Great write up, it should be very helpful to anybody that wants the pack or parts.
Rush www.TucsonEV.com > -----Original Message----- > From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jay Summet via EV > Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2015 7:39 PM > To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List > Subject: [EVDL] How I purchased a totaled Leaf for the battery pack > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > I wrote up details about the Salvage Auto-Auction process at CoPart and my > experiences purchasing a wrecked Nissan Leaf at the following URL, along with > a > few pictures: > > http://www.summet.com/blog/2015/03/26/how-to-purchase-a-leaf-battery-pack- > and-surrounding-car/ > > > I have also copy/pasted the text of my writeup below so that it can be > archived > or > read by people who don't want to click the URL. > > Jay > > > > > > How to purchase a Leaf Battery Pack (and surrounding car) > Posted on March 26, 2015 > > > > This is Hoja, a new (to me) 2013 Nissan Leaf. Hoja was rear-ended sometime > around > December or January, and was "totaled" by his insurance company, The Travelers > Indemnity Company. They used Copart, an auto-auction company to sell the > remains with a salvage title. > > I purchased Hoja just to obtain the LiIon modules in the battery pack, and > was > happy > to find that the dash console reports that the battery has the full 12 bars > of > capacity, > even though he has almost 19K miles under his tires. I may also be able to > use a > few > other parts such as the J1722 charging port (and possibly the built in > charger.), but > the majority of the car will be junk sitting in my back yard until I can get > rid > of it. > > My hope is that I will be able to sell many parts from the car to help reduce > the > overall purchase price, and in this respect I think I am lucky that the > majority > of the > damage was to the rear end, in that the motor/inverter/charger and front > mechanical systems look to be in good shape. (If anybody wants to buy Leaf > replacement parts, email me.) > > > > Details about the purchasing process > > In Georgia, due to good lobbying by the established auto industry players, > only > licensed "auto brokers/dealers/dismantlers" can purchase used cars at the > Copart > auctions, but private individuals (with some > cash) can purchase cars with a Salvage title. All you need is a web browser, > and > an > established account on copart.com. > > Note to potential buyers: You will want to set up your account with Copart > several > days before the first auction you want to bid on. They require that you send > them a > copy/scan of your drivers license (before you can bid). It takes a few days to > process, so don't leave it to the last minute. > > You will also need to pay them a 10% deposit. (For example, if you want to be > able > to bid up to $5,000, you need to pay a $500 deposit. > The deposit can be applied to your final purchase (by calling their customer > service > agents) or simply refunded to your credit card after the fact using their > website. > > Then, all you have to do is search for the type of auto you want (making sure > it > has a > salvage title, unless you are a licensed auto broker/dealer/dismantler, etc) > and > place a bid. > > Note that the bids you place on the Internet before the day of the auction > just > sets > the "starting bid" at the actual physical auction, so even if you are > "winning" > the > bid, you are not likely to win the car unless you watch and bid in the "live" > auction > (unless you bid so much that nobody at the live auction will go over your > maximum > bid amount). > > Some cars are sold on a "pure sale" basis, which means that the highest bid > will > win > the car. Most of the Leaf auctions that I watched were listed as "on > approval" > which > means that even if you win the auction, the insurance company (seller) has > the > final > say if they want to accept the cash for the car, or if they want to keep the > car > and try > re-listing it at a later auction. > > (I had one auction where I won the bidding but the maximum offer was not > accepted by the insurance agency seller.) > > My tips for finding a cheap Nissan Leaf (for the battery pack): > > Look for the most damaged car you can find. The more expensive it will be > to > repair, the less likely somebody else wants it. The battery is relatively well > protected from front/rear collisions, and should hopefully still be good. > Cars with multiple points of damage (front and back, or rollover) are a > good > bet. > Any car with "Biohazard" as a secondary damage type (e.g. blood) also tend to > sell > for a lower price. > Look for cars with a low initial bid on the Internet the day of the > auction. > (This > may be a reason to NOT bid before the live auction!) > Keep a watch on all of the leafs, and if possible, watch the live > auctions > to get a > feel for the prices that they sell for so you know what a "good" price is. > Know your maximum price point. Use a spreadsheet to calculate to total > cost > includeing all fees (see below). Compare this to buying new LiIon cells from > your > favorite distributer. Consider the extra labor costs involved in removing the > pack > from the car and the modules from the pack and re-packaing them into the form > you > need. I ended up saving about 30% off the cost of used Leaf (2011/2012) > modules > purchased on the Internet, even if I don't end up selling anything else from > the > car > to offset the purchase price. > When you see a car at a good price, bid aggressively (e.g. as soon as > possible after > somebody else bids) until you reach your maximum price point. The faster you > match/counter an opponents bid the more they may think you are willing to keep > incrementing the price until you get it and back away. > Don't be in a hurry! I watched and bid on leaf auctions for around two > months > before I won Hoja at a good price. > > To give you an idea of the average selling price of a salvage Nissan Leaf (in > Atlanta > in the spring of 2015), here are some numbers I collected while watching Leaf > Auctions: > > These are auctions where I actually saw the live auction final ending > price: > > 2015 Leaf, front collision damage: $5400 > 2014 Leaf, side damage, 11K miles: $7200 > 2015 Leaf, lots of front damage, 2K miles: $4200 > 2015 Leaf, moderate front end damage: $6500 > 2015 Leaf, "run and drive", with rollover/biohazard damage: $7000 > > These are auctions where I did not see the live auction ending price, but > I did record the highest "pre-bid" on the Internet, so the final price > was > at least as > high as these numbers, and most likely higher: > > 2015 Leaf, front/side damage + biohazd: $4650 > 2013 Leaf, side damage, 11K miles: $6600 > 2015, all over damage, biohazrd: $4750 > 2013 Leaf, not to bad damage, pure sale: $4750 > 2015 Leaf, Side impact damage: $6400 > > Note that the final bid price is NOT a full reflection of the actual cost, > because > CoPart adds a good number of fees and taxes (plus a delivery charge). Pay > special > attention to all of the fees, such as a secured funds fee of $400 on any car > in > the 3-5K > range, (it costs more if you pay with a credit card instead of a wire > transfer) > an > "Internet bid fee" of $79, A gate fee of $50, and a delivery fee (for me) of > $135. > > After San Francisco, the Atlanta area is the 2nd best place to buy a > used/salvage > Leaf, and I was lucky in that CoPart has 3-4 auction sits all around the > metro > area > with relatively inexpensive delivery costs to my location. > > Of course, you are buying a "used" battery pack, and it will take a lot of > labor > to > make it usable (unless you are putting it into another > Leaf) for your EV project, so you want to buy your car for no more than > $4000-4500 > total cost. > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) > > iEYEARECAAYFAlUUwswACgkQSWJjSgPNbM8HswCeNMPza21mgYOCFDzt8pcfkU+4 > czwAn0KY9pXCrv8nwATs8vHZNCIl4zmW > =bIvj > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
