"Ford Options" Mach-E Lease vs standard lease - similarities and differences

[Nklem]

I just did options on my new 2021 today. What a great program. Here is what I calculated out..... I do not think my dealer has done many but it came out exactly correct.....


There is one very Important distinction between Options and a lease. The options is titled in your name, not the leasing companies name, as in a lease. Ford Motor Credit is the Leinholder and holds the title in your name Until you pay it off in full or you sign it over to them if you turn it in.

You are 100% the titled Owner. Just like a vehicle with a loan. Options is simply a loan with a balloon payment at the end and a contracted way out if you choose after 36-48 months. If you sum the total cost of every plan payment with the balloon payment with all different mileage options they sum to very similar numbers. You also pay sales tax up front on the entire purchase including the balloon payment , not on just the “lease
value”.

From my evaluation the 3 year term payment is a 6 year loan at 2.25% ending at payment 36 with a balloon payment for the balance of the unpaid principle.

the 48 month is a 7 year term......the same.

at 10,500 mile per year it is spot on With a conventional loan. The mileage adjustments (which are about a $10+ /month increase per selection) at and above 12k miles and higher simply have you pay a little more up front during that payment term, (to protect Ford for the car value if you hand it back) but reduce the balloon Payment In the end so the sum of all payments plus balloon is pretty much equal to a real 2.25% loan that you pay off early at month 36 or 48.

on top of it all, the $2500 rebate, basically pays you double or more of your actual interest if you finance the balloon at the end for 2-4 years.

I was skeptical until I evaluated it against a conventional 5-6-7 year loan. It was just about equal to a standard 5 year loan.

it is not Allowed in a few states, As “Balloon payment installment contracts“ with penalties are frowned upon By them. https://cga.ct.gov/2005/rpt/2005-R-0431.htm

I have attached a quick eval of the overall out of pocket cost of the Ford Options vs a conventional auto loan on a Mach-E assuming financing of the balloon payment at an arbitrary rate (who knows what the rates may be in 3-4 years with inflation, so I assumed 4%). The price of the particular car after the down payment and incentives was $46,738

Actually with the $2500 Options rebate and just 10% down (free State incentives, any extra Ford rebates and the difference in cash/trade) it equals the overall out of pocket cost of a conventional 2.25% car loan for 60 months, which is spread over 6-7 years. I found that pretty Interesting.

It is a worthwhile consideration as so many things can devalue the car at a later time, like the “bolt battery fire issue”, serious unknown battery degradation issue , discovery of a latent structural defect, blue drive drives the car into only oak trees due to a leaf reflection interaction with the sensors or even changing battery technology like solid state batteries or electric power out of thin air...lol!

Just my opinion though. Ford, offering this type of program for EV buyers, and incentivizing it, was a smart idea.

I did not believe it until I evaluated it a few days ago.

Sponsored

 

[Mickey the T]

My dealer is balking at running numbers on Ford Options for me since he said that Ford has not supplied them with the residual for the balloon yet. For 7500 miles, I have 46% (three years) and 39% (four years) from other comments here, as well as Machiazz-o's impressive spreadsheet. But if someone can point me to an official source that I can point the dealer to, I'd appreciate it.

My car is being built this week, so this isn't imminent, but I'd like to have agreement on this up front.

 

[macchiaz-o]

My dealer is balking at running numbers on Ford Options for me since he said that Ford has not supplied them with the residual for the balloon yet. For 7500 miles, I have 46% (three years) and 39% (four years) from other comments here, as well as Machiazz-o's impressive spreadsheet. But if someone can point me to an official source that I can point the dealer to, I'd appreciate it.

My car is being built this week, so this isn't imminent, but I'd like to have agreement on this up front.

You can get to Ford's finance estimator while building out a Mach-E on their web site.

Make sure you're building the correct trim level and battery/drivetrain options to see the correct residual amounts. Also be sure to select the 7,500 mile option in the estimator.

The sales guy can have his finance person look up Ford Options info from their Ford Credit web access... Or they can consult their regional support person for assistance.

 

[hybrid2bev]

My dealer is balking at running numbers on Ford Options for me since he said that Ford has not supplied them with the residual for the balloon yet.

The information is all available to the dealer and has been for some time. If the dealer doesn't know where to find the info on the Contest and Incentives page then send me a DM. I'll have someone help the dealer out to find all of the Options information.

 

[shutterbug]

My dealer is balking at running numbers on Ford Options for me since he said that Ford has not supplied them with the residual for the balloon yet. For 7500 miles, I have 46% (three years) and 39% (four years) from other comments here, as well as Machiazz-o's impressive spreadsheet. But if someone can point me to an official source that I can point the dealer to, I'd appreciate it.

My car is being built this week, so this isn't imminent, but I'd like to have agreement on this up front.

Definetly semi-official with lots of pointer to dealers was posted many times by @hybrid2bev earlier in this thread.

 

[Mickey the T]

Thanks for the replies here. I think the saleguy might just be ducking me and coming up with excuses. I'm going to e-mail the GM and explain I'm just trying to get confirmation in advance that their Ford Options numbers match mine. I realize I'm doing this several weeks before delivery (car being built this week), but it doesn't seem like an unreasonable request.

