BMW Financial Crafts EV Option to Share Federal Rebate

BMW Financial Services has a new retail balloon product for customers looking to get into an i3, BMW’s new electric car offering. The product is called Owner’s Choice with Flex, and it enables customers looking to take advantage of a $7,500 federal tax credit available to owners of plug-in cars.

The problem is that to claim the tax credit, customers must be listed as the owner on the title; in typical leases, the financier is listed on the title. As such, the Owner’s Choice with Flex product increases the final balloon payment by up to $7,500 ― resulting in lower monthly payments ― which can be repaid throughout the loan term or at the end of the term. After three years, consumers have the same options they’d have in a lease ― buy out the car, trade for another BMW, or return the vehicle and walk away.

Owner’s Choice with Flex is offered in 45 states, and though Michael Van Bemmel, the captive’s general manager of sales operations and marketing, said he’d “never say never,” there are currently no plans to offer it for buyers of other cars.