Hi guys,

Just a quickie really, I wanted to see/know how many use the Ford Options? Is it a good scheme? What are the pros and cons to it? Reason being, I'm on a 5 year loan for my current car, thinking I could sell my car privately, pay off the loan, may even make a profit to lay down as a deposit on the new fiesta, and the monthly repayments would only be £98, which is cheaper than what I'm paying on my loan (£193) so maybe thats one route to take, thoughts?

Paul

I'm not on the options but I like the sound of it. Guaranteed a new car every 2-3 years. Don't have to worry about warranties or anything either.

It all depends how long you've got left on your 5 year finance. As you might lose money?

Bearing in mind when the 2 year options run out you need to put another deposit down on your next car. Obviously the higher the deposit the lower the monthly payments are

I'm not on the options but I like the sound of it. Guaranteed a new car every 2-3 years. Don't have to worry about warranties or anything either.

It all depends how long you've got left on your 5 year finance. As you might lose money?

Bearing in mind when the 2 year options run out you need to put another deposit down on your next car. Obviously the higher the deposit the lower the monthly payments are

Originally I took out a personal bank loan, and bought the car outright, which is great, however I still have over 4 years left at £193. With just over 7K left to pay, I could even sell the car, pay the bank loan off outright and may even make a small profit to lay down as a deposit. Seems a bit of a no brainer, however I've heard some mixed views on options where for some people has gone seriously wrong, i.e getting charged lots of money for a dent in the door whilst a numpty has parked next to you in a car park for example, so I'm a bit weary

Do they have limited mileage? Always what I look at :P

With the dent thing. Ford will charge what it costs to return it to a sellable condition. It's the same if you mod your options car.

As for the mileage, they limit you to x amount. They will ONLY charge if you decide to leave Ford at the end of the options lease.

So if you're limited to 7,000 a year (14k over the period) yet do 16k but opt for a new ford you have no need to worry :)

Also if you dent the car but get it repaired yourself its whatever the cheapest you can get the work done for

Thanks for the information Marc, definitely helping me make my mind up!! I appreciate it :) Handy to know as I do like my driving so the thought of being limited was a slight concern so thats handy to know, cheers :)

I'm on Ford options, and its only 6 months away untill its up for renewal. You get given the choice of a new car, or to pay off the GMFV and keep it after either 2 or 3 years. (depending how long you took out the finance for) You don't have to renew the car with Ford either. You would just settle the finance in the normal way and buy a new car from another company. You will normally find your car will be worth more than what you owe at the end, so you would also be able to use the extra money for a deposit on the next car.

Also to get Ford options for £98 a month, you would need to put down a mega deposit.

Example from Ford's website:

Fiesta Zetec S on ford options:

Price - £14,645

Deposit - £4,875.75 (max allowed)

Over 36 months, with 6000 miles per year

GMFV (final payment) - £6,762

Monthly payment - £122.92

Damn I'd pay a ton in excess mileage lol

As for the mileage, they limit you to x amount. They will ONLY charge if you decide to leave Ford at the end of the options lease.

So if you're limited to 7,000 a year (14k over the period) yet do 16k but opt for a new ford you have no need to worry :)

That's handy to know, as i didn't

Suppose as long as the mileage isn't that much over the agreed mileage, I have mine over three year's with 9,000 a year, if I left it back with 30,000 or more all's well as long as I get another Fiesta or Ford

Hmmm I see.

I like the idea of the ford options, although I'd have to put down a bigger deposit to notice the benefits. I have a lot of direct debits finishing in a a months time, so will most likely save hard for a couple of months to put down the deposit, sell the car privately, pay off the loan and then just be on options and may even have profit to add to the deposit :) Cheers guys I appreciate it

Don't quote me on this but I'm 99% that they charge 20p a mile for any extra that you do

That's handy to know, as i didn't

Suppose as long as the mileage isn't that much over the agreed mileage, I have mine over three year's with 9,000 a year, if I left it back with 30,000 or more all's well as long as I get another Fiesta or Ford

All this excess mileage stuff is irrelevant if you trade-in to purchase another car, be it from ford or anywhere else. It only comes into force if you hand the car back to ford at the end of the agreement and walk away. All of my cars (bar my 106) have been on a PCP scheme with different manufacturers. I've always traded in and had some positive equity at the end of the finance agreement to put towards the deposit for the next car.

So yes, if you only go a little over the agreed mileage all will be well for you if you trade-in your current car to buy another ford (or any other brand).

The agreed mileage at the start of the finance agreement is only really used to determine how much the car will be worth at the end of the 2 or 3 year term. Your monthly payments are then calculated to cover the difference between the amount you are paying for the car new and the amount it will be worth at the end of the term (the GMFV Guaranteed Minimum Future Value). E.g. New £13000. GMFV £6000. So [13000-6000]/36 = £194 per month over 3 years. Add onto that your interest fees and a bit extra to make sure you don’t have a shortfall at the end and you have your monthly payment amount.

If you go massively over the mileage allowance, obviously the car will be worth less at the end of the term and you won't have paid off the difference between the cost new and the resulting cost, so its worth less than the GMFV. If you then hand a car back to Ford that is therefore worth less than expected, that’s why the excess mileage fees kick in. Obviously you might also struggle to get a trade-in value that covers the outstanding finance if you rack up massive mileage, so you have to weigh up what would cost you less, trade-in, sell private or hand back with mileage fees.

To sum up, if you are going to take finance make sure you put in roughly the correct annual mileage. Don’t put in a lower mileage estimate to reduce the monthly payments (as was suggested to me by a Renault garage when I was pricing a Meg 250) or you might end up with a nasty surprize at the end.

^^^^

Thank's for the info, all make's sense

Never went over my mileage but good to know what would happen if I did