rebate questions
 

I'm about to purchase a '05 rx8 mt tomorrow and I had a few questions which I was hoping I could get a definitive answer for. I tried searching but I'm not really confident in the answers I found.

1. Can I use the ford college student $500 rebate on the 8 or not?
2. Can I use the zoom-zoom $500 rebate after I've purchased the car? (I'm going to an event NEXT week)
3. The $1000 MAC rebate. Is it really worth it, considering the interest I end up paying, even if I pay off the loan as soon as possible? My dealer is saying $7000 minimum loan and I can pay it off after the 6th month. But it seems like the interest I pay for borrowing 7K is > $1000? I'm not really sure how to calculate this..

2. No. you need the coupon before you buy, as far as I know. Considering this was a week ago, I assume you have it now ;-)
3. Yes, it's worth it. You can also pay if off after the first month. They try to tell you that you have to wait, but on the documents I signed, it stated clearly there are no pre-payment penalties. Others I know have paid off in the first month with no consequences (aside from a lower interest rate). Here's an amortization calculator, http://ray.met.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/amortize . In your case, $7k at 9% (a typical MAC loan rate) on a 60 month loan, runs about $350 in interest after 6 months. I really think he's blow smoke by saying you have to wait 6 months though.

Good luck..