tjm623

it depends on the rate you can get privately. If I can get 0 and the rebates are only $2500 but my interest paid over the same loan that I'd refinance is $3000...I'm saving 500 taking the 0% and passing on the rebates.

Ricktwuhk

Sure. But unless you have lousy credit, the rate you can get privately will beat it.

Right now:

PenFed - 1.49% for 36 months, 1.99% for 48 months, 2.49% for 60 months.

Assume a $50,000 4 year loan at 1.99%. Interest over that loan would be $2,058.

Of course, many people trade in a vehicle or put a downpayment as they cannot afford a monthly payment over $1,000.

Assume a $30,000 5 year loan at 2.49%. Interest is $1,937.

Again, the 0% almost never pays off.

tjm623

I agree that very rarely does it pay off, I guess I was trying to explain that there are situations where it could. It's best to at least run the numbers as you just showed with incentives or with rebate.

i think they've even run an incentive for 0% with rebates once last year? I can't remember as we bought 3 cars last year(1 not by choice)

dbmachine

Exactly what I did. Could have got the 0% for 5 years through ford credit with 5500 rebate or almost 15,000 in rebates and took the ford 4.99%. I took the big rebate and refinanced at the credit union my wife works at and used her discount to get a 1.9% rate. Came out like a rose for 5 years.

bassJAM

I watched both Ford and GM incentives almost all of last year. Every period changed some, but the deals I saw at the end of the year weren’t necessarily better than what I saw earlier in the year. IIRC late fall seemed to be the worst time for incentives from both makes, but I don’t know if that holds true from year to year. It’s probably a function of the corporate offices trying to get sales up than a time of year thing.

The biggest differences I noticed were dealerships themselves. Regardless of the rebates at any given time, high volume dealerships were advertising prices lower than smaller dealerships were selling for after negotiations.

lilmaniac2

I bought through Z plan, but I saw the X plan price. I was able to negotiate a better than X plan price just by emailing a couple dealers. Not sure X plan is worth it??

Ricktwuhk

OP has never before bought a new vehicle. X-Plan gives you a fair price, barely over invoice minus rebates, and a max of $100 paperwork fee. Many who get "better" deals end up paying $499 for paperwork, getting screwed on a trade, paying for "packages", etc.

lilmaniac2

Good info! I didn't know the documentation fee was reduced, that puts the price I negotiated and the X plan price much closer together.

Thanks for the education!

Ricktwuhk

Z-plan is $75 max doc fee.

lilmaniac2

I know that one!