Things to consider before you buy a used Ford Focus Electric.
Since a few used FFE are now for sale, here are a couple of things to consider.
I would highly recomend only buying from a Ford dealership!
Is the remaining warranty transferable to the new owner?
3 year 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty
5 year 60,000 mile power train warranty
8 year 100,000 mile 23kwh high voltage battery warranty
Tax credits and other government incentives you most likely will not be able to use.
The federal government is offering $7500 tax credit that reduces your tax liability. Some states are offering up to $2500 in state incentives. Since this only good for new car purchases you will not be able to use the credit. The federal government tracks this by the VIN number of the car. So a possible $7500 to $10,000 government incentive when buying a new Focus Electric does a lot to reduce the price. It is important to note the tax credit will not, under any circumstances, exceed your tax liability. This means you can’t use the credit to generate a tax refund. In other words, if after preparing your taxes, you find you owe the government $7,500, and you bought a suitably qualifying vehicle in 2012, you’re in luck; your tax bill will be reduced to zero. (Taxable income can be found in IRS 1040 form line 44 TAX) You will need to file form 8936 to take the federal tax credit.
However, if you owe say, $2,500, that $2,500 will be the total amount of your tax credit and your tax bill will be reduced to zero. The government isn’t going to then turn around and refund you the other $5,000. Similarly, if you owe no taxes at all, you won’t get the electric car tax credit, nor will you be permitted to roll it, (or as in the scenario above, the $5,000 “balance”) into your potential 2013 tax liability.
Nice post. It will be interesting to see how used FFEs get priced. We have had ours a month and have a 3 year lease. If it keeps running like it has so far we will want to buy it after the lease. But it would have to be priced no where near the price it is carried on in the lease agreement. We would just get a new one rather than pay the residual lease price. I juat have to assume the federal/state incentives and manufacturer and dealer promotions that reduced the selling/lease price would have to reduce the resale value of the FFEs.
Your tax liability is ruduced by the with holdings found in box 2 of your W-2.
Example:
If for example your tax on line 44 is $8000, with holdings are $9000, and you take the full $7500 tax credit. Your refund will be about $8500.
$9000 - ($8000 - $7500) = $8500
If for example your tax on line 44 is $7000, with holdings are $7300, and you take the full $7500 tax credit. Your refund will be about $7300.
$7300 - ($7000 - $7500) = $7300
Note: Do the math in the brackets first. If you end up with a negative number, then change the negative number to zero. The IRS doen't allow negative tax.
Well these things are really considerable before you buy some new car.. because mostly people ignore these little things to ask.. Thanks for mention them I think this post will helpful for all the people who have to buy the new FFE. Good sharing.
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