 

[Nklem]

My deal at the dealer during my closing matched the Options online estimator within $1.00 Is the estimator working again?

 

[David C]

I just sat with the dealer while he was trying to figure out the option program which he hadn’t even heard of.
Since he didn’t know about the program he started out by quoting the standard lease residual value for a lease, once he found the “options” section of the Ford dealer website the residual numbers dropped like a rock.

Normal lease 3 years, 15,000 miles was 56%
”options balloon program” 3 years, 15,000 miles is 42%
14% on $56,000 is $7,840.

Ford gets the $7,500 tax credit on a lease, the customer gets it when the do the “option balloon”. The only real benefit of the ballon deal is the reduced interest rate and you can use the credit for whatever you’d like, assuming you can capture the credit.
You should look at the standard lease if you have any doubt on whether or not you can get all of the $7,500.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I just sat with the dealer while he was trying to figure out the option program which he hadn’t even heard of.
Since he didn’t know about the program he started out by quoting the standard lease residual value for a lease, once he found the “options” section of the Ford dealer website the residual numbers dropped like a rock.

Normal lease 3 years, 15,000 miles was 56%
”options balloon program” 3 years, 15,000 miles is 42%
14% on $56,000 is $7,840.

Ford gets the $7,500 tax credit on a lease, the customer gets it when the do the “option balloon”. The only real benefit of the ballon deal is the reduced interest rate and you can use the credit for whatever you’d like, assuming you can capture the credit.
You should look at the standard lease if you have any doubt on whether or not you can get all of the $7,500.

This is not the best advice for everyone as it ignores the $1,000 and $2,500 regional incentives. And there was a lot of drama about the lease residuals all over the site in any event.

Ford literally paid me to finance the car with Options when you run my numbers including down payment, etc. with the incentive vs. a lease or a traditional loan.

 

[Dustan]

Does anyone have any solid information on the max down payment you can have with the option plan. My trade in is worth $18000 and I’d like to apply it to lower my taxes. A 3 year off ramp is a good option

 

[generaltso]

Does anyone have any solid information on the max down payment you can have with the option plan. My trade in is worth $18000 and I’d like to apply it to lower my taxes. A 3 year off ramp is a good option

The max down payment is 30%, which includes your trade and the $2500/$1000 incentive.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Does anyone have any solid information on the max down payment you can have with the option plan. My trade in is worth $18000 and I’d like to apply it to lower my taxes. A 3 year off ramp is a good option

The max down payment is 30% of the cash price. Down payment calculation includes cash, rebates/incentives and trade equity.

 

[FFPM03]

Can someone help me understand the numbers here? This is what I got when I input everything online. However when I called the dealer with a mach e on the lot matching the MSRP minus & $100 rebate, the payment number he gave me was $637 for 3 years and $517 for 4. I did this all over the phone /text, told him my trade would cover the max down payment. I understand this figure doesn't have tax and title but does their number seem reasonable or are they not doing this through Ford Options. (tax should be 6.25% and roughly 250 license dmv fees) I'm skeptical as the first dealer I visited had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned options(asked if I mean Ford Flex). They also added 5k ADM(I walked). Second dealer gave me actual numbers. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Carmel Mach E Auto]

Can someone help me understand the numbers here? This is what I got when I input everything online. However when I called the dealer with a mach e on the lot matching the MSRP minus & $100 rebate, the payment number he gave me was $637 for 3 years and $517 for 4.

...

I understand this figure doesn't have tax and title but does their number seem reasonable

Use this loan calculator that was posted earlier:

https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/finance/calculators/carloancalculator.php

Once you have the actual amount you are going to finance (MSRP + tax + registration/fees, minus incentives, minus your downpayment), enter that number for "Car value", and leave "Initial deposit" blank. Use the balloon amount and interest rate from the Ford website. For a 36 month loan term make sure you enter 35 months and for a 48 month loan term make sure you enter 47 months. This is because the final month's payment is the balloon payment itself.

This should get you a number that is very close to what you could expect Ford Credit to offer for an a Ford Options loan. If the dealership is giving you a different number (off by more than a few bucks at most) then they are either calculating wrong or charging you a mark-up or other hidden fees of some type.

 

[Nav]

Can someone help me understand the numbers here? This is what I got when I input everything online. However when I called the dealer with a mach e on the lot matching the MSRP minus & $100 rebate, the payment number he gave me was $637 for 3 years and $517 for 4. I did this all over the phone /text, told him my trade would cover the max down payment. I understand this figure doesn't have tax and title but does their number seem reasonable or are they not doing this through Ford Options. (tax should be 6.25% and roughly 250 license dmv fees) I'm skeptical as the first dealer I visited had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned options(asked if I mean Ford Flex). They also added 5k ADM(I walked). Second dealer gave me actual numbers. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Check to make sure the truth in lending statement clearly shows 2.25% as the APR in the box. That should be part of the paper work they present to you, and is where the discrepancy was for me which we got corrected bringing the monthly payment down about $100. This was then also within $3 of what I was coming up with on the Ford site's calculator.