My Leaf (UK import)

goz83

Decided to start this thread, as I have purchased and imported a Leaf from the UK and the other thread is a bit long. Hopefully this thread adds to the pool of knowledge when importing a used EV from the UK.

Deciding
My must have list was a 2-3 year old Nissan Leaf Tekna (SVE) 6.6kw OBC. I ended up with a a March 2014 model with 26k miles (41.8k klms) on the clock. It was coming off a PCP finance deal with a main dealer and it had the full chrome pack and was the Gun Metal Grey colour....all bonuses. The asking price was paid £10,995 (€12,600 at time of locking in rate). It's possible to get money off, but not much from a main dealer.

Plan B
I had two other 6.6 Leafs picked out as back ups. The 6.6 Tekna models sell quickly, so you need to be on the ball. I had managed discounts of £250 off these if I decided to buy.

Chosen
I paid (or rather I tried to pay) a £100 deposit for the car I picked, which was about 30 klms north east from Luton airport. I paid for an RAC history check, which showed outstanding finance and I flagged this to the dealer, who explained it would be cleared and a letter to say so.

Organise Trip
I could have paid for the car by bank transfer and had it shipped for about €450, but I made a trip of it with the wife. I booked a flight to Luton and the Ferry for the day after. I recommend giving plenty of time to get to the Ferry and not to push yourself for time. I booked a Hotel in Ewloe, about 70klms from Holyhead.

I downloaded the Ecotricity Electric Highway App and registered an account. This gives you a 30 min DC charge at an Ecotricity Charger for £6.

I decided to bring my Garmin Sat Nav with updated Europe Maps. My phone for Google Maps and roaming. I took my Ipad Mini to use for searching the Ecotricity map on a bigger screen. The car comes with Sat Nav too and shows charge points.

I used Revolut (a pre-pay debit card) to pay for the car. Revolut lets you exchange Euro to Sterling (up to 5k sterling) at no cost. It meant I could lock in the rates, which I did the day before leaving. Revolut has a 5k sterling spend limit per card per 96 hours, so I got a card for the wife and sent £5k sterling to her card. So it would be 2 payments of £5k and the other £995 on my credit card. Be sure to have your account verified with Revolut, as it would be embarrassing if payment was declined.

The Purchase
We fly into Luton and got a taxi to the Dealer. It cost around £30 prepaid at airport depot. We met up with the sales rep and checked out the car. I checked the body and interior. I confirmed the 2 charging cables were accounted for. I checked everything I could and was happy. The rep went through everything and we moved to the paperwork. The dealership knew I was taking the full V5C (Log Book) with me. The MOT paperwork was presented, as was the £0 Motor Tax receipt . I asked about the finance outstanding and it had just been cleared that day, so I got a confirmation for that too. I paid £5k + £5k + £995 and took all the paperwork with me.

The Journey
Without going into great detail, it will suffice to say that your range anxiety will be greatly reduced if you plan to reach the next Charger with a good 30% power. This may cost an extra tenner, but it's worth it. There are always accidents and diversions on the Motorways we had a nail biting detour which left us with 13 miles of charge with nearest ecotricity CP 13.4 miles in the wrong direction. Luckily, the car sat nav showed us a nissan Garage only slighly off route and made it with 9 miles on the clock and got a free charge too. Worth noting that the Ecotricity chargers malfunction (often in your favour). Half of our charges were free. However, we did get stuck at a charger. The charger connected, but the App said it had disconnected. We left it charging, but could not disconnect. Helpline was closed. We could either wait for the full charge to finish (estimated 40 mins), or hit the emergency button. We didn't wait. You need to unscrew by hand a plastic donut plate at the emergency button and pull out the perspex disc protecting the button. Press it, pull it back out and replace the perspex and protector ring. The car disconnects after you hit the button.

After a nice rest at the hotel, we drove to the port and were the first car to be let on, because I had pre-booked the free charging on the ferry. It also meant I was one of the first off. I booked a cabin which let us rest some more before embarking. The drive takes a lot out of you, but it's good fun.

Make her legal
I am now in the process of getting the car legal here. So I am booking the VRT inspection and have all the bits I need. I am waiting for an appointment now. I hope all this is helpful. Any questions....feel free to ask.

Here she is

goz83

LIGHTS
Since bringing the Leaf home, I got Cree LED side lights, rear plate lights and DRLs. The side lights are installed. I plan to get LED fogs and then install both the DRLs and fogs together.

CHARGE POINT
I had my CP installed 2 days ago. The install went well (pics to come) and the priority board was installed. There were a couple of issues I was aware of with the wiring in the attic, which was intertwined with the shower, so that's getting sorted as I type.

DASH CAM
I also installed a Road Angel Halo dual dash cam, which is currently hardwired to the 20A accessory fuse using a mini blade splitter cable. I want the cam to function in parking mode and I am reading that I need an official hardwire kit for this, but will research more before buying another cable and having to partially reinstall the cam. I have put a video together with some pics, but my 2 week old iphone 7 stopped working :mad: so I have backed it up and I am waiting for it to be collected and replaced. I will start a new thread for that.

