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

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hybrid2bev

hybrid2bev

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My dealer is telling me I do not qualify for the $2500 because I am choosing the options plan. Then they said if I qualified that I could only have the $2500 or the state $1500 incentive. How does that even make sense? He also told me that the sales tax is included in my monthly payment but from what I just read that is not the case. What disqualifies you from the $2500 incentive cash? and what do I need to tell this guy so that they get me on the right plan? Just these steps:

FMCDealer » Finance (tab) » Consumer Finance Programs (left side menu) » Ford Options

On the Ford Options page the dealer will see the Options Payment Estimator, eContract instructions, Ford Options Handbook and Fact Sheet.

Also, if anyone successfully purchased a Mach E in So Cal, can you please share with me what dealership you bought it from. I might have to cancel my order and change dealerships or tell mine to call yours.

Thank you everyone
The only qualifications for the $2500 Ford Options bonus cash (assuming you live in a state that offers Options) is that you live in a zip code that qualifies for $2500 instead of $1000 bonus and that you do a Ford Options contract.

You are correct that Ford Options is a retail installment contract so it doesn’t have monthly sales tax like a lease would.

I can’t speak towards the state incentives. But I haven’t heard on here that it matters how you pay for the car to claim the state incentive, where or how you finance the purchase should not matter. You’d have to check the rules from your state authorities.
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DBC

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My dealer is telling me I do not qualify for the $2500 because I am choosing the options plan. Then they said if I qualified that I could only have the $2500 or the state $1500 incentive. How does that even make sense?

Also, if anyone successfully purchased a Mach E in So Cal, can you please share with me what dealership you bought it from. I might have to cancel my order and change dealerships or tell mine to call yours.
It doesn't make sense. The Options incentive and the Clean Fuel Incentive are totally separate. I'd vote for incompetence rather than malevolence. The Options incentive comes from Ford so I wouldn't think this would matter for the dealer. The dealer might have to pay something for participating in the Clean Fuel program but it might be a fixed cost and isn't likely a large amount in any case.

I went with Options at Encinitas Ford and no one there seemed to have any issues with either incentive. But you should be able to work this out with your dealer.
 

Sneezy

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The real question for me is is Ford Options, since it's not termed a Lease.... can I still write it off like a lease? I read a ton but didn't see anything referencing that. I'm probably asking the wrong crowd but it's worth a shot...

I ask because I own my company and lease my car. The company gets to write off 100% of the lease cost and while I do get the personal miles (90%) back as income on my W2, it's still cheaper for me to have a car this way.

If I can't write this off like a lease it may be off the table. That's a conversation with my accountant.
 

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The real question for me is is Ford Options, since it's not termed a Lease.... can I still write it off like a lease? I read a ton but didn't see anything referencing that. I'm probably asking the wrong crowd but it's worth a shot...

I ask because I own my company and lease my car. The company gets to write off 100% of the lease cost and while I do get the personal miles (90%) back as income on my W2, it's still cheaper for me to have a car this way.

If I can't write this off like a lease it may be off the table. That's a conversation with my accountant.
Options is not a lease. It’s a straight balloon loan. You own the car. However, while I’m not a tax expert, having owned my own business, you should be able to deduct the cost regardless.
 

Dudeduke

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What are the current residuals for different trims on options plan? I am not able to find a consolidated data.
 


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What are the current residuals for different trims on options plan? I am not able to find a consolidated data.
It's in the second tab of my spreadsheet.

You can also derive the full list by building each trim on Ford's web site and checking the finance estimator that's embedded in the builder page.
 

DBC

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The real question for me is is Ford Options, since it's not termed a Lease.... can I still write it off like a lease? I read a ton but didn't see anything referencing that. I'm probably asking the wrong crowd but it's worth a shot...
You're not likely to find a definitive answer because the circumstances are unusual. I'd do it without a second thought since Options is essentially a lease disguised as installment contract. Not likely to raise a lot of questions because if the Service treated it as a sale then you could use accelerated depreciation to write more off.

That said, BEVs are so cheap to operate that you may actually be better off simply claiming mileage.
 

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Not sure the part about reducing the balance owed is right - the balloon is the balloon, and if you send in extra $, you are paying down the principal of the first 3-year or 4-year portion of the loan.

If you pay off the initial 36-month principal & interest in 12 months, not sure what happens then - I guess you could pay off the balloon at that point, or maybe just kick back for the next 23 months and make your buy/return decision after 35 months. I don't think the balloon amount would change, whether you pay it off at 12 months or 35 months.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in here.
There will be no kicking back for the next 23 months.

Absent language in the loan to that effect you can assume this loan works like every other.

The balloon is just the final 49 payments [or 37 on a 4 yr term] bundled together. Review any explanation of the effect of paying principal back early and you will see the effect is to remove the need to make the final scheduled payments.

Without rewriting the loan the monthly payment remains the same and is due as scheduled. [FMC has apparently agreed to one rewrite for those who want to apply their tax credit to the principal—but that is not what you suggested doing.]

I didn’t search for it but hybrid previously posted the pertinent language of the agreement. It doesn’t say skip the 35th payment and keep the balloon the same. It says Ford will forgive any balance due at 36 months in exchange for the car.

Read you paperwork.
 
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buffasnow

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There will be no kicking back for the next 23 months.

Absent language in the loan to that effect you can assume this loan works like every other.

The balloon is just the final 49 payments [or 37 on a 4 yr term] bundled together. Review any explanation of the effect of paying principal back early and you will see the effect is to remove the need to make the final scheduled payments.

