Was it hard for you to find a 12-15 passenger van?- UPDATE- We found one! Yea!

[lisathib123]

Well.....my very vain DH said over his dead body would we buy a "church van". So we bought an excursion and installed a 4th row seat. It seats 11. They too are hard to find. I was looking (in hopes he woulda change his mind))at a van too and both the van and excursion were in the next state over. Six hour drives :-(

[bai18176]

Originally Posted by MakingHome I would LOVE a Nissan NV or a Dodge Sprinter but we're likely to end up with a bullet van anyone done any research on which brand is most reliable/ needs the least repairs?

I would love a Nissan NV as well. We are buying something that will work for a few years, and then hopefully upgrade to one when there may be some used options, and we can pay cash for it
Chances are we will have at least one more kid, so I guess now is the time to upgrade. It is just a means of getting from one place to another, I just have to keep telling myself that . I just love my odyssey. It was my brand new car, and at the time we only had two and thought we'd never outgrow it!

[spencerrn]

We found ours on Ebay. I did have to fly to Detroit(8 hours away) and drive it back but it was an awesome deal 2001 Ford Econoline with under 30,000 miles. We watched Ebay for along time. We paid $9,000 I think a year ago. My favorite features are vinyl floor and vinyl seats. They clean up so easily!

We have 5 in car seats too. We bought a 15 passenger but took the back seat out for cargo space.

[812ajack]

Originally Posted by spencerrn We found ours on Ebay. I did have to fly to Detroit(8 hours away) and drive it back but it was an awesome deal 2001 Ford Econoline with under 30,000 miles. We watched Ebay for along time. We paid $9,000 I think a year ago. My favorite features are vinyl floor and vinyl seats. They clean up so easily! We have 5 in car seats too. We bought a 15 passenger but took the back seat out for cargo space.

That is a good deal. We've been looking on Ebay as well as CL, car dealerships etc.... and nothing.

We actually called about 6 different vans we saw online this a.m. and they were all sold! We;ve just been w/out a car payment and paid cash for over 10 years now and was really hoping not to have one but am starting to think it may be unavoidable. DH keeps saying we have time (which we do have 3 half-4 mths til LO will make hi or her appearence. Was just hoping to have everything set long before then KWIM? I just hate last minute stuff!

[mollypeters]

we bought our 12 passenger off the lot as a used, leased fleet vehicle (same model year, tho). got a pretty good deal on it, but if u can get a 15, definitely go for that! we thought downsizing would save us on mileage, but it didn't, and the 15 passenger ones are a lot roomier and more comfortable

[andrea3]

We have a Ford Excursion that seats eight, it will fit everyone when the baby comes. It has tons of storage in the back and it does have a roof rack. We sold our Honda Odyssey because the lack of storage space behind the third row. My husband really wanted something that was 4x4, so we bought the Excursion with the diesel engine, it gets around 17mpg.

[812ajack]

We finally found one and on the same day we sold our Honda and ended up paying (we got a steal! ) the same for it that we got for our Honda so Yea!!!! Now I feel like I can finally relax cause that was the only big thing I wanted to get done before our LO's arrival in a couple months Yea!!!!

[MakingHome]

How did you find it? eBay? Local contact? Craigslist?

[812ajack]

Originally Posted by MakingHome How did you find it? eBay? Local contact? Craigslist?

Craigslist! We had to driveabout 5 hours to TN but it was SO worth it! We had been looking on both EBAY and CL along with some local sites. We got VERY lucky we saw this the day he put it on CL. He said he had tons of calls after ours. It was nice though, they had also gotten theirs when they had their 6th baby so they loved selling it to us for our 6th It doesn't have real high mileage since they only drove it to church and on vacations. We got this one almost $5,000 cheaper then we saw everywhere else so am very grateful and it was garage kept so its in great condition! We just pretty much had to keep looking everyday at CL cause the good ones that are priced reasonably go SO fast!

[MrsAsh]

Originally Posted by 812ajack Craigslist! We had to driveabout 5 hours to TN but it was SO worth it! We had been looking on both EBAY and CL along with some local sites. We got VERY lucky we saw this the day he put it on CL. He said he had tons of calls after ours. It was nice though, they had also gotten theirs when they had their 6th baby so they loved selling it to us for our 6th It doesn't have real high mileage since they only drove it to church and on vacations. We got this one almost $5,000 cheaper then we saw everywhere else so am very grateful and it was garage kept so its in great condition! We just pretty much had to keep looking everyday at CL cause the good ones that are priced reasonably go SO fast!

Pics?! We're looking for one in TN! Maybe we'll find one in IN.