I am in the process of buying an '07 Escape Hybrid. The current $2,500 Customer Cash promotion will expire after a week (on 02/28). So what can we expect? Will Ford extend the promotion, maybe even raise the amount, or will the promotion just disappear? (In other words - should I hurry up and buy a car quick??)

$2,500 is a lot of money...

BTW, great forum!

 

What will the next PowerBall numbers be?

Sometimes the offers get better. Sometimes the offers get worse. We'll find out for sure on March 1.

 

The 2008 FEH launch is coming soon, I expect the 07 rebates are to clear out the old model. I grabbed my rebate in January with that logic.

 

I'm expecting them to stick around as well for the same reason. Some lots are already showing 2008 Mercury Mariners. One of my local dealers shows one, but I haven't checked to see if it is actually on the lot. I have '08 MMH on order.

If you search for a 2007 Mercury Mariner, the 2008's will show as well (hybrids are listed under 2007 Mariner, not Mariner Hybrid). I don't know if they same applies to the Ford Escape or not.

 

$2500 off plus the $1950 credit makes for an excellent deal.

 

The 0% APR for 60 months (100% financing) is likely to be worth more to you than the $2500 cash back. As I recall you can get the 0% until April 2nd. When I ran the numbers to pick an incentive for my purchase, the 0% for 60 months was the cash equivalent of $4300.

 

0% probably is a better deal but it depends on how much you are financing and what APR you could get elsewhere.

 

If you invest your $2500 (although it most likely will get spent) and check on it in 5 years... the difference isn't as clear.... you need a nice return to break even... but the right investment could make it possible.

 

Here's the analysis that I used:

Scenario #1: $2500 customer cash. If I put that into a money market account paying 5.0% per year for 5 years, I'd have $3208 at the end of that term.

Scenario #2: 0% APR financing for 5 years. Assume the FEH costs $28500 out the door. I finance it 100% so I put the $28500 into the same money market account as in Scenario #1, and every month I withdrawn $467 to make the car payment. At the end of 5 years I will have a balance in the money market account of $4840.

So for me, the 0% APR financing was the better way to go by $1632.

For the $2500 to grow to $4840 in 5 years, your investment would have to return over 13% per year for 5 years. And if you had such an investment, why not put the $28500 purchase price there and you'd have $15,720 after 5 years with Scenario #2.

 

You put more thought into it than I did obviously.