No actually we are in PA. But it seems as tho ford dealerships are closing
everywhere.

Be careful! When I bought my 2002 Mountaineer at the end of the lease
they actually tried to charge me a lot MORE than the lease contract
residual amount. I had bought out a lease on another car before, a
Misutbishi and I expected the process to be similar. For the Mitsubishi,
I called Mitsubishi Motor Credit to confirm the amount (which was the
same as the residual in the lease), sent them a check for the agreed upon
amount in the lease, plus tax, and they sent me the pink slip. Simple,
clean, that's all there was too it. When I went to buy the Ford out, it
was a whole other deal and basically a scam. Ford Motor Credit requires
that you go to the dealer to do the buy out (I don't know what happens
when the selling dealer is no longer there, but my guess is they will
send you to another dealer). I asked several times why I couldn't just
send them a check and they insisted I had to go to the dealer. When I did
this, it became obvious that the reason for this requirement is so the
dealer can try to lease you a new car (they have no desire to sell you
the old car), or barring that, to make some money off the deal.

So when I got to the dealer, the "credit" manager had me filling out what
seemed like an awlful lot of paper work. After a while I started asking
questions, especially when he asked for a check that was more than the
residual amount in the lease, even accounting for sales tax.  It seems
that the transaction was arranged as me turning the car in after the
lease, the dealer buying from Ford Motor Credit and then reselling it to
me! All totally unnecessary. All this work increased the DMV fees
considerably and the paper work that needed to be filled out. Then on top
of that, the dealer added a $1000 premium to the lease contract residual
amount! If you read the lease, that's the amount I'm guaranteed to be
able to buy it at, at the end of the lease. When I told the dealer to
stuff it, they protested that they were doing all of this work (paper
work, DMV filing service etc.), and shouldn't have to do it for free. Now
mind you, the general manager of this dealer is a friend of mine (that's
why I got the car there in the first place). He came into the office with
the so-called credit manager (the credit managers are salesmen in
disguise and are responsible for most of a dealer's profit margin). They
knocked the premium for all of their "work" down to a few hundred bucks,
plus the extra DMV fees. At this point I was so disgusted with the
process and because I didn't want to tell my "friend" to f*ck off to his
face, I paid the lowered ransom amount.

Of course it didn't stop there. The credit manager then tried to sell me
a third party warranty. I took the information and told him I would let
him know. Of course when I read the policy carefully and also researched
on the web on how these guys opperate, I declined. I also declined the
Lojack and a few other do-dads they tried to sell me.

I thouhgt about contacting one of those class action lawyers about this
obvious fradulent practice of Ford Motor Credit forcing you to the dealer  
so they can charge you more than the agreed amount. Maybe I still should,
although it happend a couple of years ago. I'm sure it's still going on.
So word to the wise: watch your wallet when you're buying out a Ford
Motor Credit lease. Let them and the dealer know in advance in writing,
that you will not be paying a penny more than the residual amount in the
lease.