The Nissan Leaf served its purpose of getting me on Fox News and giving thousands of anti-EV extremists something to rally against. I’m obviously kidding; my goal was to do an EV conversion on my WWII Jeep, and I’ve realized that that’s just not going to happen anytime soon, and this Leaf is taking up valuable space in the Galpin parking lot.
I can find another one later. Apparently for just a wad of used gum.
Like your i3, you’ve priced this way too high. It’s not much more than a pile of scrap – there really isn’t going to be anyone looking for a Leaf with a bad battery and a crunched fender.
These are his “I know what I got” posts.
I picked up a PHEV for $1800 that will do similar EV range, so I’m going to say your price is still too high 🙂 I bought mine for a future conversion project, but I’m having way too much fun to take it apart just yet.
New idea: roll cage, harness, helmet, and let’s see if this Leaf can fly!
Or, no cage, harness, or helmet. Find a cliff, put a brick on the throttle and let ‘er rip!!
Either way, thhe video would be epic!!
Yeah, I would GLADLY drive this thing off a cliff, and jump out at the last second then remote detonate so it blows up…oh yeah, it lights itself on fire all by itself! Ha ha
Don’t feel bad, I got an email from Carvana that they’d give me $4800 for my 2017 Bolt which is in very good condition. It just had the battery swapped 2 years ago with more capacity so gets over 250 miles of range.
I got it used in 21 so still making payments and am fairly underwater if that’s the value, so decide to check kbb, with private offer I’d barely make back what I owe at mid 8,000s, so I guess I’m treading water?
I told the wife if it goes farther down when it’s all paid for I’m keeping it and body swapping a Saturn SC2 on it.
But if the batteries are shot you’re best offloading it, at least for the conversion community that means cheaper parts.
The worse part is Carvana will give us $6400 for our 2014 Forester, that has nearly the same mileage, with many similar issues to what Matt had with his, how does that make sense?
Makes zero sense.
To be honest, trashing an item and the infrastructure around it does not help when selling anything.
Junk it for a couple hundred bucks. Maybe donate it to charity for the tax write off. The write off is probably more than the facebook marketplace value.
Time to pull the move from Stripes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GPNuZ1SaSI
I’m not parking it, I’m abandoning it!
Are the guts any good? Can they only be used with a Leaf battery pack? Donate it to me and let’s convert my ‘73 Squareback to electric. 😀
How heavy is the Leaf, and how wide a snow plow can you mount to it?
At least a golf cart can be used on golf cart paths in areas that have them.
It’s worth so little, why don’t you turn it into a pickup and see if it sells that way. A little electric Kei truck car alternative.
Is it just the battery and the dent? Is there no supply of good leaf batteries available?
In my mom’s community, golf carts have direct access to a shopping center w/o going out a gate.It’s a nice convenience.
DT. I mocked both you and this piece of rolling fecal matter when you bought it.
If memory serves, “I asked well what the fuck could go wrong here?”
Did you seriously think someone would actually want this turd sandwich after you owned it?
People who drive nice new golf carts do it as a status symbol. Think Del Boca Vista here.
People who drive Leafs really have no status. At all. Might as well have a dead fish in the back seat.
And now here you are a year later whining like a wuss. A wuss I say.
“Now go away before I mock you a second time…”
You don’t get to say I told you so when I told myself so. lol.
This is why we love you. You poor deluded bastard. /s
Frank: You think you could keep us out of Florida? We’re moving in lock, stock
and barrel. We’re gonna be in the pool. We’re gonna be in the clubhouse.
We’re gonna be all over that shuffleboard court! And I dare you to keep me out!
This is extremely topical for me!
I went shopping for golf carts to tool around my neighborhood in, and I was blown away by how overpriced they are, so I bought a ’15 Leaf. Works perfectly, 78 mile range, heat/AC. 39K miles, paid 4K bucks.
Tell me you’ve considered removing the doors!
NGL everyone tells me to do that! I do use it for other actual city driving too, so prolly keep the doors on.
This is exactly the fire the golf cart comparison lit in my heart.
Step 1: remove doors
Step 2: hoon/get groceries as the crazy bastard in the doorless leaf
Step 3: if it is stolen or dies at least after completing step 2, you got your money’s worth
Sounds like a good deal. After reading this article, I was starting to think I sold my ’16 Leaf with 10 bars too cheap at $4,900. Seems like your car is comparable to mine.
1G Leafs are great cars if the range meets your needs. I only sold mine because I needed a bit more range; they are great cars.
100% They’re extremely great cars for the money.
Yeah, the only industry that’s maybe had a more dramatic run up in prices over the years than golf carts is general aviation
I don’t work in the golf cart industry, but I would be very surprised if you told me their margins aren’t very healthy
its bonkers, the ones David put in the story, 10K? wtf.
Include links on where to get the battery replaced, aka, what is the total package cost.
What is the range with a new battery? Put all that in the ad.
It’s more honest about what the real future of the car should be outside of a junkyard.
