What minivan to buy for $10k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 years? As in you are okay with taking 2500 depreciation per year to drive it for 4 years? If that's the case, the only real solution here is to buy new.

To give you an example, we bought a 2017 Odyssy EX-L for $31k. Looking at Autotrader, with less than 60k miles, they are going for $23,000 or higher. That's 8k of depreciation for 4 years, with warranty coverage, and no repair costs.

This is basically what I've been wondering. Did we spend as much per year on the cheaper/older one anyway because we had to do some repairs to get 4 years out of it? I'd like to have a van for more than 4 years, I only said I want to get 4 years out of it because it took us that long to get the one we have to 200,000 miles and close to worthless.

Also we had less money then. We could pay more now if it is expected to come out better per year.

PP here. In my experience, if we take a car's useful life to be 20 years and 200k miles, the depreciation of an Odyssey in the first 5 years and 50k miles is usually just slightly more than 25%. There is definitely more depreciation in the early years, but not nearly to the degree that most people fear it is. It is this irrational belief that drives most people to grossly overpay for a used Honda. This is not even considering the fact that repair costs will go up towards the end of a vehicle's life. Depending on how hard you drive the vehicle, you may not have to even change the tires and brake pads. So just oil changes and wiper blades.

We've owned four Odysseys since 2006. The people we've sold our used Odysseys to were all extremely happy with the "deal" they got. They love looking at the sticker, which I always save, to imagine how much money they saved, thinking that I only got "a couple thousand" off of it when new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
From what I can tell, having a backup camera in a vehicle didn't start happening until the 2012 models.
The cheapest used minivans seem to be dodge caravans.
With only $10k in your budget, I doubt you can find a used Toyota or Honda with a backup camera, even if the van has high mileage.

What type of van are you driving right now?

My 2004 Camry had a backup camera. Though I bought it used in 2006, so it may have been aftermarket. That's an option for you, OP. An aftermarket camera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why do you have to replace the minivan? Does it need major repairs? If not, I would just drive it until it dies and save more money so you can spend more than 10k and get a van that will a) last you longer than 4 years and b) will be easier to get what you want. It’s costlier in the long run to do it the way you’ve been doing. Get something newer and it will last you much longer.

It will need another timing belt soon and some other things. I always thought used cars were supposed to be cheaper per mile, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way. Maybe because we bought too old instead of just a few years old. This was the first used vehicle we've bought. The car we bought new before the van ended up with over 200k on on it also.

OP, if you put maybe $2000 into your current van-do the belt and get a camera-you could probably easily get 4 years out of it.

Otherwise, I'd go for a Chrysler.

[Anonymous]

Paid $7k all in for older Korean-made minivan with sub-100k miles on it. Had all the bells an whistles like backup cam, leather, dvd player (though dated). Upon purchase, spent maybe $600 fixing up odds and ends (janked door handle, etc.). Very happy with the decision. I'd just set criteria and go from there. Korean made, sub-100k miles, then get it inspected by a third-party (e.g. YourMechanic) to rest easier.

[Anonymous]

This spring, we bought a 2010 Honda Odyssey Touring model (nav, backup camera, all the bells and whistles) for about 9K, then immediately spent 2K fixing up everything wrong we could identify (sliding door issues, etc.). We’ve since out in another $500 or so on other issues (battery replacement, leaky windshield). My spouse specifically wanted that body style, or I would have looked for something more in the 4-5 year old range, which I think is the sweet spot for used vehicles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 years? As in you are okay with taking 2500 depreciation per year to drive it for 4 years? If that's the case, the only real solution here is to buy new.

To give you an example, we bought a 2017 Odyssy EX-L for $31k. Looking at Autotrader, with less than 60k miles, they are going for $23,000 or higher. That's 8k of depreciation for 4 years, with warranty coverage, and no repair costs.

This is basically what I've been wondering. Did we spend as much per year on the cheaper/older one anyway because we had to do some repairs to get 4 years out of it? I'd like to have a van for more than 4 years, I only said I want to get 4 years out of it because it took us that long to get the one we have to 200,000 miles and close to worthless.

Also we had less money then. We could pay more now if it is expected to come out better per year.

PP here. In my experience, if we take a car's useful life to be 20 years and 200k miles, the depreciation of an Odyssey in the first 5 years and 50k miles is usually just slightly more than 25%. There is definitely more depreciation in the early years, but not nearly to the degree that most people fear it is. It is this irrational belief that drives most people to grossly overpay for a used Honda. This is not even considering the fact that repair costs will go up towards the end of a vehicle's life. Depending on how hard you drive the vehicle, you may not have to even change the tires and brake pads. So just oil changes and wiper blades.

We've owned four Odysseys since 2006. The people we've sold our used Odysseys to were all extremely happy with the "deal" they got. They love looking at the sticker, which I always save, to imagine how much money they saved, thinking that I only got "a couple thousand" off of it when new.

This is OP. I think I've come to the conclusion that the depreciation is not as big a deal as people think, which is part of why I made this post. It doesn't seem like buying the really used one made much sense at all, although that's all we could afford at the time. Even a new one will only take 13 years to get to 200k with 15k miles/year, so I need to think about that also. Do you think it's the mileage that causes it to depreciate or just that it's not brand new because whatever we get, we will put miles on it faster than average.