I'm going to take a moment to do some self-indulgent ranting about the lack of information that Nissan is providing about the timing of the delivery of the cars for those who ordered after August 31, 2010.
A few people, probably about 25, have received their LEAFs in California, so far. As reviewed in my last blog post, a friend Omkar, and now another, Mike Walsh, from our local enthusiast "LEAF Branch" have received their cars in the last few days. So far, everyone who has received his or her car was able to place their order on August 31 except the first person to receive his car in San Diego, and he was hand picked for various marketing reasons.
All well and good. We've known for a while that these folks would be the first to receive their cars, based on updates they received on their Nissan online "dashboards".
But the rest of us have no information about when we'll receive our cars. Nissan's customer service folks will just say "Four to seven months from your order date." They won't give any information about whether the next wave of cars will be delivered based on order sequence, or whether some other factors will influence the delivery sequence.
I was able to place my order on September 3, just four days after the group who are receiving their cars now, yet my Nissan online "dashboard" continually reads "Pending". If it just said something like "Last two weeks of March", I could handle it. At least we would know that we are in some kind of rational sequence.
People on the online forums have started jokingly using the word "Penduary" for their delivery month, but it isn't funny, really.
From what I've read, GM is doing a better job by giving their customers regular updates on the status of their cars as they go through the build and shipping processes. Nissan just has us perpetually PENDING, Pending, pending....
A GM Volt Charging up at the Charging Docks at the Neighboring Nissan Dealer
My biggest concern is that the pool of California's Air Resources Board funds in the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project is finite and the currently budgeted funds will only last through the first 1500 to 1600 buyers. Right now, LEAF buyers are the ones most likely to get those rebates because the other potential competitors, such as CODA are coming later to the game. The GM Volt does not qualify because of emissions regulations.
I'm probably being overly anxious. I think that I have a very good chance to get my California rebate. But watching others reserve their rebates while the only information I can get is "Pending" is really frustrating.
Nissan, if you're out there somewhere, watching for feedback, mine is that you need to provide more information so that we know when to expect our cars to arrive.
EDIT January 8: The amount of money already spoken for (reserved) on the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project web site jumped by $590,000 yesterday. That would equal 118 LEAFs, but that many haven't been delivered yet. So it was probably a bunch of large electric trucks that get $20,000 rebate per vehicle. Or something is going on behind the scenes that we weren't told about. Anyway, from a trickle of 4 to 5 California LEAFs per day, this jump certainly got my attention and concern. My anxiety level jumped from a 5 to an 11!
Okay, rant over. Hopefully my posts will become more upbeat soon.
A Fond Farewell to my BMW
This is not my BMW, but it looks a bit like it
The three year lease on my beautiful BMW 328i Coupe will end next week. I'll miss it a lot, but I hope that my LEAF ownership experience will be almost as satisfying. Being a pioneer and a supporter of the early electric car revolution will definitely be involving and exciting.
The BMW was a great car. It only went to the shop once in the three years that I had it, and that was just for scheduled maintenance. After driving it for three years, I finally get what everyone has been talking about in terms of the quality of the car. It is really fun and satisfying to drive, and has just the right combination of handling responsiveness and driving feel for me. Maybe one day I'll own another BMW, possibly an electric one.
I have a few more days with the car and I plan to go on at least one enjoyable drive in the country to say goodbye.
I'm really happy about the "end of lease" plan that I've come up with. I'm going to allow my Nissan dealer to pay off the BMW lease and to take ownership of the car for his used car inventory. I wasn't aware that this was possible. BMW and the other companies that do a lot of new car leasing thrive on taking back the returned lease cars, reconditioning them and reselling them as "Certified Pre-Owned" cars. Mine will be a prime choice for resale because I only put 6,000 miles per year on it and it is in such great condition. It does have a minor paint scrape under the front bumper. This minor damage and the standard $350 lease end fee would have added up to a $750 charge for me to just return the car to BMW.
I felt that BMW should waive the $750 lease-end charge because I had only put 18,000 miles on the car, with 30,000 miles included in the lease that I paid for. But BMW only waives fees like that if you are getting another BMW to replace the leased car. I'm not doing that, so they wouldn't waive the fees.
But in talking with my Nissan dealer, he found the car attractive as a used car because of the low mileage and good condition. So he will send BMW the residual lease payoff amount and I won't have any lease-end fees. This arrangement would only work if the car was a valuable and desirable used car.
By ending my lease this way, I feel like I'm getting the consideration for the good condition of the car that BMW wouldn't give me. Very few people realize that this is an option, and I'm happy to be able to help make it better known.