Without rewriting the loan the monthly payment remains the same and is due as scheduled. [FMC has apparently agreed to one rewrite for those who want to apply their tax credit to the principal—but that is not what you suggested doing.]

I didn’t search for it but hybrid previously posted the pertinent language of the agreement. It doesn’t say skip the 35th payment and keep the balloon the same. It says Ford will forgive any balance due at 36 months in exchange for the car.

Read you paperwork.
Yes, a couple of people, including hybrid, responded to my conjecture back when I wrote that.

Thanks for the response, I feel I have a much better grasp of it now.
 

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So, I went the Options route when I picked up the car today.

Numbers looked fine, except that the dealer presented me the numbers and lo and behold the APR was 4.75%. I was expecting 2.25%.

Took 1.5 hours to haggle with them back down to 2.25%; the ford site and people's postings here definitely helped a bit. The dealer kept talking about margin and them making money etc (the usual comebacks). The dealer also said they have requested that Ford not disclose some of those rates online. It was rather painful and frankly unexpected...

Do the dealers have the ability to mark up the APR (on a retail contract no less), especially when it's clear that Ford is "sponsoring" this rate online?
 

macchiaz-o

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Numbers looked fine, except that the dealer presented me the numbers and lo and behold the APR was 4.75%. I was expecting 2.25%.

Took 1.5 hours to haggle with them back down to 2.25%; the ford site and people's postings here definitely helped a bit. The dealer kept talking about margin and them making money etc (the usual comebacks). The dealer also said they have requested that Ford not disclose some of those rates online. It was rather painful and frankly unexpected...

Do the dealers have the ability to mark up the APR (on a retail contract no less), especially when it's clear that Ford is "sponsoring" this rate online?
Yes, I think even if you have very strong credit, they are permitted to mark up the APR as long as it's properly disclosed on your paperwork. It would be an added profit source to the dealer if you were to accept those terms.
 

DBC

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Numbers looked fine, except that the dealer presented me the numbers and lo and behold the APR was 4.75%. I was expecting 2.25%.

Took 1.5 hours to haggle with them back down to 2.25%; the ford site and people's postings here definitely helped a bit. The dealer kept talking about margin and them making money etc (the usual comebacks). The dealer also said they have requested that Ford not disclose some of those rates online. It was rather painful and frankly unexpected...
Sorry you had to endure this. Sometimes you have to wonder exactly what value added the dealer is providing.
 

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So, I went the Options route when I picked up the car today.

Numbers looked fine, except that the dealer presented me the numbers and lo and behold the APR was 4.75%. I was expecting 2.25%.

Took 1.5 hours to haggle with them back down to 2.25%; the ford site and people's postings here definitely helped a bit. The dealer kept talking about margin and them making money etc (the usual comebacks). The dealer also said they have requested that Ford not disclose some of those rates online. It was rather painful and frankly unexpected...

Do the dealers have the ability to mark up the APR (on a retail contract no less), especially when it's clear that Ford is "sponsoring" this rate online?
Can you please check if your dealer calculated sales tax on "MSRP+Delivery+Options" or he calculated tax on "MSRP+Delivery+Options - X-Plan - Clean Vehicle Rebate - Ford Options Incentive" amount? My dealer insists on first scenario, but I think, like in any transaction in any store, you have to deduct rebates first before calculating the tax. Could you please let me know - with or without sharing your numbers. I live in Bay Area.
 

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So, I went the Options route when I picked up the car today.

Numbers looked fine, except that the dealer presented me the numbers and lo and behold the APR was 4.75%. I was expecting 2.25%.

Took 1.5 hours to haggle with them back down to 2.25%; the ford site and people's postings here definitely helped a bit. The dealer kept talking about margin and them making money etc (the usual comebacks). The dealer also said they have requested that Ford not disclose some of those rates online. It was rather painful and frankly unexpected...

Do the dealers have the ability to mark up the APR (on a retail contract no less), especially when it's clear that Ford is "sponsoring" this rate online?
Yupper they sure do! Dealers have the "discretion" to mark up the 2.25% Ford advertises, but are under no obligation to be straightforward with you that they're doing it. Think of how many people will go to buy a car that don't know half of what we all do on here. This is why some people are so turned off by having to go through dealers...for all of Tesla's flaws, buying direct at a set price definitely has its advantages.

Side note soapbox: My neighbors just bought a Volvo XC40 Recharge electric and got raked over the coals by their Volvo dealer with ADM, high interest rate, dealer not applying the $1500 California Clean Fuel Reward, etc and didn't even know it until I started asking them questions about the buying process...they didn't even know that vehicle doesn't have Apple CarPlay cuz they're not very tech savvy, and when it wouldn't work when they test drove it, the sales guy told them they could "hook it up when they get home" (they cannot because it doesn't exist on that car). I almost feel bad for making them realize they got deceived and hosed. I know not all dealers are bad (mine was fantastic and did everything right) and it's complicated to try to reform the dealer system in the US, but some dealers are shady POS's and Manufacturers should really make better efforts to try to ensure a better customer experience so it doesn't drive them away from the brand. Good thing at least with Ford there are plenty of dealers to choose from...choose wisely!
 

eltonlin

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Can you please check if your dealer calculated sales tax on "MSRP+Delivery+Options" or he calculated tax on "MSRP+Delivery+Options - X-Plan - Clean Vehicle Rebate - Ford Options Incentive" amount? My dealer insists on first scenario, but I think, like in any transaction in any store, you have to deduct rebates first before calculating the tax. Could you please let me know - with or without sharing your numbers. I live in Bay Area.
sales tax is based on the x-plan price, which includes destination (which is taxable).

rebate and options cash are applied as separate line items.
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