My MiniVan Odyssey

First, we eliminated the Rolls. Just not us.

We decided on a mini-van. Why? We are adding two kids to our family and becoming a family of five.

You may not want a minivan, but your search will be similar. We like that it is practical and still fun to drive.

You will have your own criteria.

Again, we did not go with the Mercedes R350.

Our budget would not handle it. We started with a range of $9,000 to $12,000. Initially we aimed at the low end of the range. We decided on a Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna early on. I liked their crash test ratings and reliability ratings. We then moved on toward the higher end of the range.

I found a listing on craigslist, www.capitalleaseandloans.com. 

Their site is not the slickest. They do have pictures and pricing. We got our van for the trade-in value listed in Edmunds. They gave us Carfax reports and encouraged us to have the van checked mechanically.

I liked the salesman I dealt with, Andy Mehta. Nice, not pushy. Were they really representing banks and leasing companies leased cars being returned, as Andy told me? I don't know and I don't care. All I cared about was the car, its condition and its cost.

We are very happy with our van. We got a 2002 Honda Odyssey EX with 68,000 miles. We got all the service records. We paid $10,900, which is very close to trade-in value. The car looks almost brand new.

All my searching paid off. We got a great minivan at a great price!

No! No! Not the Yugo!!

I used the free on-line sites, Edmunds.com, cars.com, msn.com, and intellichoice.com.

I then started checking prices locally for mini-vans. I checked AutoTrader, local classified listings online, craiglist, Carmax and local dealers.

I noticed some places had great prices, but that particular car had just been sold. However, they always had a more expensive one in stock. One lower priced van was listed with the same story for at least a month.

We limited our search to 25 miles, just because I did not want to go too far afield. Carmax gets good ratings, but was too expensive for our budget. If you are in a hurry, Carmax is a good choice, good car plus a decent price.

When I found a car that fit with its price, I went to Edmunds. Edmunds seemed to have the most conservative prices. I simply eliminated any car that was substantially above its trade-in value. That was my screen for the cars we would look at.

Lemonfree is a site that was not around when I was doing my search. Lemonfree is a search engine for automobiles, if you will, the google of automobiles. Searches multiple sites for the car you need. This should save time on searching at multiple sites and give you lots more options.

Try it. Minivans for sale

1. Search the ads for prices of cars of interest.

2. Check the appraisal value at Edmunds.

3. Call the sellers of cars that are close to the appraised trade-in value.

4. When you are serious, check Carfax. A lot of dealers give you a Carfax report on their offerings. I did find a couple of vans listed as much as $2,000 below trade-in. Both of those were salvage vehicles.

5. Once you decide, have a dealer or a trusted mechanic check out the used car.

6. Treat the people with respect. You may find someone who will help you find a car. As long as the car checks out, is a good price, and is what you want, this can be a great deal.

7. If you are in the Atlanta are, I found Andy Mehta to be a good person to deal with. He is with www.capitalleaseandloans.com, (770)468-3069.