family and van tan van interior
I remember my infamous words to my wife, Autumn, just several months ago, “We don’t need to get a minivan, we only have TWO kids!” Well, our new baby daughter will be born in December of this year and I just spent the month of August shopping for a minivan. I jokingly tell her that she got pregnant “by accident” just so she could get a van.

I shopped the national market (ebay), the local market in Austin and Georgetown, Texas (craigslist) and even the very, very local market (my neighborhood website). A new Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna would have cost me a minimum of $30,000. My goal was to save $10,000 and buy a used one for no more than $20,000 with leather, DVD, and the cool remote control doors. I also posted “no gold color vans” as a requirement.

Well, a few days after my craigslist posting, Toby, from Champion Chevrolet in Austin, contacted me and told me he had a 2004 Toyota in stock. I took the family down to Austin and ended up test driving a 2005 model, because he couldn’t find the keys to the 2004. After I got back, I negotiated the price of the 2005 over the phone. It was the last day in August and the manager ended up selling me the 2005 Toyota with everything I wanted for $15,000 plus my 1999 Nissan Maxima as a trade in! I later found out that the 2004 model sold for more than I paid for the 2005 and had 30,000 miles more! Also, I got great value out of the Maxima because they already had a customer looking to buy one! Perfect timing!
God was definitely looking after us to get such a sweet deal! This van rocks and still has 3000 miles left on the warranty…and if anyone asks, the van isn’t gold…it’s tan:)

~Edward