DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will offer new customers up to six months of payment relief when they finance through Ford Credit under a new program aimed at sparking sales during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The automaker on Thursday said it would cover three months’ worth of payments and let buyers defer an additional three months on all new 2019 and 2020 model-year vehicles except 2020 Super Duty pickups.
Additionally, Ford said it would provide undisclosed payments and “additional awards” to dealerships that deliver vehicles to customers instead of asking them to come into showrooms in March and April. It was not immediately clear how much the dealer payments would be.
Ford said more than three-quarters of its retail network can work with customers on remote vehicle delivery for sales and service. It has developed a new disinfecting procedure for dealers delivering new and loaner vehicles, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our dealers are incredibly connected to their communities,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of North America, said in a statement. “They’re willing to lend a hand by doing whatever it takes to help our customers in this time of need.”
The new financial relief program, called “Built to Lend a Hand,” is in addition to a program Ford Credit announced Monday that allows existing customers to defer payments. As part of the program, Ford pulled all national advertising to focus on two spots about the relief program.
General Motors also is providing relief to dealers.
GM Financial earlier this week said it is temporarily waiving curtailments, which is the principal a dealer owes to pay down floorplan inventory that sits on the lot longer than most vehicles, including demo cars and loaners. Dealers can get a waiver to keep that inventory but delay payments for 90 days.
General Motors’ captive also has guaranteed that dealer dividend payments, which are based on retail loan penetration and other factors, will be consistent with the previous month.
