Larger families and vehicles

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What do larger families on a budget do for vehicles? I am perplexed right now. We are giving up our minivan because the payments are ridiculous. We are getting a more fuel efficient used, four door sedan of some sort. We have three kids and our family will fit (for now). Our youngest is 8 months old and we hope to have another one by the time he is 2 1/2 or so. I’ve used the “we’ll be having more kids” reason to convince my husband to keep the van for the last year. But I’ve come to the point where I think I’m just being greedy. We can drive around in a cheaper, smaller car for a couple of years.

However, I don’t see us suddenly being rich in two years! Can those of you with four or more kids tell me how you swing things? Suggestions on particular makes and models of used vehicles would certainly be welcome.

Thanks,
Danielle
 
I have four kids, we bought our first minivan when we had 3 kids, we bought a used one, I think it was about 5 years old and then we traded it in about 4 yrs later for another used minivan and that is what we currently drive, it is a 2000 and its probably not worth that much but we take good care of it.

My husband drives a 2002 toyota echo so we trade off on veiches, the echo fits all the kids and one driver so if he is just going to work he takes the van and that way it is just parked and not packing on the miles and since gas is so expensive, it is better for me to use the smaller cars for running errands and taking kids to various events.

All toyota cars and Honda cars are really excellent for good mileage and my uncles has had a honda car for 15 yrs and that car is still going strong, he just takes good care of it, changes the oil on time all that and it just keeps on and on and no problems.
And we have heard the same about the Toyota and you can find both used in various sizes.

I would never ever get a brand new car or van, I won’t even look at it unless it is at least 3 or 4 yrs old, I just don’t see any reason, we look for low mileage, the less drivers before the better, no dents or other obvious problems… there is a good website called epinions.com and they have people giving their opinions on many, many things including veichels and they tell you of their own experince with the car or whatever it is and how good it was on gas, etc.

Take your time and do your research and know your car, the first time we looked, boy, we were not aware of how those car sales people were just hungry to cut a deal with you…they are willing to do about anything to hook you…we were not prepared for that…now we do our facts and we let them know what we want, what we want to spend and if they try to undermine us we walk away. Good luck!!
 
My husband drives a 2002 toyota echo so we trade off on veiches, the echo fits all the kids and one driver.
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When did your oldest start sitting in the front seat? It seems the recommendations are extraordinarily cautious, now. I don’t think my thin-framed oldest boy will reach the weight recommendations until he is eighteen!
 
my oldest is 12 and she is 80 lbs and we always put the seat far back, she is the only one allowed to sit up front, I have to say though I don’t have all four with me all at once very often, I usually work my outings out with my hubby’s schedule so usually I’m only taking two or three kids with me and then they all sit in the back. I saw the new kia vans with the side impact airbags that go all the way to the third row seats and I must admit, I drooled when I saw that add on t.v., I would love to have a mini van with the extra safety, I already worry too much the way it is when I drive with the kids, but…I’m going to wait and see what types of tests are done on the kia van and see what consumer reports gives it as far as a safety rating, I know nothing is fool proof, but I would like to have something that gets a decent safety rating and not something that fares horrible in a crash.
 
Our family of 8 can not all sit together in our 5 seat car, so we walk most places if we need to all go together. If it involves a trip toward or into the City we take the trains and busses.

Sometimes we split trips, with Mom driving with the babies and the oldest kids so the youngest ones don’t have to wait for trains or busses (especially in winter) and the oldest ones can help Mom with them. Meanwhile, Dad rides the trains (which is more fun than driving anyway) with the middle sized kids who get the most enjoyment out of riding the train, and some of whom still qualify for half fare. Then we meet together at our destination.
 
JB.:
Our family of 8 can not all sit together in our 5 seat car, so we walk most places if we need to all go together. If it involves a trip toward or into the City we take the trains and busses.

