2nd Ford Dealer Employee Discloses $7500 Tax Credit can be applied to Red Carpet Lease

[MrRossKeys]

I've seen this topic bandied about throughout the forums regarding whether or not the Federal Tax Credit can be applied to the lease as a reduction to the total vehicle cost like a down payment.

So far my personal scorecard is 2 FOR 1 AGAINST the dealership applying the Tax Credit money towards reducing the cost of the car in the lease.

FIRST INTERACTION:

Salesman at Capitol Ford who I was assigned when ordering my Mach-E... when asked about the tax rebate credit being redeemed by the dealership in a lease his response via email was (literal copy/paste from email, with typos included):

Yes if you lease the vehicle the credit credit is taken by Ford, what typically happens is that they reflect that tax credit as a rebate for the lease.

SECOND INTERACTION:

Salesman at Livermore Ford.... when asked about the redeeming the tax rebate credit in a lease situation.... his response:
"We don't have the ability to do that. Ford is not offering us that capability at this time. Maybe in the future."

THIRD INTERACTION:

In a bizarre turn of events, the Finance Manager at Livermore Ford called me today. I explained to him about Ford Options, to which he responded that was the same as Ford Flex... Flex Buy(edit) to which I responded that he was mistaken. I explained how I wanted to purchase the car they had at their dealership (which sold the night before) but that Options was the only option that included the proper incentives. He responded by saying that if I leased "the dealership would claim the tax rebate credit and use it as a down payment on the lease." I told him that I thought so but wanted to confirm that it was possible to do at his dealership and he said that's how it's typically done.

I concluded by telling him to get back to me if he could confirm that Ford Options would be offered as an option on future MME customer canceled vehicles. He was very friendly.

SUMMARY OF THOUGHTS:

Either 1) None of these people know what they are talking about and Ford is not offering a reduction on the lease payment because of the tax credit
or 2) Standard practice will prevail and the tax credit can be used in a lease to reduce the total cost of the vehicle.

I haven't seen any other confirmation from a customer that has taken delivery that the lease reduction option was offered or even available.... can it be true???

Also, it sounds like it makes the most sense to bypass the salesman and speak directly with the finance department when asking about Ford Options, RCL, and etc...

This is all strange, frustrating, but there seems to be a little bit of hope that all of our financial options surrounding this car get ironed out for the majority of us to take delivery.

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[jhalkias]

Well, according to @hybrid2bev (who is a Ford Credit employee) they are wrong in saying the Federal credit can be used to reduce the lease.

So I would pick what’s behind door #1 that these guys don’t know WTF they are talking about. The posts with the best info are from Hybrid. Just do a search on his member name.

 

[MrRossKeys]

Well, according to @hybrid2bev (who is a Ford Credit employee) they are wrong in saying the Federal credit can be used to reduce the lease.

So I would pick what’s behind door #1 that these guys don’t know WTF they are talking about. The posts with the best info are from Hybrid. Just do a search on his member name.

I'm with it, and honestly I believe he's correct.

I'm a novice at leasing (just finished my first ever 2017 lease) and am in full discovery mode when it comes to the topic.

I've only ventured this information because it was 2 to 1 in favor of, from two different dealership sources.. (and because it's nice to hope that the tax rebate can be used for reduction).

 

[DBC]

This is something of a meaningless question, so focusing on whether the dealer knows what they are talking about won't be useful. The residual for the RCL is higher than for Options, where the buyer gets the tax credit, so in this sense the RCL applies the tax credit to the lease payments.

However, RCL carries a much higher interest rate than Options. Give with one hand and take with the other. Short answer is that with RCL the monthly is lower but you end up paying about $5000 more. (The lower payments don't make up for not getting the $7500 tax credit).

 

[ChasingCoral]

I've seen this topic bandied about throughout the forums regarding whether or not the Federal Tax Credit can be applied to the lease as a reduction to the total vehicle cost like a down payment.

So far my personal scorecard is 2 FOR 1 AGAINST the dealership applying the Tax Credit money towards reducing the cost of the car in the lease.

FIRST INTERACTION:

Salesman at Capitol Ford who I was assigned when ordering my Mach-E... when asked about the tax rebate credit being redeemed by the dealership in a lease his response via email was (literal copy/paste from email, with typos included):

Yes if you lease the vehicle the credit credit is taken by Ford, what typically happens is that they reflect that tax credit as a rebate for the lease.

SECOND INTERACTION:

Salesman at Livermore Ford.... when asked about the redeeming the tax rebate credit in a lease situation.... his response:
"We don't have the ability to do that. Ford is not offering us that capability at this time. Maybe in the future."

THIRD INTERACTION:

In a bizarre turn of events, the Finance Manager at Livermore Ford called me today. I explained to him about Ford Options, to which he responded that was the same as Ford Flex... Flex Buy(edit) to which I responded that he was mistaken. I explained how I wanted to purchase the car they had at their dealership (which sold the night before) but that Options was the only option that included the proper incentives. He responded by saying that if I leased "the dealership would claim the tax rebate credit and use it as a down payment on the lease." I told him that I thought so but wanted to confirm that it was possible to do at his dealership and he said that's how it's typically done.

