Dealer Service?

[ROVEX 0]

Hi all,

I'm new to selling used cars and to this forum. I'd appreciate a little advice on something if you can.  The first car I am buying is a Nissan Leaf, just under three years old and I have bumped into something I hadn't thought of - the service is due on it in 20 days - £149+ from the local Nissan dealer. 

So do I get the service done at my expense or not, what do I have to weigh up or is it a no-brainer. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[Nick M.K. 574]

Do it at Nissan as the car is under warranty. Any major problems they find will be fixed and the manufacturer will pay. £149 is a small price to pay under those circumstances. 

I would also advise you to NOT start in used car sales with newish high value electric cars. Buy 4 Micras instead. 

[DPF 18]

100% agreed with Nick start with cheap cars to learn trade. 

[JimmyGlen 13]

Bold first car! Or are you looking to specialise in EV? 

On topic, thats a fair price to have the car serviced by the dealer, and also a big plus when composing your ad text. As its due so soon, just get it done now so any prospective buyer can drive it away on the day, rather than faffing about with post sale prep. 

Best of luck!

[stockedup! 63]

What if he got the Leaf at real handy money? 

[EPV 631]

Definitely get it done at a MD at that age. I’d say anything up to about 5 years it’s worth keeping up the MD history, beyond that, it won’t stop you selling it imo. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

2 minutes ago, stockedup! said:

What if he got the Leaf at real handy money? 

Like 4-5 grand instead of £12K? 

[trade vet 702]

15 minutes ago, ROVEX said:

Hi all,

I'm new to selling used cars and to this forum. I'd appreciate a little advice on something if you can.  The first car I am buying is a Nissan Leaf, just under three years old and I have bumped into something I hadn't thought of - the service is due on it in 20 days - £149+ from the local Nissan dealer. 

So do I get the service done at my expense or not, what do I have to weigh up or is it a no-brainer. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Hi Rover,I hope you are clued up on Nissan Leaf’s.Never having one,I fancied an 11 plate at Newcastle last week.I read up about battery depletion and the gauges etc.This one had 6 bar,which meant fully charged it would do 45 miles.Recon set of batteries about £3000.It still did over CAP clean,made no sense to me.

Just now, trade vet said:

Hi Rover,I hope you are clued up on Nissan Leaf’s.Never having one,I fancied an 11 plate at Newcastle last week.I read up about battery depletion and the gauges etc.This one had 6 bar,which meant fully charged it would do 45 miles.Recon set of batteries about £3000.It still did over CAP clean,made no sense to me.

Rovex.

[JimmyGlen 13]

I can't get my head round the battery situation? I tried to value a Zoe a while back and there was TWO finance agreements on the car, one for the car and one for the battery! After speaking with the lady, she was rambling on about the battery not being included and that it was a lease battery. The whole thing just made my head hurt, and binned it!

 

[NOACROSS 414]

Quite common on the Renaults. Battery can be bought or leased. If leased, you (the customer that is) pays monthly for the battery and they take care of any issues or replacements. 

10 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Hi Rover,I hope you are clued up on Nissan Leaf’s.Never having one,I fancied an 11 plate at Newcastle last week.I read up about battery depletion and the gauges etc.This one had 6 bar,which meant fully charged it would do 45 miles.Recon set of batteries about £3000.It still did over CAP clean,made no sense to me.

Rovex.

If it’s anything like the Prius etc and the Renault Twizzy I had, then that’s no indication of the battery health TV. That just needs charging. 

[stockedup! 63]

18 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Like 4-5 grand instead of £12K? 

2-3k

[trade vet 702]

4 minutes ago, NOACROSS said:

Quite common on the Renaults. Battery can be bought or leased. If leased, you (the customer that is) pays monthly for the battery and they take care of any issues or replacements. 

If it’s anything like the Prius etc and the Renault Twizzy I had, then that’s no indication of the battery health TV. That just needs charging. 

OK thank you.The way I interpreted it 12 blue bars on the gauge meant fully efficient batteries and they deplete at about 1 bar per year.

[ROVEX 0]

1 hour ago, Nick M.K. said:

Do it at Nissan as the car is under warranty. Any major problems they find will be fixed and the manufacturer will pay. £149 is a small price to pay under those circumstances. 

