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Why don't you just keep your van until it's paid off and then keep it years after that too? You will have negative equity with any new car purchase. Even with a big rebate or "employee pricing", your new vehicle will depreciate and the resale value always reflects this sales incentive rebates.
Do you have good credit? What kind of interest are you currently paying on your van now?
From a previous post, you said you have a Sienna van that needed a timing belt. Why not have it replaced and just keep owning it? What else displeases you about your van, the "high" mileage on it? How many miles are on it?
The van has about 96,700 miles. It is the highest mileage we have ever had on any vehicle. The timing belt needs replacing, spark plugs need replacing, water pump, brakes on rear, IAC valve needs replacing.
Where do you live? What condition is the van's body in? My car philosophy basically is if the vehicle has a good reputation for lasting for a long time and the chassis is in good shape, then the mechanicals are worth maintaining. So Toyotas have a great reputation for lasting a long long time, the van is only 5 years old, plus you still have payments on it. So find yourself a good non-dealership Japanese car mechanic to replace your timing belt and water pump, and the other stuff. It's not really that big a deal. All that stuff is either scheduled maintenance or wear items. If you are worried about the car, talk to your mechanic and ask his opinion about keeping it. But if you have been diligent about doing your oil changes and other maintenances, and haven't crashed it, that van should really be fine to keep owning it.
I've had the timing belt on one of my Hondas changed 3 times so far. I really think that your Sienna should be able to last at least another 100K miles. So have the work done on your van, work hard to pay it off before even thinking of getting a new van. Once you've paid off your van, please consider keeping it still. Put the money that you would normally use for your monthly car payment into a savings account for either maintenance repairs or for a large down payment for a new van.
Except for one car, all of my many other cars have been purchased with the mileage being over 100K miles. Having zero car payments is very freeing and allows me to spend my money on other things.
When I sold Hondas in '95, I heard this great car story from a customer's uncle. He had a Mercedes at one point. When it reached a 100K miles, he was pleasantly surprised. When the odometer reading approached 200K miles, he got worried. He told his mechanic about his concern and his mechanic just laughed at him and told him nothing was wrong and to keep driving the car. At 300K miles, he sold the car to a woman through a private party sale and bought an Acura Legend.
I agree if it's a Sienna van-hang on to it.You can separate the work to be done independately.Do the T-belt and w/pump together,rear brks,tune-up and valve replacement.Many of the Toyota dealers run specials on all of these repairs and I would strongly recommend they do the work with Toyota manuf.parts.I have gone thru the neg.equity thing too with a Dodge Caravan twice and it's a losing battle.The only manuf.with any big rebate to help counter your trade in loss is usually one that you will regret owning later-believe me.
I mentioned your dilemma to my boyfriend last night, and he was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the van. His mom was shopping for cars about five years ago and he helped her look at them. He remembers liking the Sienna a lot, but his mom didn't want to buy a minivan (too mom-like) and instead bought a Highlander. But anyway, he says to keep your Sienna and drive it into the ground. If you take care of it and always drive it like a civilized person, it should go well beyond 200K miles, if not with your family, but with someone else's. They had a high mileage supercharged Previa when he was a kid, they sold it to a friend and it's still alive.
4-6K is a big hole to dig out of. i wouldn't stick that on top of another car. but to answer the question, anything american will always have big incentives on it
4-6K is a big hole to dig out of. i wouldn't stick that on top of another car. but to answer the question, anything american will always have big incentives on it
And generally, American cars will not last as long as the Japanese ones. So given the O.P.'s loan payment pattern, either he should stick with his Sienna or only buy another vehicle that will last a very long time. Had he instead bought an American van in 2002 and was still paying it off today, his American van could not be counted on to last another 100K miles.
Plus the Sienna's resale value is higher than any American van of the same vintage.
I have a friend that didn't have very good luck with two Dodge Caravans. He always maintained them well and put mostly highway miles on them.
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