We are planning to buy a minivan within a year. There are a few reasons for it. First is that our 19-year old Saturn is on its last leg. It really is. It has and electrical problem that will cost about $2000 to fix. And the car itself is worth about $500-700 right now. So we are not fixing it. Second is that we want another child. We have two amazing boys. But we want to try for a girl. And if we have another boy, well, that's plenty of boys for us :) The third and ,probably, the most important is lack of seats in our current car for those times when my parents or friends are in town. In February, when my parents were here, we used both of our cars to go places but again one of them was our Saturn.
We would love to buy with cash. I know, we are ambitious! We will definitely buy used. Probably, about 4-5 years old with low mileage on it. We don't need any bells and whistles. What we need is a reliable car with easy maintenance. My husband is not very handy with cars but my BIL is, and he always helps us with little repairs. And for bigger stuff we have a friend who has his own shop. He's extremely honest and charges very reasonably.
Right now we settled our minds on Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna. The problem is we don't know much about buying a car. We checked our credit score (and it's good...phew) but we hope we would not need to finance anything. We know about Carfax and plan to have about $1000/year saved for possible repairs on an older car.
But what else should we keep in mind? Taxes, fees? What should we avoid? Or should we look at other brands-KIA, Nissan? We know very little about them. Right now we owe a 2005 Toyota Corolla. We got it almost new, and in the last 6 years we barely had any problems with it (knock on wood...). Hubby uses it for work, and he travels a lot. And so far I love everything about our little Corolla. That's one of the reasons why we trust Toyotas. And Hondas are about the same (and their minivans even look a little fancier, I think :)
Well, any advice is greatly appreciated!!
We bought a Toyota Sienna last year, ours is a 2005. I love it! I have always had Toyotas and they seem to last forever and cost little in terms of maintance. Sounds like you are thinking about all the right things. We traded in a Camery when we bought it and that helped a lot with the cost. We were able to buy the minivan outright and having a car to trade in really helped. Good luck, but as long as you know what you want and stick to it once there, I am sure you will be fine!
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear! It's nice to hear from somebody with an experience with Toyota minivans!
DeleteI don't drive, so have absolutely NO idea about vehicles, but good luck saving up for it!! :) I think it's a great choice!
ReplyDeleteOh Carla, it would be so nice if we didn't have a need for a car! But here it's almost impossible to get anywhere without one. In Russia I could use public transportation all the time but here it would take Hubby 2.5 hours to get to his office! and that's on a good day.
DeleteWe only buy American so I don't know about Toyota but we do only pay cash for a car. Here is what we have run into. I tell the dealer what I am willing to pay, it takes time but worth it, a few times after they have agreed to the price they start adding, tax, transfer fee's and such. A deal is a deal so we walk away, they always call back before we even get home to come back with the check the car is ours. Another thing DON"T finace from the dealer, in the long run it will cost you more IMO. Work it out with your bank or credit union before hand so you know what they will lend you and the monthly payment. Good luck on your car search!!
ReplyDeleteOh, we'll NEVER finance with a dealer!! We did secret shopping a couple of months ago at the dealership, and their rates are outrageous!!
DeleteSeems like a lot of people are also working on buying or buying a car! That's really neat, especially since you're planning early. This recent post came to mind: http://mintingnickels.com/2012/04/buying-used-car/
ReplyDeleteDefinitely shop around and start saving. For cars that big, also consider the gas mileage and the impact that would have on your budget.
yeah, we absolutely think about gas mileage. It's going to be my car but I'm not going to go places a lot when we have three kids :) And thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
DeleteHere in the UK for a small fee you can check the VIN number to ensure the car is not stolen and has not been involved in an accident if buying privately.
ReplyDeleteI would always buy a second hand car privately as it is always a £100s cheaper, but only if you take someone who can give it a good going over - BIL / friend perhaps?
It's hard to find a lower mileage minivan privately but we will definitely have my BIL with us when it's time to actually buy for us.
DeleteThere is a lot of information out there on car buying in the PF world. Ninja recently bought an suv and he had some great negotiating tips.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.punchdebtintheface.com/2012/04/bought-carkind.html
http://www.punchdebtintheface.com/2012/04/bought-car.html
Judy also bought a car not long ago. I can't pinpoint many more articles right now but if I find anymore I'll past them off to you. Don't be afraid to email any of the bloggers who you know have bought a car recently to ask for tips.
You could also just search most of the blogs for car buying tips.
You are off to a good start wanting to pay cash.