Thinking of buying electrical car, what to look for?

Mar4ix

Hi folks.

I am thinking of buying electrical car, used one.

year of 2012-2013 range.

Personally thinking of Nissan Leaf , any other good ones out there ?

My bank approoved loan of 15 k .

driving in city. weekly range is 250-300 km, going to work, dropping kid to school, etc.

Any thoughts and coments would be appriciated.

Thanks.

Idbatterim

you could get Prius. Alternatively save 14k and buy a 1L bangernomic...

biko

Moved to electric cars forum

Mar4ix

Mar4ix wrote: »

Hi folks.

I am thinking of buying electrical car, used one.

year of 2012-2013 range.

Personally thinking of Nissan Leaf , any other good ones out there ?

My bank approoved loan of 15 k .

driving in city. weekly range is 250-300 km, going to work, dropping kid to school, etc.

Any thoughts and coments would be appriciated.

Thanks.

I highly recommend going with the updated leaf build from July 2013 because it has a much better battery than the earlier leafs.

You can identify it by the darker interior and the climate control has a separate "heat" + "AC" button. The earlier leaf only had AC.

From the newer generation they split the leaf in to 3 different trims to keep the cost down.

The XE is the basic which hasn't got the more efficient heater and there's the SV which has the sat nav which includes remote activation of heat and AC from your smart phone or the internet, auto wipers and lights.

SVE which includes LED headlights and leather heated seats and heated steering which also come on via the smart phone app or by using the timer.

The XE heating and AC can also be set by timer, the idea is you pre heat or cool which saves some battery charge.

The 2011-2013 Leaf came with all the gadgets but was cost 30 K when it was first introduced.

If you buy from the U.K you might find the 6.6 Kw charger which is a 900 Extra new but shouldn't cost more 2nd hand. This will charge in 4 hrs and under at home with a 32 amp home charge point and the same form the standard street charge points, there are two types, fast charge points and standard street charge points and the 6.6 Kw is very useful plugged in in town when you go for a longer trip.

This is the newer gens climate control, with the much improved battery. I'm showing this pic because it;s the easiest way to identify the newer gen. The original leaf had not got the separate heat button.

The current gen can also be bought with the optional brighter interior but it's rare, the original leaf only had the bright interior.

September1

I would avoid cars with very low mileage, they seem to be not ageing that good.

September1

September1 wrote: »

I would avoid cars with very low mileage, they seem to be not ageing that good.

What do you mean ? can you elaborate ?

ei9go

What about this. Ok I know about the six months and 6000Km rule to bring in VAT free.

Car will be six months old at the end of July.

Seems like a bargain to me. New car for 12,700 Euro and no battery rental.

Seems like a great price alright. Just need proper checking to make sure it's not a damaged repaired etc. etc. If it's sold by a fly by night operation tread carefully.

KCross

ei9go wrote: »

What about this. Ok I know about the six months and 6000Km rule to bring in VAT free.

Car will be six months old at the end of July.

Seems like a bargain to me. New car for 12,700 Euro and no battery rental.

I have no feel for whether thats good value or not but since you know about the VAT rules would the addition of the VAT on top of the €12700 still make it a good deal?

As far as I know you would have to pay the VAT here and then claim back the UK VAT.... not a simple process I'd imagine.

ei9go

KCross wrote: »

I have no feel for whether thats good value or not but since you know about the VAT rules would the addition of the VAT on top of the €12700 still make it a good deal?

As far as I know you would have to pay the VAT here and then claim back the UK VAT.... not a simple process I'd imagine.

You obviously don't buy or get a receipt until it's six months old and you run up the required mileage.

KCross

ei9go wrote: »

You obviously don't buy or get a receipt until it's six months old and you run up the required mileage.

I dont think it works that way.

You would need to buy it after the 6 months (thats easy enough once its still for sale) but the 6000km is an issue. You have to clear it for VRT/VAT within 30 days of bringing it into the country. They will look for ferry ticket (they asked me for it).

Do you think you can put up close to 6000km in that timeframe?!

In reality you will have less than 30 days as you have to get your VRT appt within 7 days of entering the country and they will decide the date so it might be within 3 weeks of entering that you have to present it and they do check the mileage.