I would also advise you to NOT start in used car sales with newish high value electric cars. Buy 4 Micras instead. 

Its good advice but I've decided to specialise in EVs and while I was going through the faff of getting insurance and whatnot so I could sign up to the the auctions this one sort of fell in my lap.

[ROVEX 0]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Hi Rover,I hope you are clued up on Nissan Leaf’s.Never having one,I fancied an 11 plate at Newcastle last week.I read up about battery depletion and the gauges etc.This one had 6 bar,which meant fully charged it would do 45 miles.Recon set of batteries about £3000.It still did over CAP clean,made no sense to me.

Rovex.

6 bars really is chronic, even for that age although high mileage early Leafs did suffer. Mainly it would make me think the owner hadn't looked after it at all.

1 hour ago, NOACROSS said:

Quite common on the Renaults. Battery can be bought or leased. If leased, you (the customer that is) pays monthly for the battery and they take care of any issues or replacements. 

If it’s anything like the Prius etc and the Renault Twizzy I had, then that’s no indication of the battery health TV. That just needs charging. 

I've heard that people don't like to buy cars with battery leases so the re-sale £££ is less. I plan to stay away from them.

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

OK thank you.The way I interpreted it 12 blue bars on the gauge meant fully efficient batteries and they deplete at about 1 bar per year.

The one I am buying is just shy of three years and has all twelve bars - its to do with the mileage and how you charge it. ie you don't just charge to 100% all the time

[trade vet 702]

2 minutes ago, ROVEX said:

6 bars really is chronic, even for that age although high mileage early Leafs did suffer. Mainly it would make me think the owner hadn't looked after it at all.

Thank you,I did think that no EV punter would buy it on 6 bar.It was 75k 2011 which were probably the first ones.But it would have been over £5k including fees .The locals think they are crap,they make them here.This one was very clean and was sold online.

[BHM 994]

9 hours ago, trade vet said:

Thank you,I did think that no EV punter would buy it on 6 bar.It was 75k 2011 which were probably the first ones.But it would have been over £5k including fees .The locals think they are crap,they make them here.This one was very clean and was sold online.

CRIKES! TV, I think we’re on a different planet up here with our punters. Just imagine trying to sell one of these up north? I’d be smoking it for years.

.......and imagine telling a punter “Oh yes Sir, the car is £xxxx BUT you also need to pay monthly for the batteries”. I’d expect to be told/asked “Fuck off, you’re joking?” by a typical older-car buyer.

.......or imagine the calls from London & the suburbs all wanting it delivered f.o.c. (Cos the friggin things would take 4 days to get there with their pisspoor range & the time needed to “refill the tank”).

.......or on an ‘owner battery’ car the £3000 batteries go ‘tits up’ on a customer and you try one of Arfurs/Lawgistics letters advising the customer that “wear n tear ain’t included in the CRA”. That case wouldn’t go away quickly around these parts!

I think I’ll stick with piston engines for another few years.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Definitely worth paying for the Stealers stamp. But, can you imagine the type of buyer who would want a used Leaf....

[ROVEX 0]

11 hours ago, trade vet said:

Thank you,I did think that no EV punter would buy it on 6 bar.It was 75k 2011 which were probably the first ones.But it would have been over £5k including fees .The locals think they are crap,they make them here.This one was very clean and was sold online.

That doesn't sound too promising!  £5K sounds a bit rich, I think you would have had to stick a new battery in it but I think the old ones have value too so it's not a straight £3K cost.

2 hours ago, BHM said:

CRIKES! TV, I think we’re on a different planet up here with our punters. Just imagine trying to sell one of these up north? I’d be smoking it for years.

.......and imagine telling a punter “Oh yes Sir, the car is £xxxx BUT you also need to pay monthly for the batteries”. I’d expect to be told/asked “Fuck off, you’re joking?” by a typical older-car buyer.

.......or imagine the calls from London & the suburbs all wanting it delivered f.o.c. (Cos the friggin things would take 4 days to get there with their pisspoor range & the time needed to “refill the tank”).

.......or on an ‘owner battery’ car the £3000 batteries go ‘tits up’ on a customer and you try one of Arfurs/Lawgistics letters advising the customer that “wear n tear ain’t included in the CRA”. That case wouldn’t go away quickly around these parts!

