72 month interest free financing
 

Does anyone know if later this month Ford will be implementing 72 month interest free financing on F150 trucks? Chevy and GMC are advertising 72 month interest free financing on trucks and I'm wondering if Ford will follow suit.

Good advice BigKen. Thank's! Interest rates are very low so by taking all of the cash insentives with low interest yields the best bottom line.

That's a good way to look at it, Ken. The loan for my 03 was 3.33%; it cost me ~$2,700 to finance my truck.
Can you take the rebates and still finance what's left through Ford Motor Credit, if they're competitive? You won't get the 0% deal but you could still get, say, 4.9% or less. Otherwise I think most dealers work with several lenders to get competitive rates.
And I think many don't realize that the interest rate is negotiable, if your credit is good enough.

Ken is absolutely right. Do your homework. A lot of it will depend on how much you finance. You may find that the 0% works in your favor when you balance interest charges vs rebates lost. My experiences have been that the larger the amount financed, ie $30k+, 0% is your best bet. Your payments are typically lower as is your total amount financed. Food for thought :)

With the certain exception of Honda, virtually every company offers you the choice of either a cash rebate or reduced-rate financing. Have you ever wondered which incentive the manufacturer would prefer that you pick? Without a doubt, it's the financing. Think about it: if the loan should get paid off early, they (FMCC,GMAC, etc...) make out like a bandit. And these loans get paid off early all the time: trade-ins, totaled in an accident, people get tired of making the payments and just want to stop mailing a check every month. They get to "take back" most of an incentive they gave you to buy the vehicle in the first place. But when you take the rebate, how can they get that rebate back? They can't- it's gone, and there's no way they can recover it. My point is this: until loan rates, on average, get up into the 15% range, you're almost always better off to take the rebate. Figure it both ways; don't just assume 0% for whatever term is a good deal for you, just because it SOUNDS good.

And for the record, Honda has never offered a rebate, only lease deals and reduced-rate financing. There must be a reason...

You make some excellent points and honestly, its in most salespeople's best interest that you take rebate over rate. Let me show you something. Say you were buying a 2008 Expedition Limited 4x2. Assuming you were financing 28000 with all the rebates, your payments would be $543/month for 60 months at 5.99%. Now, if you were to take the 0% interest and lose the $3000 rebate (new financed amount climbs to 31000), your payments would drop to $517 (rounded up) per month. What about the interest charges though? For that 5.99%, your interest charge is approx $4500. So basically, it comes down to this. You'd have to spend $4500 to gain a $3000 rebate.
Does that make sense?

The only way the rebate makes more sense is if you're the type of person who doesnt keep the car/truck for the entire length of the loan but instead, get into something new every 3 years or so. In that case, take the rebates. They will lower your payoff amount.