Buying used FFH

[hybridbear]

 

My trade in is pretty much a beater kbb gives it like 500-1000 (was thinking negotiate first then do trade idk icing on the top). I guess there is nothing to loose though (i also qualify for ford's student discount which is 500, not sure to pull that right away or negotiate and then go like oh yeah at the end get it tacked on, it dosn't cost the dealership anything as is from MFG).

 

 

I also realized another pickkle all of a sudden too. My taxes don't total 4k (never thought i would be upset with that). I know my parents do i think is the tax credit based on the purchase title holder? althought that would probably affect financing too hrmm. yeah might be really out of the running now...

The tax credit is based on the registered owner. I don't know about Wisconsin laws, but I know that in MN when I moved out from home we had to get the title changed because both my name & my dad's name were on my car title. Once my dad & I weren't both living at the same address it would have created insurance issues because my dad would have had to be listed on my policy, raising my rates, since he was on the title. You may be able to work out a deal with your parents where they buy the car and claim the tax credit and then once the tax credit is claimed they can "gift" the car to you. Most states have a clause for that in their title law that charges a minimal fee.

 

Or you can look for a used Energi, the tax credit only applies to the first owner.

[lsherlockl]

The tax credit is based on the registered owner. I don't know about Wisconsin laws, but I know that in MN when I moved out from home we had to get the title changed because both my name & my dad's name were on my car title. Once my dad & I weren't both living at the same address it would have created insurance issues because my dad would have had to be listed on my policy, raising my rates, since he was on the title. You may be able to work out a deal with your parents where they buy the car and claim the tax credit and then once the tax credit is claimed they can "gift" the car to you. Most states have a clause for that in their title law that charges a minimal fee.

 

Or you can look for a used Energi, the tax credit only applies to the first owner.

I guess in a situation something like that. Currently commuting from home (call it lame i call it economical :P ) so eyah same address, will look into the title thing. Either way requires financing, which would turn into a bigger issue/mess if it was not under me. So yeah if anything i think the low price and tax break i can only use as a bargaining chip on used vehicles.

 

 

As a side note the original vehicle i looked at FFH used i got a reply on some earlier questions on them. (namely the damage)

 

"We originally bought this car from an insurance company's auction because an entire Ford fleet was caught in a wind storm. Some of the cars on the outside of the lot were pelted with rocks and some weren't. We bought about 10 cars from this auction and there was only damage on a few of them, which we sent to the body shop and had paint work done on them.

There was no damage on this particular vehicle. We sold the car to one of our customers who just traded it back in to us a week or so ago.

Brian Bohm"

 

Whether or not thats the truth not sure, but its a good go to to pit other vehicles against, "look at the spec why is yours priced higher sort of thing"

[hybridbear]

I guess in a situation something like that. Currently commuting from home (call it lame i call it economical :P ) so eyah same address, will look into the title thing. Either way requires financing, which would turn into a bigger issue/mess if it was not under me. So yeah if anything i think the low price and tax break i can only use as a bargaining chip on used vehicles.

 

 

As a side note the original vehicle i looked at FFH used i got a reply on some earlier questions on them. (namely the damage)

 

"We originally bought this car from an insurance company's auction because an entire Ford fleet was caught in a wind storm. Some of the cars on the outside of the lot were pelted with rocks and some weren't. We bought about 10 cars from this auction and there was only damage on a few of them, which we sent to the body shop and had paint work done on them.

There was no damage on this particular vehicle. We sold the car to one of our customers who just traded it back in to us a week or so ago.

Brian Bohm"

 

Whether or not thats the truth not sure, but its a good go to to pit other vehicles against, "look at the spec why is yours priced higher sort of thing"

I call it economical. I lived at home during college to save money. I stayed for about a year after I graduated and during that year I paid off all my student loans. It makes sense.

 

Interesting about the damage on the car. I wonder what he would say if you asked him why that customer traded it in. You could also ask the dealer if you could talk to that customer personally. After we traded in our FFH at Scaffidi, the salesman called me to ask if I would be willing to talk to a customer who was interested in it. I said sure. The guy called me and I got to talk with him one-on-one about the car without the dealership being in the way. I don't know if he bought it or not, but it certainly helped him in his decision process.

 

I would highly recommend the Energi though. We would have bought one back in 2012 if they had been available then and if we'd had charging at our apartment then. The Energi can work great for longer commutes. Hopefully Jeff_H will chime in. He has a long commute and went from a 2013 FFH to a leftover 2013 Energi. He can explain more about the Energi on long drives.

