Better Than a Lease? A Balloon Loan Primer

Have to select Ford Trucks and the Mach E is under there

Got it , thanks for sharing. It seems that their mach-e quote is much higher than what Ford was offering. Ford’s rates were around 1.4% and also had a 2500$ incentive but their RVs were really low

how do you get this for 69k???

That boat has sailed. If you still can I’d get a second.

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Isn’t LC still at 10k off? I just ordered a base TRX from them like last week and my quoted price is 69k

ordered one thanks to you, didn’t know what a TRX was lol

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They are at tiered pricing now no? Plus they have close to double the doc as Chapman did. Base at 78,675, minus 9k is 69.7 + doc you’ll be around low 70s + tax. If you got into Koons before they stopped leasing at 10k off a base like @senwia did, that’d be the best deal.

MSRP < $81k = $9k

Anytime. You ordered before me and I still haven’t gotten mine :crying_cat_face:

Ford Maverick
Nissan Frontier
Toyota Tacoma

All have pretty solid programs w/ AFG. Maybe not full size…

You can adjust the calculator to reflect your purchase price.
My calculation was based based on Koons quote offering $10K off a base MSRP TRX.

The reason the TRX program is strong at AFG is because they only account for one model/trim level and give it a flat $91K+ MRM regardless of the actual MSRP.

The play with the Mach-E is to finance out of the Ford Options program into 3rd party financing, this way you keep all your rebates. When we compared this last, the 48 mo Ford program was in the $700’s and the 24mo AFG program is in the 500’s.

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I believe you but looking at current numbers, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Ford has closed it website to do the calculations but as of last week, I was look at ~900 for GT but AFG was around 1200

Perhaps I’m missing something here, but doesn’t this just push off the cost until the balloon payment is due? My understanding is, unlike a lease, you cannot just turn the car in when the balloon comes due. So, if the residual is inflated because of that $91k MRM, doesn’t that just mean you wind up with a dramatically under water car at the end of the loan period, with no way to unload the car without paying more out of pocket?

Use the reverse calculator, you can see the balloon payment is ~58k for the his TRX example.
Would a 2 year old trx with 20k miles on it sell for 58k? I don’t know

The calculation I did was on the Select trim, so the story could be different for GT. Can you share your purchase price and total loan amount? I am still coming up with $650/mo for a GT. (MSRP deal, $0 down, 72mo, 8% ttl).

A $69K TRX base trim is actually worth about $86K wholesale, so it has about $10K to $15K of positive equity in it upon delivery. This is why it’s a popular flip.

As a keeper, if the payoff is $58K after 2 years, that means the vehicle would need to depreciate more then $28K to be upside down. IMO this is highly unlikely. It’s more likely the truck will be worth $70K in two years and you will still get to recapture some of that positive equity.

Balloon loans certainly do introduce an amount of risk. Everyone will have a different comfort level.

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Here is what AFG is showing me. Am I doing something wrong?

The ford payment was around $980 something + tax. Ford’s APR was 1.4% while AFG is >4%.

Yeah it’s only good for base build.
For loaded build, 90k and you probably pay 80k for it.
Then balloon loan over 3 years you paid $9k just for interest, where as if tranditional loan you only pay ~$2k

If doing 3.24% & 36/7.5, only paid $2400 more than tradition loan

I think $60k for loaded TRX is a very conservative assumption. So I admit this is truly a great deal…

Now, gonna talk to wife and persuade her. :crossed_fingers:

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You can work this payment down to the mid 800’s if you can qualify for a lower rate (which is likely, I would suggest using 3.24%) and then set the annual mileage to minimum, since you will buyout the car at end the of the term, mileage doesn’t matter. Keep in mind this calculator is showing a “with 10% tax” situation, where-as you described Ford’s payment as plus tax.

That said the program for the Select is much better.

I see, thanks for your input. Why do you say the mileage doesn’t matter if I am gonna buy-out?

16 posts were merged into an existing topic: Ram TRX spin off - ordering, configs, flips, etc

The key here isn’t the MRM offered by AFG? right now it’s $92K, but by the time the car arrived at dealer, what if this MRM changed? or you place a order right now, you can lock all the rates and MRM offered in this screen shot?

From what I have seen, AFG will only update MRM values once a year (annually). I would consider the MRM locked, but the rate can vary like any other rate, lock-in terms would be up to the offering credit union. Of course MSRP can change at any time.

I recommend starting the process to apply for a balloon loan about 2 weeks before vehicle planned delivery.

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What about BMW Owners Choice program? Is is better/worse then going through AFG in case for BMW ?