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Why Buying a Toyota Sienna Was One of Our Best Decisions

August 24, 2020 By MelissaB 3 Comments

Almost 16 years ago, my husband and I had one child—a four-month old—and we decided our Toyota Echo was too small for our growing family.  We found a Toyota Sienna and made the leap.  That car was by far our greatest financial commitment at the time as it cost $25K.  (We didn’t own a home then.)  While paying so much back then made us nervous, there are several reasons why buying a Toyota Sienna was one of our best decisions.

Why Buying a Toyota Sienna Was One of Our Best Decisions

The Benefits of a Toyota Sienna

There are so many benefits to this vehicle for our family!

Reliability

When I was young, I owned a Ford Escort.  I only owned it for two years, yet it left me stranded three times because it randomly broke down.  One time it broke down after a high school dance.  I was stranded at midnight when I was just 16!

In all the years we’ve had the Sienna, it has not broken down once.  I’ve never been stranded.  Considering I often drive alone with young children, this is a definite plus!

Sure, it’s needed regular maintenance and repairs, but that is to be expected.  Its reliability can’t be beat, especially when we’re on long family trips like from Chicago to Boston or Chicago to Tucson.

Durability

Why Buying a Toyota Sienna Was One of Our Best Decisions
Photo by Jessica Furtney on Unsplash

Honestly, when we bought our Sienna when our child was four months old, I never, ever thought I would still own that vehicle when the baby we had then was old enough to drive.

However, this vehicle has been so durable!  It’s still going strong even though it has 225,000 miles on it.  Our mechanic says he’s seen some Toyota Siennas that are well maintained last until 300,000 miles.

I have no plans to get rid of this minivan until it costs too much to repair or it dies.  This is much to my children’s chagrin because they find the vehicle embarrassing now.  But my wallet loves it!

Versatility

The Sienna is so versatile.  It’s a comfortable vehicle for our family of five.  However, it can also take the place of a truck or a full-size van when it comes to hauling things.  We’ve been able to buy large pieces of furniture and fit them in this vehicle.  It’s also great when we buy a month’s worth of groceries.

When we used to travel 2,000 miles to visit family, we could easily pack all of our suitcases, two coolers worth of food, and our pets comfortably in the vehicle with us.

Final Thoughts

Sure, our vehicle is old and is starting to wear out.  For instance, our car came with one manual sliding side door and one electronic sliding side door.  The electronic door wore out more than five years ago, and we never fixed it because it would cost too much money.  Thankfully, we still had the manual side door.

Also, the engine isn’t quite as powerful as it used to be.

Despite these minor issues, there are many reasons why buying a Toyota Sienna was one of our best decisions, especially because many vehicles with 225,000 miles aren’t even on the road anymore!

Read More

Is a Car an Asset or a Liability?

Haggling or No Haggling When Buying a Car?

How Much Car Insurance Coverage Do You Need?

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Cars Tagged With: buying cars, cars

Does Your Car Insurance Pay for These Items?

April 6, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Do you know what benefits your car insurance has?  Sure, we all know if we get in a car accident, we pay our deductible and get our car fixed thanks to insurance.  But did you know there are several other items your car insurance might cover without requiring you to pay a deductible?  Does your car insurance pay for these items?  I recently learned that these free services are included as part of my car insurance.

Does Your Car Insurance Pay for These Services?

Changing a Flat Tire

I wish I was making this up, but I’m not.  I was driving my child home from school when I saw in my path a metal rake lying completely across my lane.  On my right was a curb, and on my left was a full lane of traffic, so there was nowhere to go.

I tried to avoid the rake, but it punctured my tire.  When I woke up the next day to take my son to school, the tire was completely flat.  Did I mention my husband was out of town?  My son and I tried to get the old tire off, but, thanks to snowy Chicago winters, it was rusted on.  Our neighbor tried to help, but he couldn’t get it off, either.  He then mentioned that I should call my insurance.

