photo: Nissan Leaf Gallery
So you want to buy a LEAF? Nissan laid out a rough outline of their ordering process in a February press release.
Registering
Nissan says that “registrants will be given first priority” to reserve the car. To be more specific, this means that people who registered before April 20th will get an email inviting them to make a reservation. People who don’t register by the 20th will have to wait until the priority period is over on May 15th. When the general public period starts, however, they will be able to register and make a reservation in the same session.
So if you want a LEAF and you haven’t already done so, visit the official signup page and get on the mailing list. As of this week, over 100,000 people have signed up.
Am I on the List?
If you’re not sure whether you’re signed up, the easiest way to verify is by seeing if you’re getting the “Nissan LEAF News” email. The last one went out March 30th. Or, you can use Nissan’s Live Chat feature and a customer support rep can check for you.
Making My Reservation
On April 20th you’ll get a personalized email from Nissan letting you know your reservation window is open. At this point, you’ll want to follow the embedded link and make your reservation.
When reserving a car, you won’t have to pick a trim level, color, or even state whether you’re planning to buy or lease. That will all be firmed up later.
At some point in the process, you will be asked to link your account to a local Nissan dealer. Nissan may suggest a dealership in case you don’t have a preference. If you’re not familiar with your local dealers, I suggest visiting them first to see which one has the best customer service. However, don’t expect them to know much about the LEAF yet. The first dealers won’t start getting trained until October.
The $99 deposit through the LEAF site is all you need to commit at this point. You should not need to place an additional deposit with your local dealer at this time.
— Richard Kelly