Part it out. I suspect many of the components were used for several years. Then sell the carcass to a junk yard. $$$
Try selling it in Palm Desert or Indio
There’s a big market for used golf carts at the country clubs.
Should only take about 10 charges to make it there from Santa Monica….
The golf cart market and used car market are two completely different and non-overlapping markets. But yes, golf carts are way overpriced.
What would the Leaf be worth with a new or like new battery?
Green Tec Auto in California advertises 24-40 kwh batteries with prices ranging from $4-8K. Would it be worth the investment to have the battery replaced?
“a year ago, Leafs were selling for $2500 and up”
Is this actually true? I sold my 2017 Leaf earlier this year for $4,900, and that car had a 10 bar battery (~65 miles of real world range). Mine had a prominent dent on one of the front doors but otherwise looked good and was mechanically/functionally excellent. I don’t think my car was substantially underpriced. I was right in the middle of KBB’s range for my car in good condition; I was offered ~$500 in trade based on what comparable cars sold for at a recent wholesale auctions.
Given what my car sold for, I’m skeptical people were actually paying for $2,500 for older Leafs with bad batteries last year. I haven’t looked in a while, but last I checked I recall seeing older Leafs with bad batteries listed for $2,500, and most of those had been on sale for months.
In LA, that was the going rate last year. (or at least not far from it).
I suppose that makes sense if you factor in incentives. If your power company will give you an $1,000 incentive to buy this car, I could see where $2,500 might have been a reasonable sale price. We don’t have incentives for EVs in Florida, since climate change is a hoax and we never get storms here anyway (the 12 inches of rain I got last weekend was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with that “hurricane” invented by the media).
I think that’s a big part of it.
How much is a 2011 Versa with a blown engine worth? For the right person – one who knows where to find a replacement engine for cheap and has the skills to swap it – I’d guess that Versa is worth a grand, tops.
And I’d bet there are more folks willing and able to swap a gas engine than source and swap a battery.
Humm… Small electric vehicle with bad batteries… Better call Jason. Might have to rent the chain saw this time – not sure those are TSA approved.
I vote you do some terrible, terrible drive with it. Like LA to San Francisco, 20 miles at a time.
But it’s effectively worthless. Yeah it’s only $800 after all the legal hoops but dealing with that, plus DMV registration, plus insurance, plus parking, plus the fact that it’s only capable of getting 10 miles away from your home and is 1 smoked battery cell from bricking itself, blocking traffic and requiring a tow…
My eBike does 22 miles with 30% battery left and I can still pedal it after.
You just solved David’s problem: all he has to do is install pedals in his Leaf! 😀
Or he could chainsaw (required for the batteries) through the floor and yabba dabba doo it.
Here we GOOOO! The first Autopian Shitbox Showdown!!
On one side we have Mercedes rust riddled BMW 5-series wagon with a smoking habit vs David’s can’t-go-more-than-20-miles Nissan Leaf!!
Set up the poll!!
Which do the readers want?!? Vote now!!
Mark: does the Leaf’s interior really contain that many take-out containers, and how many still have food in them? Seller won’t say.
I can confirm that the Leaf is not filled with take-out containers. It doesn’t drive far enough on a single charge to reach a restaurant…
How close is it to a shower?
Ouch,that’s a mic drop diss.
Mercedes this is why we love you.
Keep up the great work.
Which do we want?
Well I would prefer another choice. Really.
Check the site on Friday morning. 😉
Try advertising it as a luxury golf cart. Failing that, next time you’ll know to Leaf well enough alone.
Gold!
Maybe even remove the doors and hatch, and cut the roof off the trunk to add a rear-facing seat, and it would suddenly be worth 5 figures as a 7 passenger luxury golf cart? If stripping the thing out to the bare bones can increase the price of a Porsche or Lotus, why not an old Leaf as well? Add some lightness….
Am I the only one who’s been wondering just what else is in the Galpin parking lot?
Like other random seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time cars, an RV or two, some crazy out of place exotic, and maybe a battered late ’90s beige Ford Taurus that Beau drives to work every day, ala J. Peterman’s underwhelming home life on Seinfeld?
There’s some gold. I’ll do an article on it!
Not on a private sale. That’s only for dealership sales.
From the IRS website (emphasis mine):
You can use Keysavvy for that.
I forgot that would work. Maybe mention the Keysavvy method of getting the rebate in the listing. I’d suspect some people would give it more consideration if they see you have a plan for getting them the rebate.
The flat consignment fee proportionally eats deep into the eligible rebate…
Is it possible for you all to get a sponsorship deal with a battery replacement outfit? That might be an interesting story.
Or better yet, try to run the car with a bunch of questionably wired AGM lead acid cells piled high in the passenger cabin, brought to you by Optima.
In this case, yes, that consignment fee would eat into that figure. It’d still be DIRT.
At 30 percent of the sale price, the federal rebate on what you will get someone to pay for the Leaf won’t even cover the $198 Keysavvy fee.
They could use a chainsaw to make sure all the batteries fit.