Sometimes we split trips, with Mom driving with the babies and the oldest kids so the youngest ones don’t have to wait for trains or busses (especially in winter) and the oldest ones can help Mom with them. Meanwhile, Dad rides the trains (which is more fun than driving anyway) with the middle sized kids who get the most enjoyment out of riding the train, and some of whom still qualify for half fare. Then we meet together at our destination.
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wow, that would be neat, in our little rural town the only trains we have is berlington northern going by with coal, grain, etc. and the only busses we have are school busses and being Minnesota and having below the donut temps this winter, walking would be downright dangerous…but in summer we bike a lot and we walk to the library, small towns can be great for raising families but I do wish we had such things as trains, subways and busses, I have myself never even been on any of the three, I would be so excited 😃
 
My father bought a mail truck at auction and retrofitted it for his seven kids.

You might also try used car auctions. We got a GREAT older outside van, Winnebago kit, captian’s cahirs, etc., for under $2K.
 
We have steadily upgraded our vehicles as our family has grown, going almost entirely with used vehicles, and usually having one to fit all of us and a smaller, more fuel efficient one for commuting and errands that don’t require all of us.

Our current van is a 15 passenger that replaced the old 12 seater that died in my parents’ driveway after driving from Washington to Minnesota! We would have had to go with car payments, had I not at that exact time received an inheritance that provided for us. (Another reason I believe God provides.)
 
I am not certain I qualify to answer here as we are still working on the large family.

But as for my two cents…

On top of making certain the used van is in top condition, I would be good to acquire books as well as tools and hands on experience in repair and upkeep of the vehicle.

Doing the repairs yourself can save a lot of money, and I have also learned that short of a wreck, almost any repair needed can be done for less then the cost of a new car payment.

A car payment is optional, you do have to have one if you do not want it.

.02 duly deposited.

Z
 
They aren’t exactly fuel efficient, but a used Suburban can usually be purchased fairly inexpensively. They are dependable and nice. I just sold my 16 year old Suburban and it had been a nice reliable car. They seat up to 8 people and still have tons of room in the back for groceries, strollers, luggage, etc.
 
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mominne:
What do larger families on a budget do for vehicles? I am perplexed right now. We are giving up our minivan because the payments are ridiculous. We are getting a more fuel efficient used, four door sedan of some sort. We have three kids and our family will fit (for now). Our youngest is 8 months old and we hope to have another one by the time he is 2 1/2 or so. I’ve used the “we’ll be having more kids” reason to convince my husband to keep the van for the last year. But I’ve come to the point where I think I’m just being greedy. We can drive around in a cheaper, smaller car for a couple of years.

However, I don’t see us suddenly being rich in two years! Can those of you with four or more kids tell me how you swing things? Suggestions on particular makes and models of used vehicles would certainly be welcome.
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We have always bought the most fuel efficent and usually smallest vehicle we think will grow with us for at least 1 - 2 more children.

**Given that a sedan would be out the window should you have another, I would recommend an older mini-van of about 2 - 5 years depending on what you can afford. Otherwise, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll get pregnant the day you sign the 5 year car loan papers for that sedan. 😛 **

The exception would be if you could get a sedan cheap enough that you wouldn’t have payments. In that case, get the sedan and save the payment money for the possiblity that you may need to get a larger vehicle in a year or so. Then your dh can have the paid off sedan for work and you’ll have the larger vehicle when you need it.

Currently we drive a 12 passenger van, but we stayed in our paid off minivan until after baby number 7 was born.
 
Rob’s Wife said:
Currently we drive a 12 passenger van, but we stayed in our paid off minivan until after baby number 7 was born.
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I’m not a large family (yet) but my friend’s family is 12 strong. They actually won a large passenger van in a contest after much praying, they needed a new vehicle bad!!
I think you can pick these up through auctions for fleet vehicles. They aren’t “stylin” but it certainly works for them!!
 
we bought a 15 seat club wagon when i was in 3rd grade, traded it for another when i was in 6th, and consolodated to a minivan once the older half started driving and so weren’t going to church at the same tie as everyone else
 
we had six kids and my dad went from station wagons to full size Dodge vans, since he also did boy scouts, and family camping frequently and it could pull the camper. He always bought a 3 year old van, and they seemed to last forever, and then get passed on to one of the kids, so he got his money’s worth.

bear in mind you will have 2 in car seats, so you need enough room for that, and make sure you can get the babies and car seats in and out without being a contortionist.

plus nobody under 12 should be in the front seat at any time. what other activities are you in, hauling sports equipment, groceries, work tools etc.? Although I was always amazed how much cub scout gear plus cub scouts I could stiff in my Honda Civic.

you already have money sunk into the mini-van, if it is a good car keep it, anything else is still going to cost money and be a used car, which is what you have now.
 