I think I’ll stick with piston engines for another few years.

This made me laugh - I'm picking mine up North of Manchester - expected journey time 6 hours to get back "daan souf"! I'm doing it so I can get first hand experience of long distance EV driving.  

 

[ROVEX 0]

So now I have another question, Nissan has mailed me and offered me an extension of the Warranty but I have to take it by the 20th Dec to get these prices

Clearly they are not too confident the car is going to last 3 more years! 

• 1 YEAR - £227.00
• 2 YEAR – £447.00
• 3 YEAR - £1,057.00

 

it seems to me that a year or two of Dealer warranty might be a good selling point but it's a lot of money to invest when I have no experience of who the customers are for this kind of vehicle...

 

What do you think?

[Mark101 536]

Is the warranty transferable to the new owner?

[trade vet 702]

8 minutes ago, ROVEX said:

So now I have another question, Nissan has mailed me and offered me an extension of the Warranty but I have to take it by the 20th Dec to get these prices

Clearly they are not too confident the car is going to last 3 more years! 

• 1 YEAR - £227.00
• 2 YEAR – £447.00
• 3 YEAR - £1,057.00

 

it seems to me that a year or two of Dealer warranty might be a good selling point but it's a lot of money to invest when I have no experience of who the customers are for this kind of vehicle...

 

What do you think?

What about the small print and how it is worded.I would read it with a magnifying glass.Punters will probably want a 3 year warranty thrown in with the deal.

[NOACROSS 414]

I'd take the one year one and then that'll (hopefully) get you out of any comebacks.  As above though, check it's transferrable (I'm sure it will be) and TV's point about what's covered.

It's bizarre how, like Autoraper, there's no sensible 'bulk buy discount'. i.e. two years is just doubled one years really and so on.

[David Horgan 564]

17 hours ago, ROVEX said:

Hi all,

I'm new to selling used cars and to this forum. I'd appreciate a little advice on something if you can.  The first car I am buying is a Nissan Leaf, just under three years old and I have bumped into something I hadn't thought of - the service is due on it in 20 days - £149+ from the local Nissan dealer. 

So do I get the service done at my expense or not, what do I have to weigh up or is it a no-brainer. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Hi Rovex , Starting with a Nissan  Leaf , weird choices in my oldstyle pattern of thoughts , Post up from this one that says get 4 Micra's instead , " great advice in my mind " 

look around when your out and about " see any Leafs running about ?" No, thought not , Slow sellers then would be my first port of thought . 

But I don't knock the trier in you Rovex so good luck with the venture and I hope it all goes well , least you wont have a petrol bill each month

 

[NOACROSS 414]

I think he might be on to something specialising in EV’s and Hybrids.  It’s certainly the future, but is the future now or is it still orange?

I don’t know, I think I’d rather have them than some German diesel auto junk -that’ll be 3k plus when the gearbox poops itself etc..

Will. E very interested to see how you go on Rovex

‘Will be’ even. Oh how I miss my Like and Edit buttons. :o(

[ROVEX 0]

3 hours ago, David Horgan said:

Hi Rovex , Starting with a Nissan  Leaf , weird choices in my oldstyle pattern of thoughts , Post up from this one that says get 4 Micra's instead , " great advice in my mind " 

look around when your out and about " see any Leafs running about ?" No, thought not , Slow sellers then would be my first port of thought . 

But I don't knock the trier in you Rovex so good luck with the venture and I hope it all goes well , least you wont have a petrol bill each month

 

11

Thanks for the best wishes!  I've decided to focus on Electric Vehicles - the Leaf is the best seller of all the EVs.

2 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

I think he might be on to something specialising in EV’s and Hybrids.  It’s certainly the future, but is the future now or is it still orange?

I don’t know, I think I’d rather have them than some German diesel auto junk -that’ll be 3k plus when the gearbox poops itself etc..

Will. E very interested to see how you go on Rovex

‘Will be’ even. Oh how I miss my Like and Edit buttons. :o(

Hi Noacross, it is the future, it's likely that 90%+ of new cars will be electric in 5 to 10 years time and petrol/diesel will be reserved for "edge" applications although of course there will still be millions of them getting traded second hand so there will be lots and lots for the next 20 years or so depending on how long they last.

So  I am a bit early but I wanted to be ready to catch the wave!