2013 Nissan Leaf Electricity · LV13 VHO

The Nissan Leaf currently holds a valid MOT pass dated 27 April 2026 at 87,882 miles, but the maintenance trend is clearly worsening. That pass was not clean. The tester flagged corrosion on the offside front shock absorber casing, a corroded offside front coil spring, and surface rust on the rear beam. These are not fresh defects. Three days earlier, on 24 April 2026 at 87,880 miles, the car failed with a fractured nearside front coil spring, excessively worn nearside front anti-roll bar ball joint, both front tyres below 1.6mm, a failed rear fog lamp, and the same corroded offside shock and coil spring. The gap between failure and pass is just two miles and three days, suggesting the previous owner addressed the immediate failure items but left known corrosion and structural concerns unresolved. A pass with advisories on suspension corrosion and a fractured spring repaired only days before is not a record of careful upkeep. The mileage pattern tells a different story from the defect list. At roughly 6,760 miles per year, the car sits well within typical annual use for a 2013 electric vehicle. The 2025 test at 85,546 miles and the 2024 tests at 82,625 miles show steady, unremarkable accumulation. There are no alarming gaps or sudden jumps in the odometer. The problem is not how far the car has been driven. The problem is how little has been spent on it. Two consecutive years of clean passes in 2024 and 2025 gave way to a failure and a conditional pass within the same week in April 2026. That sharp deterioration in a single test cycle points to deferred maintenance rather than high-mileage wear. A buyer should treat the front suspension as the primary concern. A fractured coil spring is a serious structural failure, not a gradual wear item, and its replacement should be verified with documentation. The corroded offside coil spring and shock absorber casing flagged in both April 2026 tests suggest the nearside may not be far behind. The excessively worn anti-roll bar ball joint, repaired between the failure and pass, indicates other front-end components are at or near end of life. The rear beam surface rust, noted in the most recent pass, warrants close inspection beneath the car. Surface rust can be cosmetic, but on a 13-year-old vehicle it can also mask deeper structural corrosion, particularly around mounting points and welds. The repeated tyre failures in 2024 and 2026 are a secondary but telling pattern. Failing twice on tyre tread depth suggests basic upkeep was skipped between tests. On an electric vehicle with instant torque, tyre wear can accelerate quickly if the driver is aggressive, but the pattern here more likely reflects neglect. The rear fog lamp failure in April 2026, while minor, fits the same picture. Any in-person inspection should include a thorough check of all suspension bushes, ball joints, and shock absorbers for play or leakage, a close look at the rear beam and subframe for corrosion beyond surface rust, and verification that the replacement coil spring and anti-roll bar joint are genuine and correctly fitted. The MOT record shows a car that has been run hard and maintained cheaply.