I concluded by telling him to get back to me if he could confirm that Ford Options would be offered as an option on future MME customer canceled vehicles. He was very friendly.

SUMMARY OF THOUGHTS:

Either 1) None of these people know what they are talking about and Ford is not offering a reduction on the lease payment because of the tax credit
or 2) Standard practice will prevail and the tax credit can be used in a lease to reduce the total cost of the vehicle.

I haven't seen any other confirmation from a customer that has taken delivery that the lease reduction option was offered or even available.... can it be true???

Also, it sounds like it makes the most sense to bypass the salesman and speak directly with the finance department when asking about Ford Options, RCL, and etc...

This is all strange, frustrating, but there seems to be a little bit of hope that all of our financial options surrounding this car get ironed out for the majority of us to take delivery.

So, since you have to submit a form to the IRS to get the tax credit and you can't do that until after the tax year is over, just how does that work? Out of the totally trusting goodness of their pea-picking hearts, the dealer will trust you to get that tax credit from the IRS and you'll come back in a year to deliver it?

 

[hybrid2bev]

I've seen this topic bandied about throughout the forums regarding whether or not the Federal Tax Credit can be applied to the lease as a reduction to the total vehicle cost like a down payment.

So far my personal scorecard is 2 FOR 1 AGAINST the dealership applying the Tax Credit money towards reducing the cost of the car in the lease.

FIRST INTERACTION:

Salesman at Capitol Ford who I was assigned when ordering my Mach-E... when asked about the tax rebate credit being redeemed by the dealership in a lease his response via email was (literal copy/paste from email, with typos included):

Yes if you lease the vehicle the credit credit is taken by Ford, what typically happens is that they reflect that tax credit as a rebate for the lease.

SECOND INTERACTION:

Salesman at Livermore Ford.... when asked about the redeeming the tax rebate credit in a lease situation.... his response:
"We don't have the ability to do that. Ford is not offering us that capability at this time. Maybe in the future."

THIRD INTERACTION:

In a bizarre turn of events, the Finance Manager at Livermore Ford called me today. I explained to him about Ford Options, to which he responded that was the same as Ford Flex... Flex Buy(edit) to which I responded that he was mistaken. I explained how I wanted to purchase the car they had at their dealership (which sold the night before) but that Options was the only option that included the proper incentives. He responded by saying that if I leased "the dealership would claim the tax rebate credit and use it as a down payment on the lease." I told him that I thought so but wanted to confirm that it was possible to do at his dealership and he said that's how it's typically done.

I concluded by telling him to get back to me if he could confirm that Ford Options would be offered as an option on future MME customer canceled vehicles. He was very friendly.

SUMMARY OF THOUGHTS:

Either 1) None of these people know what they are talking about and Ford is not offering a reduction on the lease payment because of the tax credit
or 2) Standard practice will prevail and the tax credit can be used in a lease to reduce the total cost of the vehicle.

I haven't seen any other confirmation from a customer that has taken delivery that the lease reduction option was offered or even available.... can it be true???

Also, it sounds like it makes the most sense to bypass the salesman and speak directly with the finance department when asking about Ford Options, RCL, and etc...

This is all strange, frustrating, but there seems to be a little bit of hope that all of our financial options surrounding this car get ironed out for the majority of us to take delivery.

Sorry that your dealer is mistaken. Here's a document that was posted somewhere else on here to help you out.

 

[Daraiders76]

Sorry that your dealer is mistaken. Here's a document that was posted somewhere else on here to help you out.

Quick question-I called the Ford helpline the other day to check the status of my car. As I was getting off the line the rep says “Hey something just came up on my screen for you. I have an offer for you for $500 bonus cash towards your purchase.” He gave me a code that supposedly expires 3/31/2021. Legit?

 

[hybrid2bev]

Quick question-I called the Ford helpline the other day to check the status of my car. As I was getting off the line the rep says “Hey something just came up on my screen for you. I have an offer for you for $500 bonus cash towards your purchase.” He gave me a code that supposedly expires 3/31/2021. Legit?

If it came directly from Ford then I'd be inclined to say yes. There's no national program that I know of for $500 bonus cash. My guess is that it's a Ford customer service thing.

 

[phidauex]

I can't confirm or deny what Ford is willing to do, but I work in an industry that leverages tax credits and accelerated depreciation (large scale renewables), and virtually no company can actually take advantage of credits of this type, because they don't have enough of the right type of tax liability.

Additionally, if I were Ford legal, I'd be freaking out about dealers subtracting $7500 off the lease price for two reasons - it is only February - they have no idea what the tax situation will look like at the end of the year.

Second, filing for multiple tax credits has a huge administrative burden - in my industry almost 1/3rd of the tax credits are used up in the additional legal and finance costs we need to employ in order to take advantage of them (yes, this means lawyers are soaking up a lot of incentives...). Even if Ford knew they could claim the full credit, the legal overhead to ensure compliance probably means that a $7500 credit would only be worth $5000 or so in actual benefit to the company.

So I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I'd be very surprised if Ford Credit will simply add $7500 to your lease down payment...

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