Advice About Buying a Used Van

I had a 2 yr old and was pregnant with triplets when we went shopping for a BIG van that would accommodate 4 carseats. My advice is to take the carseats with you when you shop even if you don't have the kids along. You would be amazed at how many vehicles don't work with them! Good luck.

L. Kelley

We just did the same thing... upgraded from a car to a mini-van with our 4th child. We bought a used Toyota Sienna ('06 with about 23,000 miles) for $21,000. We specifically wanted an 8-seater (one additional seat in the middle row that comes out). I believe only Honda and Toyota have those models, but both are great vans and will last forever. We looked online and negotiated that way since shopping with little ones is a nightmare. There are also car brokers who shop for you from auctions and other dealers. You set your price and his commission is already worked in. I have a couple names if you need one.

I cannot overstress the importance of buying a van with a "stow and go" feature. We bought a demo at Southtown Dodge and were pleased with the deal. We looked at Hondas, Toyatas, Fords, but we are happy with the Dodge Caravan.

B.

Look at edmunds.com and kbb.com (kelly blue book). They can both give you an idea of what is available in your price range and Edmunds has great reviews of vehicles. We recently traded in our Honda Accord on a Ford Windstar and have been very happy with it, although it has a pretty noisy engine. The Honda Odyssey has some of the best reviews for a used van, but they are also the priciest. You may also want to buy your husband the book my husband received when we got our new ride: How to Look Manly in a Minivan. It's hilarious! Good luck in your search.

A. we also have 3 kids, all in car seats, so we finally broke down and bought a mini van last year. We bought a 2006 Kia Sedona, we purchased a new one, the price for a new vs used was not that dramatially different. We have been really happy with it, no bells and whistles just highly functional.

A.,

My husband and I bought a used Honda Odyssey last year and have been really pleased with it. Its very roomy and gets decent gas mileage to boot. We bought a '95 with 100,000 miles for $7,000 (but this was in California where we were living at the time).

Hope that helps!

-A.

A.,
My husband and I just bought a used van about a year ago. I spent a good 3 months researching different vans, specs, cost, etc. We had NO money to work with, just a really old Toyota Corrolla with 225,000 miles on it. One site I really liked was www.howstuffworks.com. It was very thorough. Actually I look to that site before making any major purchase. I looked through ads and cars.com and carsoup.com. Price was the most important thing. I test drove a Honda Odessey, a Toyota, Pontiac, Mazda, Chrysler and Dodge. I really liked the Chrysler. I loved the stow and go seating and all the space. It handled just like a car. I was very partial to the Toyota because, quite clearly, my Toyota lasted forever, but I couldn't afford it. We prayed about it and it seemed best that we should find the car with the lowest miles with the best price with NO bells and whistles. One day I came across a van located 2 hours from our house. It had 14,000 miles and was only $12,900. It was a rental. It was 2 years old. The bonus was that it had stow and go, a CD and cassette, tri-climate control, 60/40 split rear seating and individual seating in the 2nd row. It had way more options than we were even looking for. We got a loan from the bank to cover everything. We drove the little Toyota all the way out there. They actually gave us $300 for it, which brought the price down. We've been very pleased with it. We are trying to pay it off sooner than later, though. Since it was already 2 years old, we want to have it payed off asap. We are not expecting to keep it longer than the 5 years it takes to pay it off, but if it's still in good condition, then great. By the way, we bought a 2005 Dodge Caravan. Be careful in your research becuase there are so many slight differences in models. It probably won't survive like the Toyota or Honda, but like I said, cost was the most important thing and the 2005 Caravan got good reviews. All the Toyotas and Hondas with the mileage of the Dodge were at least 2x the money. The ones we could afford had over 100,000 miles on them. By the time we paid it off, the car would be in a junk yard. We looked at other Caravans at the local dealerships, but they were about $6,000 more. It really paid to look outside of town and into the little dealerships out in the middle of nowhere.
Hope this helps.
S.

We bit the bullet in 2002 and bought a Honda Odyssey. It was expensive but my husband had done all the investigating and found that it really was the best for leg room, maintenance, safety, etc. Maybe you could find a fairly new, used. I really didn't want to fit into the soccer mom role but I have fell in love with my van. We had a vew problems with it but typically the service we get at the dealership is wonderful.

if you purchase a toyota sienna make sure the passenger side front is electric 6 way,2005 or later, or you may have to make a bit of a passenger side seat modification with a cushion that tilts your weight back.. The air bag on the passenger side plus the glove boxes encroach on the passenger leg room. Also without this feature, your passenger ride feels a little top heavy as though the center of gravity is off..40 years of car buying says You cannot go wrong with toyota, but they like higher grade fuel for best mileage. Those sliding back doors are a dream. Our seats flip over and tether up for extra rear storage and the back 3rd seat which goes in and out of the floorboard is power assist which is a must if you aren't built like AWWWNOLD. I'd buy my 2004 again over any domestic model.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car sells their vehicles, which have been well maintained and have low mileage.

I was a single mom/g-ma looking for a new van. A lot of dealers were not very, shall I say eager to do busy with me. I ended up at South County Dodge on Lindberg across from South County Mall. The owner is Karen Cunningham, but the sales person was someone name Frank, can't think of his last name, he was very courteous, knowledgable, made some very good suggestions. I did not feel pressured or taken for granted. Since then, I have returned for routine maintenance and I am truly impressed with their customer service. Very, Very, Very Customer Friendly and Centered. While I was buying new, I would strongly recommend them even for a previously owned van. Can't say enough good about them!

I ended up with a Dodge Grand Caravan, and again, I can't say enough good about it also. I am extremely satisfied!