VRT
I had my VRT appointment this morning. The whole thing took about 15 minutes and I have my new registration number. Insurance has been informed and I will be able to tax it online tomorrow I am told....so I wasted my time filling out an RF100.

fcdub

Silly question....you mention 2 cables, what two cables did you get?

Gumbo

fcdub wrote: »

Silly question....you mention 2 cables, what two cables did you get?

3 pin Granny Cable - This allows you to charge from any 3 pin socket.
32A Public Cable - This allows you to connect to the public infrastructure and if you get an untethered home Charger.

That's the 2 I got with mine so I assume Goz got the same.

unkel

goz83 wrote: »

CHARGE POINT
I had my CP installed 2 days ago.

32A, I presume? Untethered? How much did that set you back in total?

goz83

fcdub wrote: »

Silly question....you mention 2 cables, what two cables did you get?

The 3 pin 13A Granny Cable and the Type 1 - Type 2 Cable for Slow Charge Points. As Kceire says pretty much.

goz83

unkel wrote: »

32A, I presume? Untethered? How much did that set you back in total?

32A tethered and I am so glad I got a tethered one. It's so convenient. It's the one with the 13A socket aswell. I have it on the wall, about 1.5m from the side entrance of the house. So, I park up, close to the wall and the charger, eliminating the trip hazard while leaving plenty of space for the kids to take out their bikes. I only use just over 1 metre of the cable, which is one wrap of the cable around the unit.

The unit itself cost €547 from EV One Stop ( £456 ) and the install price is an unknown, because of "other" electrical work that was needed and is ongoing. The install cost was about €300-350 with a priority switch included.

goz83

Ordered registration plates from German Pressed Plates. They're based in Dublin. Ordered yesterday, arrived today....super fast. €36.90 for two metal pressed plates and comes with fixing screws and double sided tape. Number 4 drill bit and 10 minutes of time. Job done.

unkel

Or forget about the drilling, but you'd need better tape. Looks far cleaner!

Shefwedfan

goz83 wrote: »

Ordered registration plates from German Pressed Plates. They're based in Dublin. Ordered yesterday, arrived today....super fast. €36.90 for two metal pressed plates and comes with fixing screws and double sided tape. Number 4 drill bit and 10 minutes of time. Job done.

Out of interest who did you get the plates off? Thanks

Gumbo

goz83 wrote: »

Ordered registration plates from German Pressed Plates. They're based in Dublin. Ordered yesterday, arrived today....super fast. €36.90 for two metal pressed plates and comes with fixing screws and double sided tape. Number 4 drill bit and 10 minutes of time. Job done.

Don't drill the plates.
Get the plain black surrounds and drill them on. They then clip open and the reg plate clips in.

Much cleaner look and no screws visible.

It's the small details

Gumbo

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Out of interest who did you get the plates off? Thanks

I order all my pressed metal plays and surrounds from A-Z Plates just off Parnell Street in Dublin. €40 all in when you call into the shop and pay.

http://www.a-zplates.com

goz83

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Out of interest who did you get the plates off? Thanks

http://www.german-pressed-plates.com/

Off Parnell Square they are.

kceire wrote: »

Don't drill the plates.
Get the plain black surrounds and drill them on. They then clip open and the reg plate clips in.

Much cleaner look and no screws visible.

It's the small details

I considered surrounds, but they only add bulk to the plates, so decided against. I would consider chrome surrounds (to match the chrome pack) down the line maybe. The fixing kit is neat and I was careful as to where I drilled.

unkel

Neat job. I prefer the strips / glue only though.

NIMAN

Lovely looking car, well wear.

goz83

The wipers were leaving an annoying patch of water in my direct line of sight, so I decided to pull into Atlas and get new wipers.

While I was there, I got the LED DRLs fitted by them. Every time I went to install them muself, I had a twinge in my back. I didn't want to wait any longer. They look so much better. I'll leave the fogs as they are, considering how infrequently they are used. I've probably used/needed fogs less than 10 times in 15 years of driving.

oinkely

kceire wrote: »

Don't drill the plates.
Get the plain black surrounds and drill them on. They then clip open and the reg plate clips in.

Much cleaner look and no screws visible.

It's the small details

Or even better just get the plastic plates and use a few strips of super sticky double sided tapes for the cleanest look possible.

goz83

7 weeks!

7 weeks of EV ownership and it's been great so far. The Zafira was filled up with petrol 7 weeks ago. It still has about 1/8th in the tank and will be topped up today. It usually needed a tank at least every 2 weeks and that was on top of the E200 needing the same.

Looking at the dual rate electric meter, we are using about 60% of our electricity in the night and have settled into nightly plug-in, so 90-95% of charging is done at home.

I have no doubt that we will be replacing the Zafira with an EV. I just don't like driving it. It feels sluggish and dirty compared to the leaf and I feel like money is being burned every time I start it up....which is not very often at all

I LOVED owning a 2L petrol Mitsubishi FTO and it was my favourite toy in the world. It's a different type of fun, but I would have a hard time now changing back to ICE.

If I get my GT500, I will ask about a conversion to EV :pac:

lob020

What is the cost of 're registering car here.any vat vrt or other taxes charges to be paid ?☺

unkel

Nope. €0.00 VRT or other costs :cool:

Just tax your car for the year (€120)