- under the newly announced ford promise program, ford will buy back a customer's vehicle if they lose their job involuntarily within a year after buying a new, used, or certified pre-owned vehicle.
- the coverage is for any 2019 to 2021 model year vehicle financed through ford credit for personal use.
- hyundai and genesis unveiled a similar program in march for their customers.
ford’s latest financial program, called ford promise, hopes to assuage fears over not being able to make car payments in the event of involuntary job loss, and it couldn’t come at a better time for many consumers.
ford's program will let customers return a vehicle up to one year after buying it if they lose their jobs. the deal applies to 2019 through 2021 models of cars and trucks purchased through ford credit and is good for new, used, or certified pre-owned (cpo) vehicles. it also only applies to vehicles purchased for personal use, and the customer becomes eligible 30 days after purchase.
here's how the buyback works: ford will start with the national automobile dealers association (nada) average trade-in value, reduce the customer's balance owed by that amount, and waive up to $15,000 beyond that. if there's a balance left when that's added up, the customer will be responsible for paying it, along with any late or deferred payments still due and any damage the vehicle has incurred. then the account is marked paid and closed.
ford marketing, sales, and service vice president mark laneve commented: "people want things to be back to normal, they want to buy, but they're still a little nervous about what the future holds." the automaker cited recent research from cox automotive that 32 percent of potential car buyers are delaying automotive purchases because of market uncertainty and fears of future unemployment.
this isn’t the first covid-19-related car assistance program out there, nor is it the first from ford; in the last recession of 2008–2009, it offered a ford credit support program that allowed eligible new-car customers in the u.s. to defer payments for up to 90 days. hyundai and genesis restarted a similar program a few months ago that they first created during that same recession, and it covers job loss and allows for deferred payments. let's hope few people need these programs, but it's good to know that they are out there.