I'd go with 2 or 3 and see how it goes. With a lease you can try it out and see if you really need the bigger car and how often. Or with 3 you can set aside the money you'd be spending on a new car payment and just use Lyft or whatever when you actually need it.

If you decide you need it more often than you expect, then you've got some money set aside for the new car to help offset the insurance and maintenance costs. I'm totally with you in not wanting to buy a big car or pay for something I'm not really using, but it is possible you'll find you'll use it more than you think you will and options 2 or 3 give you the most flexibility for your lifestyle.

On the other hand you might find you end up driving more just because you can if you have another car and to me that would be the worst outcome. Lastly, don't underestimate how much space 3 carseats or boosters take up. Before I went car-less I had a Subaru outback that couldn't hold 3 across. My friend's forester barely held three and it was TIGHT.

You don't want to buy a used rental car. There is a reason why those cars are cheap. Those cars are driven rough and when you don't take care of a car early on, you'll see problems later on.

Anonymous wrote:This actually isn't complicated. I'd sell the car and buy a used minivan. We got a used Chrysler town and country that had been an enterprise rental. I think we paid $8000 for it because it was a year old but had high mileage. A year later the mileage was no longer high as we only put a few hundred neighbourhood miles on it, so we feel like we made out ahead. We sold it after a few years and got a Chrysler pacifica hybrid which we love. If you are into the environment and saving on gas you might like it- you will never have to fuel up.

Wow a one year old car for 8k? That is a pretty good deal!

This actually isn't complicated. I'd sell the car and buy a used minivan. We got a used Chrysler town and country that had been an enterprise rental. I think we paid $8000 for it because it was a year old but had high mileage. A year later the mileage was no longer high as we only put a few hundred neighbourhood miles on it, so we feel like we made out ahead. We sold it after a few years and got a Chrysler pacifica hybrid which we love. If you are into the environment and saving on gas you might like it- you will never have to fuel up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, although this thread has become very entertaining, I think I got what I wanted from it and I am moving on! Sometimes it is good to hear from different perspectives even though the problem might sounds trivial to others! We will probably get a used minivan and keep the old car. Also we will keep our "weird" financial arrangement intact
Thanks for those who had useful contributions. For the rest, chill out, everyone don't have to do things the way you do them! Peace out!

OP, your arrangement is great because it is working for you and your family. We each have to live the way that's best for us.
I've seen great prices on used minivans and SUVs on Enterprise Car Sales (this is where I'm going to get our "new" SUV from).
Good Luck.

Btw what minivan are you getting?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here, although this thread has become very entertaining, I think I got what I wanted from it and I am moving on! Sometimes it is good to hear from different perspectives even though the problem might sounds trivial to others! We will probably get a used minivan and keep the old car. Also we will keep our "weird" financial arrangement intact
Thanks for those who had useful contributions. For the rest, chill out, everyone don't have to do things the way you do them! Peace out!

OP, your arrangement is great because it is working for you and your family. We each have to live the way that's best for us.
I've seen great prices on used minivans and SUVs on Enterprise Car Sales (this is where I'm going to get our "new" SUV from).
Good Luck.

Thank you! I will check this out. If other people have tips on what model/year of minivan to get that would be great, we want a used one probably want to spend not more than 20k.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I keep individual and one joint account. I actually think it is fairly common when you have two professionals who married and had kids later in life.

Like others, we have never argued about money and we are meeting all our financial goals. We’re about to celebrate 17 years of marriage with no end in sight so all is good.

Haha, OP here (yes I am back, because some nicer people joined this thread!). This! I think the "married and had kids later in life" is the key word here, you are smarter and do thing differently! Not sure why people think this is a big deal. It is working for us and we are also meeting all our financial goal and we have never argued about money!

DH and I keep individual and one joint account. I actually think it is fairly common when you have two professionals who married and had kids later in life.

Like others, we have never argued about money and we are meeting all our financial goals. We’re about to celebrate 17 years of marriage with no end in sight so all is good.

I am not going to tell anyone what to do, and your life situation gives me a headache, but I am sad that none of the discussion has involved the words "Burley" "Bakfiets" "tandem" "pannier" or "Jump"