https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:11:48 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van/page/2#post-2227678 Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:59:31 +0000 MaryM 2227678@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would agree that unless you have the cash saved to buy a used car and pay in full, then it's probably smartest to buy new at the end of the year. </p> <p>My Civic died a few years ago and I bought a used toyota and got a really great price for it, but I ended up paying quite a bit in interest. </p> <p>It was sort of a blessing when I totaled that car two years later in January, because I was able to get a car that was two years newer (it was the previous model year at the time) AND maintain the same monthly payment and length of loan. Even though the car was a bit more expensive, I was approved for a 5 year loan instead of a 7 year one, and it was 0% interest because they wanted to get it off the lot. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van/page/2#post-2227670 Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:53:09 +0000 aegie 2227670@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pinata: cars have the best sales for memorial day and labor day. I would wait for the labor day sale where they want to clear out the current year's inventory for next year's inventory. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van/page/2#post-2227653 Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:37:22 +0000 AmandaB8 2227653@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We plan on buy December 31st. It's the last day for sales people to get their quotas for bonuses, so they're definitely willing to deal then. </p> <p>We also plan on getting a couple of different quotes on loan rates. We'll go with our bank and State farm. We're paying off a ton of debt by the end of the year, so we'll have better credit and more available funds in order to pay it. As long as we can keep the payment below $500 a month, we'll be good I think. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van/page/2#post-2226927 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 11:25:20 +0000 MsMini 2226927@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We don't have a minivan, but I have done well negotiating on our vehicles so far! We always buy 2-3 years old, which already helps the price a TON. </p> <p>My biggest tips:<br /> 1) Walk away, at least once or twice. Don't act desperate to have a certain vehicle! I have gotten the best price by dragging the buying over a few days<br /> 2) Be willing to sit there for a while and haggle. My car I got them to drop the price 8K and pay me 3K more for my trade in. That was done over 4 days of me going back and forth, with a marathon 4 hour negotiation session at the end.<br /> 3) Don't just talk to the sales person, my best deals have happened when I involved the owner of the dealership. I went and complained about his salesperson and threatened negative online reviews. He was much more willing to deal then.<br /> 4) Bring in a good, confirmed financing rate - they get a kickback when you finance through the dealership so they will be motivated to beat it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226906 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 10:04:17 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 2226906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: very rarely! My husband works crazy hours so he is hardly ever in the car with us. So usually if we have another passenger, they sit up front with me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226903 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 10:03:08 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 2226903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: you can lease a brand new honda odyssey for $250 a month! Not bad! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226850 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 07:12:45 +0000 dc yoga bee 2226850@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Rainbow Sprinkles: this is awesome. Do you ever have occasion where you need an adult to sit in the back though? We had family over for the 4th, and with just one car seat in the Cherokee, we couldn't fit two adults back there :bummed: . I was thinking *if* we have a second we could use a third row.</p> <p>@mediagirl: LOLLOLLOL. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226849 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 07:07:29 +0000 mrsrugbee 2226849@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We save a lot. 8% of DHs paycheck goes into the company share plan with a company match. We cashed in a couple of years worth of shares at a good price and paid for our 2013 Honda odyssey almost in full. It feels good! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226844 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 06:32:56 +0000 Mrs D 2226844@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pinata: so here in metro Detroit we are spoiled bc we can almost always find a way to get employee pricing...,however knowing what I know about car dealerships (dad owned one for 25 years and I now work for a supplier) here are my tips:</p> <p>1) shop at model year changes for a new car model (new cars come out in the fall so late summer they are usually trying to move vehicles to make room for their new inventory coming.<br /> 2) definitely check rates between banks and dealerships<br /> 3) if you are trading in do not tell them this until you have a price on the car you want - they usually will offer you a high trade in price and then jack up the car price to make up for it<br /> 4) most annoying one but sadly true...take a man with you. I do all the car shopping for dh and I but still I find I get farther when he tags along. They view women sadly as uneducated and easy to make a buck on (I'm generalizing - I know not every salesmen is this way) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226823 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 01:24:36 +0000 BSB 2226823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Rainbow Sprinkles: I love my CRV, too. I don't want to trade it in, if we end up getting pregnant after these twins arrive. Though, DH already offered to trade in his truck to a minivan if we have to. But after reading this thread, hopefully getting Diono Radian car seats will help prevent getting a minivan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226817 Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:34:47 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 2226817@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>.....which is why we are having 3 kids and keeping our Honda CRV. Diono Radians for the win! I told my husband I'm driving the CRV until it has 200k miles on it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226783 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 21:43:36 +0000 shellio 2226783@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We haven't done anything special to get ours but we did get 0% financing on a 2013 Sienna which we bought in fall of 2013. So that helps soften the blow of the monthly payment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226780 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 21:29:33 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2226780@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pinata: we found the Honda certified really wasn't worth it. We got good financing and a good deal on a new one that we couldn't get on a CPO. There just isn't as much negotiating room and financing deals on those. </p> <p>We did a five year loan i believe and it's a high monthly payment but my DHs car is paid off and we just paid off student loans. So having the one bigger car payment isn't too terrible for us. If we can we will pay a bit faster. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226740 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 19:31:50 +0000 StrawberryBee 2226740@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What do you consider to be a reasonable monthly payment? We recently traded in a 2010 crv for a 2015 odyssey. Got 1.9% financing and price matched to Costco pricing (I like our local dealership, so I offered them the opportunity for us to buy through them before going to the Costco affiliated dealership). 