Hello people.I am an employee at a Lear plant that qualifies for the X-Plan. I already have my X-plan PIN and am anxiously waiting to use it on a black or Sonic blue 2005 V-6 coupe with a 5-speed. My dream car would be a Black car with the red interior, but the Black, Both blues, Mineral grey, or silver will be fine...as long as it's a 5-speed. I am a blue-collar assembly worker, but I am going to tap into my 401k and borrow $4,500 from myself to add to the X-Plan price and hopeful $2,500 rebate to get my first new car at the ripe age of 34. Kevin (or anyone who really knows), can you help walk me through the process to order my dream car? I live in Covington, va. , but am willing to travel within 100 miles or so to get the best deal. I have been pre-approved by my Credit Union for the loan, and I should have the $4,500 down payment around the last week of July. I can put $100- 200 down if needed though. Thank you for all the previous info, and please help. Chris

 

Does anybody know if there was any orders accepted by the plant from the dealers? THIS IS WEEK 24

 

O.K., I live in Tennessee but was born & raised in Michigan & I agree with the ya'all thing, you can say it but why would you type it? Not sure if it's an age thing or a Southern thing. Anyways, I would hate to ramble on as it seems to bother the guys on the forum so.... On June 14th I went to my dealer & told him what I wanted. Satin Silver GT, Interior upgrade, Shaker 500 etc. he drove my 2000 Mustang that I am trading & he said he would have a price the next day. I knew that wasn't gonna happen as pricing isn't available. So will it be July or September for this info?

Hope I didn't use to many coma's for you guys. That's Yankee for ya'all

 

Well you can forget about the rebate and why would you take from the 401k to put $4500 down? I would think that some dealers will have no problem with you using and x-plan, but its hard to say weather Ford will have an x-plan eligibility in the first few months I would go to a dealer, try to get one to agree to order with x-plan pricing, and put 1k down.

 

Borrowing from my 401k helps me two-fold.I am paying back myself with interest,plus the money is non taxable income.I only make about $25k a year and I have a house payment and another $300 car payment, so I would be looking at an '06 if I had to save a decent down payment.If I put a nice pile of cash down, then I dont have to finance much and can live with the payment.

 

taking money from your retirement fund (401k) while you are still employed is a taxable withdrawal, WITH a 10 % penalty...i could be wrong on the penalty but i'm pretty sure about the tax aspect on the withdrawal...definitely call your plan administrator BEFORE you take any money out of the 401k. jack 90seville 94k

 

You can borrow against the 401k without penalty. You must pay it back, however. I don't know when you need to start paying back, but, assuming right away, you need to factor that into your payment. I believe there is an interest rate at which you pay back.

Personally, I wouldn't touch the 401. It is a mistake. That money will be important downt he road. IF you can't afford the car, don't buy it. Wait until you can.

 

I've borrowed against my 401K. No money actually comes out. You're only borrowing against it. The interest goes back into the fund. The rate is 4.5% and my employer deducts the payment from paycheck so I never have to worry about. I've used it to rid myself of high interest credit cards. It's not a bad deal really.

 

With the stock market going like a roller coaster and big businesses laundering funds from 401k's you don't have much security that you'll have your money later on. I've raised two kids and often done without for them and to please my wife, so I think I deserve one bit of happiness in my life. If I waited to afford this thing by saving, I'd still be driving a subaru making the japanese richer and not helping the good old USA.

 

lostsoulmusic: go for it...i understand completely and i stand corrected regarding a loan against a 401k...enjoy your new mustang...i remember back in 1970 when i got my mach 1 with the 351 cleveland and the shaker hood...i loved that ride. jackg 90seville 94k

 

Borrowing against 401k...done it before, and plan to do it again. No penalties and no tax payments...as long as you pay it back. And with the auto deduction, it's not a problem. Sure you'll be driving your retirement around, and you'll protect your car/retirement. Only negative is that if some clunker bangs into you...you'll probably KILL him. :flame2:

 

You guys are missing something. When you borrow against your 401K you are correct that you have to pay back the loan with interest. But, the interest comes out of your pocket.

If you leave your money in your 401K, someone else is paying you interest (or dividends or capital gains). So essentially paying yourself interest is a net loss over someone else paying you interest.

 

In my case it was either pay high interest to credit card companies or pay a much lower interest rate to myself. I chose the latter for obvious reasons. Also, in my 401K plan, I'm not taking money out, I'm merely borrowing with the 401K as collateral. My 401K money is still earning interest.

 

The remainder you don't borrow is earning intrest still, right?

-Borrowed a 1/3 of mine for my new home to keep PMI down. Now my home is up $40k, so long PMI... and with employer contributions(match upto $1,000) + lower family health care cost I can pay off the 4yr loan faster. -Helps while the Economy is doing well
For me, everything will even out since ther are only 2 more cars to buy on my list... My 05 GT will stay as long as it runs, which will only be maybe 5k annually

 

Thnx for the understanding guys.This is my first new car and it's a Mustang! My father told me once before I started driving, "Get what you really want, or you'll never be satisfied". He was so true.I've had over 40 cars since i got my license in 1986, and I've never been truly satisfied. Back then, i wanted a cool '65-70 Stang.Now I'll get the great old school looks with y2k technology...and a warranty.Plus I'll know noone else has ragged the car out. I'm having my credit union automatically take the payment out each month, so there's no worry about being late. I will protect this car with my life.

 

Those that know how this works (read: Kevin):

I just talked with my dealer, and he says he looked online at my order and no VIN is posted. Does this mean Ford didn't schedule it on the 17th? And does that in turn mean that I can expect to see the car sometime in the middle of winter instead of October?

Dave

 

Not necessarily, VIN's are not generated untill just before production starts(i.e a couple DAYS if not the day that actual vehicle is being produced). The dealer SHOULD have some printout that shows the order # you can track with the dealer.

 

So if I understand you correctly, there is really no way to tell whether or not Ford has scheduled the car for production until they put a date in the ETA field? So much talk about VIN numbers, and some people who think they already have real VIN numbers, I am confused now... If my car isn't going to be part of the initial batch, and will be delayed a few months, I will probably cancel the pre-order and wait until Spring before picking one up. I wish I knew more about how this is going to work -- my dealer is really nice, but the salesman is not helpful (he has never done a Ford order, so he has to relay my questions to his boss, and it takes a long time to get an answer).

Dave

 

Not having a VIN means nothing. None of them will untill September. As long as its in the order bank in order before they run out of their alottment you should get it.

 

Kevin, all those ppl out here who have already gotten their VIN's ... don't really have them ? I am so confused.