Does Your Car Insurance Pay for These Items?
Photo by Sebastian Huxley on Unsplash

I did call my car insurance, and within two hours, a tow truck driver was at our house.  He took off the flat tire, put on the replacement, and didn’t charge me anything.  This was a free of charge service included with our car insurance.  I had no idea.

Windshield Replacement

I was driving on the highway when I heard a loud crack!  I looked at the bottom corner of the passenger side of the windshield and saw that there was a crack forming.  During our 20-minute drive, the crack spread two feet.  During our drive back home, the crack slowly snaked itself halfway across our windshield.

I discovered that our insurance would replace the windshield free of charge.  The insurance company scheduled the appointment for me, and a day later, two men showed up at my house and replaced the windshield in less than 45 minutes.  Again, I didn’t have to pay anything or even do anything.  The insurance handled it all.  I just needed to be home.

Final Thoughts

I used to be hesitant to call my car insurance unless I was facing a major repair.  I didn’t want to pay a deductible AND face having my car insurance go up because of my claim.  But as I learned from recent experience, there are several things your car insurance might cover that doesn’t require you to pay a deductible.  My insurer told me as long as I’m not using these services frequently, the insurance company is happy to offer these services free of charge.  Does your car insurance pay for these items?  If you don’t know, try calling your insurance agency to see if they cover these types of repairs and if there are others they may cover free of charge.

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Cars Tagged With: car insurance, car insurance coverage

Haggling or No Haggling When Buying a Car?

January 28, 2019 By MelissaB 4 Comments

Recently, for the first time in 12 years, my husband and I found ourselves in the market for a car.  My husband hates negotiating, so the chore of haggling for a car fell on me.  I had the misguided notion that the Internet would make price negotiation easier, but that assumption was wrong.  Instead, I found that negotiating the price of a car is harder now than it was 12 years ago.

There is definitely something to be said for car dealerships like CarMax that tote a no haggle price.  But which is better?  Haggling with traditional dealerships or going with a dealership that doesn’t play games?

For us, the answer was the latter.

We started our car search ready to haggle and get a good deal.  Instead, all we got was frustration!

The Frustration of Haggling

Haggle or no Haggle when buying a car?
Should You Haggle for a Car?

We religiously searched the Internet to find cars in our price range.  We found one, called to confirm it was still there, and then made the 45 minute drive only to find out it had been sold.  I doubt if it was even there when we called, honestly.

Next, we went to another dealership, this time two hours away, to snag a good deal that we found online.  However, unbeknownst to us, the dealer had an advertised Internet price, but below it, he had a disclaimer—plus dealer fees and extras.  Well, the dealer fees and extras ended up being $2,700 more than the advertised price.

Still, we wanted the car, so we tried to negotiate, but they would not budge much.  After a few rounds of haggling, they were only willing to knock $1,500 off the dealer fees and extras, which would have had us paying $1,200 extra beyond the Internet advertised price plus the fees for the plates, taxes, etc.  No thanks.  Of course, once we drove home, they called us and were willing to negotiate some more.  They still wouldn’t agree to the price we wanted, and we didn’t want to drive two hours again to get the car.

By this time, we were fed up with our car search and the sales people’s tactics.

No Haggle Dealerships

Back we went to the Internet.  A week later we found a car that was a good deal.  We called that dealership and asked the important questions:

Is the car still available?

Do you take any extra fees on to the advertised Internet price?

Yes, the car was available, and no, there were no additional fees.

We loved the car, and after our weeks of searching, we knew it was a good deal.  The salesman almost immediately offered us an additional $600 off the advertised price, but he wouldn’t negotiate after that.  That put the car right in our price range, and we happily took it.

If you like to haggle, that might be the right technique for you.  However, I found the process this time to be very frustrating.

I’d much rather give my business to a dealership that prices the car appropriately (we checked this before we actually saw the car by checking the Blue Book price) and that doesn’t play number games.

Have you bought a car recently?  Did you haggle, or do you prefer to use a dealership that doesn’t play games? 

MelissaB
MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

Filed Under: Cars Tagged With: buy a car, car, car buying, haggle, negotiation

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