Poll: Ford Options vs Finance

How are you paying for your Mach E?


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back_at_it_19

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Where in the country is the Options incentive $2500
It’s by zip code actually and can change but mostly CA NY FL(?) where there is significantly more competition with other EV manufacturers. It’s $1000 everywhere else including in WA (a very EV-friendly state).
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GoGoGadgetMachE

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It’s by zip code actually and can change but mostly CA NY FL(?) where there is significantly more competition with other EV manufacturers. It’s $1000 everywhere else including in WA (a very EV-friendly state).
I had it in Ohio. I don't know exactly what the logic Ford is using is; it's not clear to me at least at all.
 

generaltso

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It’s by zip code actually and can change but mostly CA NY FL(?) where there is significantly more competition with other EV manufacturers. It’s $1000 everywhere else including in WA (a very EV-friendly state).
It's $2500 in Vermont. At first, I thought it was the ZEV states, but it doesn't seem to follow that list, so I have no idea how they decided.
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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It's $2500 in Vermont. At first, I thought it was the ZEV states, but it doesn't seem to follow that list, so I have no idea how they decided.
I've thought about it more and I think I know how they decided. there's a convenient web site they leveraged.

https://bit.ly/3wBMMxY
 


OttawaGuy

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I'll go third party financing, because of a better rate and well there is no Ford Options in Canada
 

exact33

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I received a $1k incentive from my dealer and 2.00% for 5years from my local credit union.

I tried options but the dealer quoted me 7% even though the Ford website showed otherwise.
 

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Ford’s payment calculator shows me the same interest rate for either 36 or 48 month Options. My credit unionks rate is higher than that by quite a bit for a 60 month loan. Looks to me that the Options plan then using my credit union to finance the balloon payment for a shorter period would be better for me than traditional financing or my credit union.
 

generaltso

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Ford’s payment calculator shows me the same interest rate for either 36 or 48 month Options. My credit unionks rate is higher than that by quite a bit for a 60 month loan. Looks to me that the Options plan then using my credit union to finance the balloon payment for a shorter period would be better for me than traditional financing or my credit union.
Ford Credit will let you refinance the balloon payment for up to an additional 3 years at the same rate as the initial term (currently 2.25%).
 

blue92lx

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I updated my calculator:

https://1drv.ms/x/s!ApbGIUelGmJ-s9hQWdOSPLkXVkpcrA

The significant changes are in the X-plan pricing and the balloon amount for Options.

Based on the dealer invoice that @hybrid2bev recently posted, the plan pricing includes a discount off of the destination and delivery fee ($1100). Previously I was excluding that from the discount calculation.

As someone else suggested, it's more logical that the residual balloon amount is calculated from adusted MSRP (MSRP + residualized options, before any discounts/rebates are applied) rather than the Cash Price. So that is fixed now, too.

You should still consider this to be a rough calculator... Just to help you think through the decision process on your own.

If I lived in one of the $2,500 incentive regions, Ford Options is a NO BRAINER. It's a significant savings over paying cash. The incentive is larger than the financing costs, for someone who will keep the vehicle rather than treating it as a lease.

But I live in a $1,000 offer region... And as it turns out, Options is still a pretty good deal.

For me, 36 month Options is cheaper than 36 or 48 months of 0.9% financing.

48 month Options is about $212 more expensive than 48 months of 0.9% simple financing. So even that is not so bad... since you get the trade-in/return choices similar to a lease.

Anyway, just my thoughts. Your numbers and situations will vary.

I'm just getting to this calculator from a different finance/lease post. So much to think about here.

If I sell my 2013 Fusion with a little added cash, I'm estimating $15k to put down. It's so close really.

I'm thinking Options at 36 months would be $678/mo.

or

Finance at 72 months at $760/mo and after three years I'll have the total cost of the car down to around $20k ($25k in payments and $15k down). I'm sure in 3 years a Mach E GT would be worth well over $20k if I wanted to sell it.

It's a hard decision. What do you think about that angle on it? I've never leased anything, I've always purchased cars that are a few years old too so this is my first new car.
 

macchiaz-o

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I'm just getting to this calculator from a different finance/lease post. So much to think about here.

If I sell my 2013 Fusion with a little added cash, I'm estimating $15k to put down. It's so close really.

I'm thinking Options at 36 months would be $678/mo.

or

Finance at 72 months at $760/mo and after three years I'll have the total cost of the car down to around $20k ($25k in payments and $15k down). I'm sure in 3 years a Mach E GT would be worth well over $20k if I wanted to sell it.

It's a hard decision. What do you think about that angle on it? I've never leased anything, I've always purchased cars that are a few years old too so this is my first new car.
It was a hard decision for me, too... You're focusing on monthly payments and short term ownership. I am not. So I don't think that my personal reasons for using Options and the amount of my down payments are going to help you in your decision making. But here you go, anyway:
  • $500 -- already paid to the dealer at the time I placed by custom order
  • $3500 -- paid via credit card because of cash back rewards on the card; this was the max my dealer would accept via credit card
  • no trade in because I found a buyer willing to pay significantly more than the dealer
  • no additional down payment because the 2.25% interest rate is lower than I expect to get with having that money long term in mutual funds (i.e. opportunity cost)
  • $1,000 bonus cash for using Ford Options makes this loan close to the 0.9% traditional loan in terms of overall cost... It's still worse by several hundred dollars, but that extra cost is for the (rather unlikely) option that I'll return the vehicle to a dealer at the end of my 3 year, up to 40.5k mile term, rather than keeping it or selling it in any other way.
 

blue92lx

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It was a hard decision for me, too... You're focusing on monthly payments and short term ownership. I am not. So I don't think that my personal reasons for using Options and the amount of my down payments are going to help you in your decision making. But here you go, anyway:
  • $500 -- already paid to the dealer at the time I placed by custom order
  • $3500 -- paid via credit card because of cash back rewards on the card; this was the max my dealer would accept via credit card
  • no trade in because I found a buyer willing to pay significantly more than the dealer
  • no additional down payment because the 2.25% interest rate is lower than I expect to get with having that money long term in mutual funds (i.e. opportunity cost)
  • $1,000 bonus cash for using Ford Options makes this loan close to the 0.9% traditional loan in terms of overall cost... It's still worse by several hundred dollars, but that extra cost is for the (rather unlikely) option that I'll return the vehicle to a dealer at the end of my 3 year, up to 40.5k mile term, rather than keeping it or selling it in any other way.
Actually I'm only focusing on the short term in the sense of doing options is a 3 year "lease" and so I was considering the alternative to that. Such as would it be better to run a 72 month financing and how would that compare in three years to the 36 month ford options. Actually in three years with 72 months financing and $15k down you actually pay more than the 36 month ford options, but I almost feel like it kind of balances out since I can only imagine the GT would be worth at least $30-35k at that point if not morend you'd effectively make back any potential loss on financing (just speculation since it's the top of the line model). Even 2017 Mustang GTs are selling right now in the high $20's.

This whole thing has been super confusing to figure out which is better but it may come down to just saying either one is just as good. The 72 month financing I feel like would have a good resale option in 3 years just in case I want to get out of the car at that point, but the 36 month ford options would have lower payments and a higher buy back if I wanted to keep it.
 

macchiaz-o

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This whole thing has been super confusing to figure out which is better but it may come down to just saying either one is just as good.
Yeah this is where I basically ended up. The difference between the things I was considering seemed small to me: paying cash, financing at 0.9% (up to 48 months), or Options at 2.25% with the $1k bonus cash.

Without the bonus cash, I definitely would not have used Options. With the higher cash offer that some people get ($2,500) it would have been a very easy decision for me.
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