Nissan LEAF plugged into Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles Program

The best-selling electric car on the market, the Nissan LEAF is obviously beginning to see trade-ins and used market sales as owners move into the newer model offerings the LEAF now has. As leased LEAFs from the first vehicles sold come to the end of their terms, this gives dealerships a way to re-sell that inventory in a way that buyers will feel more comfortable with.

To go with that, it also indicates something more that many in the press have overlooked. We'll get to that in a moment. First, the new program for the Nissan LEAF.

The battery electric LEAF has been officially added to the Nissan Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles program as of now (September). The program means that Nissan will be extending the current 8-year/100,000 mile battery warranty and 5 year/60,000 mile battery capacity loss warranty with an additional 7 years / 100,000 miles for the EV system and powertrain warranty under this Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle program.

The total package for the Certified Pre-Owned offering at select Nissan dealerships includes a comprehensive vehicle quality assurance inspection, which is what adds the warranty listed above, a CARFAX® Vehicle History Report, a 90-day CARFAX Buyback Guarantee®, 24-hour roadside emergency assistance, the addition of 3 months to Sirius-XM Satellite Radio (a standard feature in the LEAF), car rental reimbursement and trip interruption coverage.

Nissan's qualifications for a trade-in Nissan LEAF are that it have under 60,000 miles (see warranty above), be under five years old, have a clear CARFAX® history, and pass the 167-point comprehensive quality inspection. A minimum of 9 out of 12 battery bars in capacity must also be present per the warranty guidelines above.

To kick off the program, Nissan will offer special finance rates that go as low as 0.9 percent for 36 months on a Certified Pre-Owned Nissan LEAF purchased through the Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp (the company's financing arm).

Now for what this implies: One of the traditional, though often unnoticed hallmarks of the automotive industry is that the launch of a certified pre-owned program for a first-generation vehicle on the market usually indicates that a second-generation is not far off. In other words, the Nissan LEAF may be getting a re-design in the near future and the company created this pre-owned program in anticipation of trade-ins as owners trade up to the new-generation LEAF.

What do you think?