Electric cars have been on sale almost three years now, which means that some of them are starting to show up on used-car lots.
To alleviate concern over the unknown future life of a used electric car, Nissan has now added its Leaf to the company's Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles program.
Starting this month, a Nissan Leaf that's certified under the program will get an extended warranty of 7 years or 100,000 miles on both the electric system and the powertrain.
Nissan Leaf cars already carry two warranties on the battery pack specifically: eight years or 100,000 miles for defects in materials or workmanship, and five years or 60,000 miles for capacity loss below nine bars of capacity as shown on the car's battery-capacity gauge.
The new warranty adds to these protections.
To be considered for the program, any used Leaf must be less than five years old, have fewer than 60,000 miles, and have at least nine of 12 bars of battery capacity remaining on the gauge.
It must also produce a clean Carfax vehicle-history report, and pass a comprehensive inspection in which 167 separate items are checked.
“As more Leaf vehicles enter the used-car market," said Erik Gottfried, the company's director of electric-vehicle sales and marketing, "we know it’s important for Nissan to provide the second owners the same confidence in the car that the original owner enjoyed."
The Certified Pre-Owned program also provides a Carfax vehicle-history report, and includes benefits like three free months of SiriusXM satellite radio, 24-hour emergency roadside assistance, reimbursement for car rentals, and trip-interruption coverage.
To kick off sales of used Leafs, Nissan is offering finance rates as low as 0.9 percent on 36-month loans only for Leaf electric cars bought under the Certified Pre-Owned program.
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