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That is literally how my financing of the LEAF went with NMAC (Nissan finance arm). There was an ~$1000 incentive from NMAC iff I financed through them at 0% for 36, 48, or 60 months.

Uh, OK. I checked the paperwork carefully and it was mathematically as-stated.

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I'd balk at the claim, but, as above, it's consistent with the other reports.

Did you find evidence of the hypothesis that it's a kind a "tripwire" to get you to accidentally miss a month and trigger enormous penalties?

No evidence of that and in fact, one of my first payments was late as I was setting up auto-billing and there was nothing more than a letter in the mail reminding me.

I'm still baffled as to why/how they decide to run programs like this. Maybe it gets them information about when I contemplate selling the car (as I'd maybe have to ask the payoff amount)?

They could potentially come out ahead, if the small loss on the financial asset is less than the margin on the MSRP of a sold vehicle, vs nilch on an unsold one.

When it comes to PHEV and electrics there are sometimes other factors at play as well. Sometimes these vehicles are used as a source of carbon credits and sometimes they're used by a manufacturer to offset their less fuel efficient cars in order to comply with various fuel economy regulations.

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