A few weeks ago we upgraded our minivan to a 12 passenger van due to our family expecting our 5th baby in April. We found our minivan too small for our family with no additional room for friends and family.
Here are some car shopping tips that helped my husband and I make our shop easy with 4 children:
1) Do ALL your homework in advance; look at your different options on-line, newspapers and even ask friends. I received alot of nice feedback by just asking for opinions on Facebook. That way you kind of have an idea in mind and the children are not at the car dealership longer than they need to be.
2) Do not limit yourself, we originally decided to get a 15 passenger van, or a Surburban, or Expedition and wound up purchasing a 12 passenger van instead! After looking at some of the vehicles we knew what would work best for our family.
3) Never rule out used, the dealership offered us a good amount for my minivan which was a 2008 and only had 38,000 miles with that deal and the 2012 12 passenger van we purchased with only 7,500 miles it was a deal we couldn’t pass up!
4) I test drove the vehicles while my husband stayed at the dealership with our children because swapping out 4 car seats was too much for a small test drive.
5) During the long waits during test drives, signing paperwork, etc. I had snacks on hand for my children, also bring coloring books with crayons, in our case I brought their tablets. All in all bring something to keep them busy because they will be bored and make your car shopping experience hectic.
Actually this was a very pleasant experience because we followed the above tips other than all the persistent salespeople calling our house even at 9:00 AM!
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