Used van advice please

[glatt]

I think my wife and I may have come to the conclusion that we want to buy a used mini-van. We've been kicking the idea around for a few years and are more serious than ever before. We have two kids. What do we buy?

It's an unusual situation for me, because we don't NEED a mini-van. We have been making do with our Geo Prizm. But there are times that we could use one. Relatives visit, we go on road trips, etc. I'm cheap. Mini-vans use a lot more gas than our Prizm. And they cost an arm and a leg when you buy them new.

When we were researching renting a minivan to drive up to Maine this summer, we found most were going to cost almost $1000 for the two weeks. I don't feel like throwing $1000 away on a rental. That's when I thought that buying a cheap used minivan might be the ticket.

I think we would only drive about 2K miles a year in a minivan if we got one. It would sit in our driveway for a month or so at a time, and then be driven across town when guests are here or will be taken on the highway for a few hours. Every year or two we will take a mutiple day road trip with it.

I guess my question is if you can let a car sit for a month at a time in between drives without it dying on you? If I buy a van with say 120K miles on it, can I expect it to last another 20K miles when it is being driven once a month? Where can I find a nice resource that will tell me about how to buy a used vehicle, and ranks used minivans? I've never bought a used car before, and don't know how to go about doing it. I've seen a wide range of prices in the paper for various models with various miles on them. Is a Toyota with 120K really worth the $4k price when you can get a Chrysler with 120K for half that?

Basically I'm looking for something that's cheap, big (7 passenger), and won't strand my family on a higway somewhere. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[lookout123]

Is a Toyota with 120K really worth the $4k price when you can get a Chrysler with 120K for half that?

yes. that is when you will really notice the difference between toyota and some of the other brands. anything that is new and shiny should drive well and require only routing maintenance. it is the 100+ mileage performance that has given toyota it's reputation.

that being said, i don't think i would buy a vehicle that will be used as little as you are suggesting. the more a vehicle sits, the more things will go wrong, seals will leak, etc. simply from lack of use.

if you really don't need or want to own another vehicle the rental route will be more cost effective overall. it is more expensive per day, but in the long haul it is cheaper. with owning you have the purchase price, insurance, maintenance, tags, and if it is old you run the risk of ruining your vacation with a breakdown. in renting you only have the rental cost, end of story.

you can also negotiate the rental costs. the national chains don't have set pricing for rentals. they charge what they think they can get. but they have set, discount pricing agreements with local dealerships and mechanics for their clients. example: during peak vacation times here in phoenix the daily rate for an expedition/tahoe was $95-125/daily if you just called the rental office. i called up and explained my vehicle was in XYZ dealership and i needed a rental. Bingo: $45/daily. i took my vehicle to the dealershp for an oilchange - $26 one time charge that i had to pay anyway and i drove someone else's brand new Tahoe for the week.

[lumberjim]

vw microbus

[LabRat]

a week for an oil change? jeeze, i thought firestone was ripping me off...

[glatt]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

vw microbus

Beautiful. I have a very fond place in my heart for the VW bus. My family had two of them in a row as I was growing up. I learned how to drive on one. We drove across the country and back 3-4 times in them. They are a blast. I also remember that when we had it outfitted as a camper it was pretty comfortable to sleep in when my dad was trying to fix it as we were broken down by the side of the road. Happened more than once. At least you could fix them with a swiss army knife and some baling wire. True story.

[lookout123]

Originally Posted by LabRat

a week for an oil change? jeeze, i thought firestone was ripping me off...

i'm pretty sure that is sarcasm, but if not... no it didn't take a week for the oilchange.

A) i needed a large SUV for a week
B) i don't like to lie
C) i needed an oil change anyway.

i took my truck in for an oilchange. i told enterprise my vehicle was at XYZ dealership for service. i got major price break due to dealership negotiated price structure. i didn't have to lie about anything.

[zippyt]

If you rent go with Enterprise , we have tryed them all , we try to go to Fla every few years and I have to go to tech schools every now and then , Enterprise has NEVER fucked us with any of those " oh by the way " charges , hell they even stayed open late just because we had a wreck and needed wheels ( got to LOVE that insurance rental car rider , you NEVER know when it will come in handy ),( oh and they didn't have any thing in our insurance price range when we had the wreck so they gave us what they had on hand , insted of a sub-compact we got a Mits Montero sport for a week, and didn't charge us a penny more )

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by glatt

I also remember that when we had it outfitted as a camper it was pretty comfortable to sleep in when my dad was trying to fix it as we were broken down by the side of the road. Happened more than once. At least you could fix them with a swiss army knife and some baling wire. True story.

Yes sir, easy to fix, EVERY TIME, beside the road, a million miles from home, in the desert, or the swamp, with mosquitos, and gators, and snakes, and Jason.
I think I'd rather have something that will travel more than 60mph without burning the valves when making long trips. Oh, and something that will make long trips.
Also, I'd prefer not to be mistaken for a Dead Head or Jesus Freak.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think my wife and I may have come to the conclusion that we want to buy a used mini-van. We've been kicking the idea around for a few years and are more serious than ever before. We have two kids. What do we buy?

Consumer Reports April issue is devoted totally to automobiles. No advertisements means they can and will be blunt honest. Especially important is the list of best used vehciles by model and year - and the worst used vehicles. Yes, they will list the worst 15% models to avoid by years.

Once you see a model, then the reliability for that model, for that year, by vehicle sub-systems is found in charts of black (bad) and red (good) circles.

BTW, this issue tends to be a most stolen periodical in public and university libraries.

[Perry Winkle]

I drive a 1995 Toyota Avalon -- it's got 200k miles on it I expect it will keep going for quite a few more years. It's never had any major work done; just religous maintenance. I wouldn't hesitate to drive it across the country at the drop of a hat.

Damn fine quality.

My parents used to have a Sienna Mini-van and loved it. They returned it when the lease ran out and bought a Nissan (Quest?) and they absolutely hate the thing. It has tons of niggling problems. It's only 2-3 months old and it's been in the shop 4-5 times for non maintenance related problems.

[Clodfobble]

We have a 2003 Mazda MPV, currently with about 40,000 miles, and we love it. The seats fold down into the floor practically like magic--it only takes one hand to manipulate them. Now I think Chevy has picked up on the whole collapsible seat design, but when we bought the Mazda they were the only ones who had that feature. It's had no warranty issues in over two years.

[lookout123]

nice thing about enterprise is that EVERY SINGLE imployee is management or management trainee(sounds twisted, i know) so EVERY SINGLE one has absolute authority to waive ANY part of your bill that makes you unhappy. they are not allowed to let a customer leave until the customer is happy enough to say they will come back.

i know one individual who was at his 2nd day on the job. he had a PO'd client at the desk and it was really busy and he was flustered. he called the manager who was out, and told him the situation. the client had @$1000 bill and thought it was @$800 higher than they should have to pay even though they knew what it would be before they took the car. the manager's response was, "is the customer smiling? no? you don't have to call me with things like this - how mad is the customer? really? waive everything but a dollar. if they still aren't smiling - give them the dollar and tell them to have a nice day and please come again." end of conversation.

[BrianR]

Where is this lookout? I'd like to see a place that will waive a $1000 repair bill because the customer isn't smiling. I almost NEVER smile and so I should take my car there.

Brian

[lookout123]

not the repair shop. Enterprise rent-a-car.