Car Talk

I did dicker with State Farm a little bit and got the settlement up, which was good - my research showed the value was much less. There were ads for vans like ours, but with even more miles…at a much lower sell price. So I was surprised to get as much as I did (but I didn’t let it show, instead I tried to get more). State Farm is also going to pay for a couple extra days of the rental car.

I am looking only at used cars…hopefully a 2005 or newer. Ceil wants another van…a Honda or Toyota. The Kia Sedona is supposed to be a quality, good-looking van. It’s value drops much more in the first few years than the Honda or Toyota…I could get a 2006 or 2007 Kia with less than 20,000 mikes for over $3,000.00 less than a 2005 or 2006 Toyota with 20,000 to 30,000 miles. There are also a lot more Kia’s for sale than Toyotas and Hondas.

I was also looking at SUVs that have the third row of seats, like a Ford Explorer, Jeep Commander, Chrysler Pacifica, or Honda Pilot. There are deals on slightly used Pacificas, but I think Ceil wants the minivan.

I knew about the used cars being better deals, but when I bought my little car I knew it was going to be a Honda or Toyota. They weren’t coming off the price of the slightly used ones enough, so I bought new.

I was thinking about how that van got wrecked…right after Ceil put a new blue South Carolina sticker on the back!

Luckily we have no baseball games this weekend, as I’ll be busy trying to find a car!