Car Shopping

Intro 

As I mentioned in last Friday's entry, I am in need of a new car.  And by "new" I mean "new to me" because I somehow don't see myself ponying up $40,000 anytime soon.  I'm going to walk us through the process I'm using to determine what kind of car to shop for, and how I'm going about it.  I'm actually not sure if my process differs from most peoples', but it may be handy to have this somewhere.  I've already determined my old car is not worth repairing, because the cost to repair it is about how much the entire car is worth.

Figuring Out The Basics

The very first thing I consider is what kind of car I'm looking for.  Not brand, but simply car type: SUV, pickup truck, minivan, or standard car.  I'm accustomed to having a minivan, and I enjoy minivans a lot.  That doesn't mean it's the best possible option for me, because minivans are also fuel-inefficient and less reliable than a smaller form factor.  Not sure why, but the ratings- I'll get to those in a bit- bear this out.  

Focusing purely on fuel-efficiency and my environmental concerns, I should try saving up for a Tesla or similar electric or hybrid small car.  Unfortunately I do not have the money for that, and I'm not sure I could or should get a loan of that magnitude.  My fiancee and I already in debt, and while we would both enjoy having a Tesla, it's just not going to happen anytime soon.  

We are, however, planning to move from this apartment to a house sometime in the next couple years.  As such, it would behoove me to have carrying capacity.  In addition, my parents will be coming to live in this state in a couple years, and Mom likes to ride bikes together.  She has her own SUV that will carry them, but it'd be nice to be able to offer to do so.  In addition, I have at least one pair of friends that will likely be moving sometime in the next couple years, based on their general unhappiness with their current residence.  

Between my familiarity with a minivan and the reasons above, I'm intending to shop for a used minivan.

Next: Brands and Ratings

My father taught me about an organization called Consumer Reports from when I was quite young, and he continued referencing their magazine throughout my life.  For those who don't recognize the name, Consumer Reports is basically a group of uncorrupted consumers that get together to test commonly used household items.  Luggage, microwaves, toilet paper, and cell phones are all examples of things they test.  They take no money from companies at all, so they can do their tests fairly and without accusations of bias.  And they test cars.  All kinds of cars, all kinds of brands, and all kinds of tests.

I have a subscription to their online site, which contains most of what the magazines do.  My father, however, has both.  In addition, the group puts out a car buying guide every year, which he received.  So it was now time to ask my dad what minivans looked good.  

I was rather heavily biased towards Honda, because they made my old Odyssey and the poor thing has clocked nearly 240,000 miles.  As things go, that's pretty good.  But my dad informed me that the Odyssey has slipped a bit in reliability.  Apparently my best bet under $10,000 is a 2006 Toyota Sienna.  This is based on its overall reliability over the years it's been out (10 now, geez), any common problems that cropped up for the model, and how well-built it was in the first place. 

People who've lived in Michigan for awhile will note that both Honda and Toyota are both foreign brands, and perhaps shake angry sticks (pitchforks, torches, jars of tar with feathers) at me.  Michigan, as you probably know, is home to the Big Three American car manufacturers.  Well, my very first car was a Ford.  And it broke down a lot.  My engineer sister-in-law informed me that the acronym for Ford is "Found On Roadside Dead."  I don't have the money to spend on car repairs every 3 months or so.  So it's the most reliable car for me, and if that's a foreign car, that's how it is.

Shopping...

So now it's on to the actual shopping, since I know what I want.  We are now prognosticating into the future, because I haven't had time to do all the things I'll need to here.

The first step will be scouting out cars online, and pestering the Toyota dealership.  While Consumer Reports say I should be able to find one for under $10,000, that may not necessarily be the case.  Depending on what cars are available, and in what condition and mileage, I may have to pay a bit more or less.  Kelly Blue Book is one online resource I'll use.  I'll also check Auto Trader and a few other websites, as they serve to collect information from car dealers in the surrounding area and put it all in one location.  

Trawling those two online resources has located me a silver van for $9k in Zeeland, which is a short hike from here.  I'd prefer blue, but beggers can't be choosers.  The car is registered with the CarFax service, which is basically a tracker for the accidents, mileage, service visits, etc.  The dealer that presently holds the car is listed.  My next step will be to call them and see if that car is still available.  Simply because it's listed online does not mean it's still for sale.  

Assuming they have the car, I will then need to talk to my bank about a loan.  Ideally, since I don't have a lot of credit, they'll loan me about half what I need for the car.  I can afford to put down half the car's cost, but that's about it.  And I need the credit.  

Assuming I can get the loan, I will then need to drive down to check out the car myself, and perhaps see if I can get it inspected by a local dealership.  It looks like there's a Toyota dealership about five minutes away from the place that has the Sienna I'm interested in.  If there are no red flags, I'll buy the car and trade in my old car. 

And that should be that!