How I became a Mini-van Mom in just 6 short weeks!

Well... I never thought it would happen, I never thought I would let it happen and I certainly did not think I would be happy if it ever happened... But it did and I am happy about it! I now own a miniature bus!!! We traded my Saturn for a minivan.

I always said my next vehicle would be another Honda, however that dream fell through when John's legs were crammed against the glove compartment of the CR-V. I would have loved to have a Pilot, but they are just too expensive.... We definately needed something bigger, I could not fit my jogging stroller in my trunk- and my normal stroller barely fit.

We bought a 2005 Toyota Sienna. We shopped for weeks- looking at all sorts of SUVs. It came down to Mitubishi's Endeavor or the Sienna. The Sienna was the least costly and most practical..... and admittedly I liked how it drove. I liked the reviews I read too and that it has a low depriciation rate... It had a great crah test rating... and seemed to be reliable as well. Now for what almost sent me running!

I arrived at the Toyota dealership to see what they had to offer. I was coming from church- so I was wearing a skirt and toting the baby. John was home taking the radio out of my Saturn and putting in the factory radio, because we had decided on the Endeavor... But wanted to take a look at Toyotas to make sure that our decision was good.

I walk in and I am greeted by 'Jim'. I ask to see the Highlander, the 4runner and the Sienna... and to get pricing. He takes me by the Highlander and tells me it is $40,000 and that is the only one they have. He points outside and says "Thats the 4runner, it's a rugged vehicle, it wouldn't be good for you and the baby. The Sienna now Moms love them!" and he proceeds to bring me a Good Housekeeping article about the Sienna and how much moms love them, how it is the best vehicle Toyota makes for women.... How woman-friendly it is....... My inner-feminist was not liking this man!

Sooo I smile and ask to see the Sienna. I am surprised by how nice it looks..... and so I inquire about pricing.... It was a little more than I hoped for.... Sooo John calls and he is still interested. He drives down- the guy looks over my trade and comes up with a price.... It was a decent price, but I wanted to think it over.

Over the next few days we continue to think about it..... I called another dealership and am quoted a better price. In the meantime we decided to keep test-driving. I drove a Santa Fe and hated it! I hated the sales guy too! Soon I decided the Sienna would be the best decision.

John was worried it would be too big for me..... soo we went back to Honda to drive the CR-V. We had Jacob with us, so we had to put the car seat in. This took forever! John was going to drive first because when we first test drove the CR-V John felt carsick in the backseat, so he wanted me to see how it was.

The Honda dealership has a rule that the salesperson drives you off the lot. So John got in the passenger seat and found his legs jammed against the glovebox. I instantly knew the CR-V would not be big enough....

I went to the the other Toyota dealership alone so John could meet me later- and just sign paperwork if the price was as great as the guy made it sound.

I left Jacob with one of the finance employess and went on a test drive with Luis. I liked the van... he took me out in the 8 passenger model. I had looked at a 7 person one in Pinellas.... but I liked the 8 passenger version. The one I drove also had a roof rack and spoiler... and it was a pretty blue. In Pinellas it had nothing extra and my choices were grey and silver.

So we got back in the office to talk numbers... and the price was still good. $100 more for the 8 passenger model. I was pleased.

Then they went to do my appraisal and came back with $1700 for my trade. I had been offered $4000 everywhere else! I was outraged- basically all my savings they were trying to get back with the trade price. I told them "Thank you for your time, I am going back to Pinellas". The guy at the Pinellas dealership had called the day before and lowered his price $100 cheaper than the Tampa guys..... (but I wanted to see the Tampa guys because their van appeared to have more stuff- which it did: the spoiler etc...)

Well... they said "wait, maybe we missed something".... they came back with $3200 for my trade and to take another $500 off their van price. This was still $450 more than Pinellas, but tax in Tampa is 6% and 7% in Pinellas making a difference of almost $200, so I decided it was about a $2-300 dollar overall difference, but I would be getting the nicer van.... 8 passenger versus 7. Blue rather than silver or grey.... the roof rack, spoiler etc......................
Sooo John came up and we signed the paperwork. It's official... I am now a mini-van mom. I joined a whole new stigma of woman-hood. Its like those get rich quick infomercials... 'In just 6 weeks'.

I have included some pictures of my new van, Jacob and the nursery..... He is so funny.... He just grins and smiles when you talk to him these days.......

It looks like he is saying "HI MOM!" (make that Hi Soccer-Mom)!