Buying a car

We are currently going through the painful search for a used van to replace one of the two saturns we own. We are very over due for getting a larger vehicle, especially when we need to cram in all four of us along with George and Jessie. Lucky for us, George is a really good dog while sitting between the kids in the back seat, and Jessie is small enough to sit by my feet. But none the less, we need something bigger. We really started the search the other day by test driving a number of vans, and drooling over a number of them that are out of our price range.

During this process of looking at cars I think we have learned two things.....
First, it is super easy to purchase a new car. You usually know the make and model of what you want and the hardest choice you need to make is what color you want it in. Where as with a used vehicle you need to consider much more. For example, are the ratio of age, millage, and amenities equal to the price of the car. If they aren't, the new issue is can you talk the dealer down to what you think the car is worth. Or even worse, you find a car you like, you take it for a test drive and everything is going well until you hear this funny noise half way through the drive. You turn off the radio, and the AC (which isn't very fun when it is 90 and humid out) to try to pinpoint where the noise is coming from and what it may be related to. You take it back and they say it is just the breaks, they make noise when they are wet. Well that doesn't compute because it is 90 out and although it is humid it isn't that humid that there is standing water. I give I don't know everything about cars but I have had enough break problems through the years to know basically what the symptoms are. But I digress, the dealer says they can have someone look at it for you, but do you want to buy a car that you have already found a problem with?

Second, car salesmen become even more pushy about used cars then they are about new ones. Every sales person, with the exception of one, we have ever run into when looking at used cars all the way back to my first car have been your stereotypical "used car salesmen." I just about fell over when one asked the typical line of "what will it take for you to buy a car from us?" My first thought was leave me alone..... but that is the type of person I am.

Amid all of this, we have found a few vans we are interested in and are looking a little closer at them to try to decide which one is really the car for us. We will keep everyone updated I am sure when we actually make the leap into another car loan.