[lsherlockl]

I call it economical. I lived at home during college to save money. I stayed for about a year after I graduated and during that year I paid off all my student loans. It makes sense.

 

Interesting about the damage on the car. I wonder what he would say if you asked him why that customer traded it in. You could also ask the dealer if you could talk to that customer personally. After we traded in our FFH at Scaffidi, the salesman called me to ask if I would be willing to talk to a customer who was interested in it. I said sure. The guy called me and I got to talk with him one-on-one about the car without the dealership being in the way. I don't know if he bought it or not, but it certainly helped him in his decision process.

 

I would highly recommend the Energi though. We would have bought one back in 2012 if they had been available then and if we'd had charging at our apartment then. The Energi can work great for longer commutes. Hopefully Jeff_H will chime in. He has a long commute and went from a 2013 FFH to a leftover 2013 Energi. He can explain more about the Energi on long drives.

Thanks.

 

Incidentally too the apartment that i plan on moving too (in like 2 yrs), that's closer to work has electricity in the garages, that coughs is not tied to the apartments meter...

 

I realize the energi has its benefits, and that yeah probablly pull 60 "mpg" or better avg for the first longer years but idk if i still can justify the price or flop around the title ownership to pull that tax cred discount (would have been fine if i started earlier than june).

 

I think i may investigate asking about prev owner, since they dont have prev MPG on the FFH prev listed. On the FFE I think ill try like what you did offer ~%33 off of sticker which is closer to 27k with my (3k) credit possibly doable, or with title magic and a parent definitely.

 

 

Also i cannot thank you enough for all the advice and knowlege

[lsherlockl]

Hrmm looking at law, i think one could have the title in multiple names, thereby A parent could claim tax credit, and should still meet the requirements for financing? not sure.

 

Is there any good info/writeup on the fed tax deduction/sheet i want to figure out how that works

[jeff_h]

Yes indeed, I have miles and miles experience with commute of 60-miles each way, and have been keeping tabs on the commute MPG each day, to include the temperature - so at the end of the year I can be like Larry on the Energi forum and plot out the expected curve according to temps and MPG... may need to ask his help on that one, but at least I have the numbers.

 

Anyway - what is the chance that you will be able to charge on the distant end? If you will be able to do that, it's a no-brainer, IMHO. If not, I looked over the days from this year where I started my PM commute with no HVB due to trips during the day, and recorded MPGs for the 58-62 mile commute (based on getting off 95 and various exits) were: 59, 56, 49, 42, 56, and 51 with temps and traffic probably being the big difference.

 

So it may be worth it to you if you, if you are OK with the limited trunk room and folding down the back seats would work for you -- I posted some trunk pics at:

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/664-fusion-energi-trunk-room/?p=16001

 

As for the tax credit, there are several threads on this in the Energi forum but one of the good ones is here:

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1652-tax-credit-question/?hl=8936&do=findComment&comment=10503

 

For the White Energi you noted above, I looked at the window sticker and the only option is the upgraded paint color... it may work for you, but spending at least 3 hours each day in my car (closer to 4 many days) I made sure my car had the stuff that I knew I'd want to have available rather than suck it up for years.

[acdii]

Consider how much junk you put in your trunk and how much you actually use it. You might surprise yourself that you really dont use as much space as you think.

[lsherlockl]

Yes indeed, I have miles and miles experience with commute of 60-miles each way, and have been keeping tabs on the commute MPG each day, to include the temperature - so at the end of the year I can be like Larry on the Energi forum and plot out the expected curve according to temps and MPG... may need to ask his help on that one, but at least I have the numbers.

 

Anyway - what is the chance that you will be able to charge on the distant end? If you will be able to do that, it's a no-brainer, IMHO. If not, I looked over the days from this year where I started my PM commute with no HVB due to trips during the day, and recorded MPGs for the 58-62 mile commute (based on getting off 95 and various exits) were: 59, 56, 49, 42, 56, and 51 with temps and traffic probably being the big difference.

 

So it may be worth it to you if you, if you are OK with the limited trunk room and folding down the back seats would work for you -- I posted some trunk pics at:

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/664-fusion-energi-trunk-room/?p=16001

 

As for the tax credit, there are several threads on this in the Energi forum but one of the good ones is here:

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1652-tax-credit-question/?hl=8936&do=findComment&comment=10503

 

For the White Energi you noted above, I looked at the window sticker and the only option is the upgraded paint color... it may work for you, but spending at least 3 hours each day in my car (closer to 4 many days) I made sure my car had the stuff that I knew I'd want to have available rather than suck it up for yea

 

Thanks for the infos!