Hmm!

We’ve done it all. ALl except buy a new one, that is. We have 8 now, so we have gone through the sedan to station wagon to minivan to monster van (and now as the family moves on) back down to the minivan with a sedan on the side.

General advice -

1)Don’t buy it unless it is ugly (who wants to pay for good looks + sellers won’t generally keep a car around long enough to get really ugly unless it is really dependable).

2)Never spend more than you are willing to through away - because in the end, thats what you do with all of them.

3)Buy simple cars. The more parts a car has, the more parts that break.
  1. Ask a dealership mechanic (NOT THE SALES GUY). Our Toyota mechanic gave us advice on which specific models to buy
    (#1 early Previas Their inner city dealership used them for deilvery vans - teenage drivers- stop and go - run hard-) and routinely got over 300,000 trouble free miles. Ours will hit 300,000 this week without a single engine/transmission repair ever. He will also tell you which to avoid, like the early Siennas that had a sliding door closer with problems that cost nearly $2000 to fix when they inevitabley break.
  2. Worlds record on reliability is the mercedes diesel. Super reliable and safe. Few parts to go wrong, and when you have teens, still considered cool but yet very slow!
  3. Check out ebay motors regularly. Not so much to buy from there, but to learn. For example. I was once thinking about VW diesels. Almost all over 100,000 miles advertised that they had a rebuilt motor, and you almost never saw one there with more than 200,000 miles. Fooey on the vw’s! Then look at The diesel mercedes - many in the 250,000 to 500,000- but often have rebuilt automatic transmissions (go for the standard, if you can find one - the older ones often had them).
7)enjoy the freedom of knowing that when the car gives up the ghost, you can walk away from it without feeling like you are giving up your future. Drive them till they drop. NEver be a The car should be a slave to you, not youo be the slave to the car(payment).
 
Hey, this is a timely thread. We just bought a 15 passenger old van with 200,000 mi for a grand. We are a family of eight–our oldest is 12. For the last year we have been unable to go out as a family in our seven seater van. Plus, the bodies are getting bigger!!

By buying an old van, we can keep our seven seater van for everyday use and use the “truckster” for family outings. I’ve been told that driving it once a week will be enough to keep it from the problems of disuse.

We were looking at a 2004 12 seater van with low miles for 14,000. We chose to get the cheap extra van so we can continue to avoid a car payment. We just paid off a loan in the fall and it has been wonderful not to have a payment.

I’m still nervous about parking that thing. It is huge!!
 
So how do you guys deal with the car seat laws designed to regulate family size?

A car seat generally doubles the room a child requires, and many states now require car seats for everyone under 8.

Any thoughts?

Z
 
Driving one large vehicle is more efficient than taking 2 unless your family rarely all travel together.

We like to camp. Also, grandparents are about 3 hrs away. We felt taking 2 vehicles on longer trips is not the way we want to travel.

We searched the internet car sites such as cars.com. We found a used Chevy Express 15 pass. van for a great price in a neighboring state. We made the trip into a camping trip and had a great time.

We are a family of 10.
 
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vz71:
So how do you guys deal with the car seat laws designed to regulate family size?

A car seat generally doubles the room a child requires, and many states now require car seats for everyone under 8.

Any thoughts?

Z
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My state only requires carseats until age 6 and that’s when I take my dc out of them.
It’s not to big an issue anymore as we have the 12 passenger van, but we always get the least bulky ones we can find. Not just for space, but because the bulkier they are the hotter and more uncomfortable the poor kid tied in it seems to be here.
 
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