5 yr loan is $300/mo. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226696 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 18:08:29 +0000 simplyfelicity 2226696@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>CARMAX! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226690 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 18:03:10 +0000 regberadaisy 2226690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This post is so informative. It never occurred to me to find a lower rate elsewhere and borrow the money to pay for the car in cash! Doh.</p> <p>We're in the market for a family vehicle within the next 6 months and will definitely look into that. We won't be trading in because at that point we will be a two vehicle family. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226656 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 16:28:05 +0000 kjpugs 2226656@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were also shocked at how pricey minivans are. We didn't have a good trade in (got $1k for it!) but got financing through our bank (it was great) and bought a used Kia. I would suggest looking at #'s Honda would give you to trade in and also the price of what you'd want to buy and then obtain financing through your bank and see if that works for you. I find for used especially it's much more reasonable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226629 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 15:16:00 +0000 gingerbebe 2226629@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pinata: Your local dealership may rent vans from their fleet department - our Toyota dealer does - and our friends who have done it say it's way cheaper than a rental company. And there's probably a good reason - they ended up buying one after their second rental. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226573 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 13:17:09 +0000 Dandelion 2226573@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I bought my T&amp;C used. I love it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226569 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 13:10:48 +0000 Crisark 2226569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a 2010 and it had 29k miles and we pay less than $400 a month. Love love love our minivan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226563 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 13:00:14 +0000 Maysprout 2226563@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We got our van about 5 years ago from someone we knew with 90,000 miles on it. We keep an eye on it and have replaced a few things but it's still running really well.<br /> Renting occasionally is a great idea though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226539 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 11:59:09 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 2226539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pinata: I drove my 1998 Accord until we traded it in for our Honda Pilot in 2011. I think it had 210,000 miles on it! Hondas are the best. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226532 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 11:29:39 +0000 Mrs. Pinata 2226532@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>These are all such good ideas! The past 2 cars we have purchased were right at the end of the year and so we were able to get really good deals on them. :) We got our 2013 brand new CRV for less than $20,000 because we got it at the end of 2013. </p> <p>We would definitely drive it until it died. When we got our CR-V we sold my 1995 Honda Accord that I had driven for almost 10 years. :) </p> <p>I'm not wild about big monthly payments, so I think we just need to wait until we are in a spot that we won't need to do that. </p> <p>I think renting a van for long road trips is such a good idea until then! I never thought of that! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226466 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 08:50:23 +0000 Kimberlybee 2226466@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>While I was trying to get out of credit card debt, I only bought previously owned cars. Now that we don't have credit card debt, we buy new cars and get them financed at low rates. Some months we double up the payments so end up paying it off faster. We're in the market for a 2016 Oddysey but will buy around Feb or March of next year. We're already working with a sales guy. We like to shop around and compare different quotes. We make sure we're only paying 1 car note at a time though. My current SUV will be paid off in Dec. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226397 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 04:47:58 +0000 regberadaisy 2226397@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: :shocked: that's impressive negotiating skills! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226377 Sat, 04 Jul 2015 00:57:41 +0000 gingerbebe 2226377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We buy our cars 2-ish years old with cash for the most part and then drive them into the ground, but my mom's friends always lease their vans and SUVs on a 3 year plan, and then turn around and buy them from the dealer at the end of the lease. The idea is that they get a brand new vehicle but a cheaper payment (you usually don't need to put as much down on a lease and the payments are smaller) and then at the end of the lease you end up financing the depreciated value of the car on 5 or 6 year plan, which keeps the payments manageable still. That doesn't strike me as a great idea, especially since you're making payments for like 8 or 9 years, but I guess if you get a very good new Japanese SUV or van they can last 10-12 years and still hold a decent value if you want to sell it or trade it in on another car. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226349 Fri, 03 Jul 2015 22:42:22 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 2226349@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought a used odyssey with about 24k miles on it. We traded in our old car, did not have payments on our other car, and financed it at a low interest rate. My husband also spent 4 hours aggressively negotiating at the dealership. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226339 Fri, 03 Jul 2015 22:17:26 +0000 mediagirl 2226339@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The people I know who have vans have big ugly monthly payments that they can hardly afford or they lease. The people who lease can't afford the van. They just pretend they can. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226316 Fri, 03 Jul 2015 21:18:37 +0000 keepcalmcarrie 2226316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Large-ish monthly payment for 5 years, on a new 2015 Odyssey. Hondas last forever - my parents drove their 2001 Odyssey until 2012. I'm planning to use this minivan to get me through the infant/toddler/young childhood period (10 years maybe?) It's an investment ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/seriously-how-do-you-afford-a-van#post-2226312 Fri, 03 Jul 2015 21:16:23 +0000 yoursilverlining 2226312@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>There is/can be good financing rates and deals for used cars. I just bought a used Lexus RX SUV and got 0.9% financing through Lexus. My credit Union offered me 2% and I told Lexus and the dealer said he would beat it. I also got them to throw in a free set of snow tires, so you can also negotiate for stuff that can save you down the line too, on top of sale price and financing. I bought a certified Lexus, which included the extended warranty at no additional cost. I'm not sure if the Honda extended warranty costs extra on certified vehicles - my Toyota one did 8 years ago when I last bought. </p> <p>Research, research, research. Figure out what you want, what you would like, and be prepared to wait in case the right vehicle doesn't come along right away. I've heard shopping at the end of the month helps too. </p>