 

So I had a major mental fail can someone explain in relative high level terms how the whole tax credit thing works? I have been filing my own taxes for 6 years now, took business tax law (should have paid more attention there) and am still confused.

 

So my thoughts are it could work 1 of 3 ways. which is correct

 

A.) you get 4k tacked on to your refund

 

B.) you get 4k off of your net earnings before tax

 

C.) you get 4k off of what you "owe" in tax. IE I owe 3k in tax to IRS, IRS has deducted 3.5k from paycheck tax return is now 3.5k instead of $500

 

 

 

Yeah i have come to grips with the small trunk. (actually now preferring the energi a bit but seeming less economically possible)

 

As to the one listed, It really has two of the things I was looking for in a FFH (yeah a titanium would be epic but... they just arent around within reasonable distance). To me the tech package and leather seats are two of the options highest on my list. Yeah a sunroof is nice but you loose headroom specifically in the back (already lower due to styling) and i would prefer the better sound, and Blind spot/adaptive but yeah not really worth the extra distance to get, or the price being higher.

[murphy]

C) A tax credit is a credit against the taxes that you owe. If you owe $3000 in taxes the $4000 credit covers your tax bill. You lose the $1000 difference because the credit can't be carried forward. To get the full credit your tax bill must be at least $4007. If it is less than that is there any way you can increase your tax bill such as sell a stock that you have a profit in or cash savings bonds that have deferred interest?

[lsherlockl]

C) A tax credit is a credit against the taxes that you owe. If you owe $3000 in taxes the $4000 credit covers your tax bill. You lose the $1000 difference because the credit can't be carried forward. To get the full credit your tax bill must be at least $4007. If it is less than that is there any way you can increase your tax bill such as sell a stock that you have a profit in or cash savings bonds that have deferred interest?

 

As a recent grad no... My tax looks like it will be ~2k. Had i worked a full year yeah it would be great. Actually too i put a decent amount into 401k so there goes more liability

 

I have been debating having a family member listed on the title as a OR so that they could theoretically claim the credit being that they have a greater liability (but tax law is a mess). even then though it only looks like ~3k. Long story short im going to try and put in an offer (~28k out the door) and get something that would be around 24-24.5 after "my rebate of 2k" before taxes and its up to the dealers if they want to sell (i do get a student discount of 500 and have a trade-in of 500-1000 in that figure)

 

Else ill probably settle on a good used FFH. but you guys have converted me to try for the FFE ;)

Edited November 21, 2014 by lsherlockl

[machoman1337]

I bought my FFH as a certified pre-owned and it's just as good as a new car. In fact, it was 20 months old when I bought it but only had 2000 km on the odometer (the dealership used it for demos). I've put another 7000 km on it so far in the last 6 months - over 3 times what the dealership put on it in 20 months :P

 

I actually wasn't going to buy a hybrid at first and was prepared to get a brand new 1.5L ecoboost. Thank god this killer deal showed up on autotrader.ca when it did!

 

I'd stay away from former rental cars and repos if I were you. They may seem like killer deals but I just don't trust the condition. My dad once bought a used rental car way back, promptly regretted it in 2 months.

Edited November 24, 2014 by machoman1337

[lsherlockl]

Just as an update. I finally purchased a vehicle! yay 2014 fusion hybrid SE in sunset metallic pretty heavily loaded at that and so far I am amazed with this vehicle so far (just picked it up today) and averaged 41.9 on my 180 mi back from dealer in 5 degree weather i have never seen that before nor would expect it to be that easy to get good gas mileage. thanks for putting up with a million stupid questions I am a new happy owner!

[md13ffhguy]

Congrats to you! Just got home from a day trip in our 14 SE... Yes, this vehicle is quite remarkable. :)

 

Hope it warms up! ;)

[hybridbear]

Just as an update. I finally purchased a vehicle! yay 2014 fusion hybrid SE in sunset metallic pretty heavily loaded at that and so far I am amazed with this vehicle so far (just picked it up today) and averaged 41.9 on my 180 mi back from dealer in 5 degree weather i have never seen that before nor would expect it to be that easy to get good gas mileage. thanks for putting up with a million stupid questions I am a new happy owner!

Congrats!! Glad you found one!!