It always seems to happen when you least expect it, because families are not able to really plan for a rainy day fund. And lord knows, if they have to replace a car, it makes it even harder.
Well, we are now in that situation. My wife’s SUV is done. The transmission is slipping and the cost to replace the transmission doesn’t warrant putting the money back into it, as the return wouldn’t pay off.
So, we are bitting the bullet and have been looking at, lord help me, mini vans.

I have to state for the record that I’m an SUV guy. I like them, the way that they drive, the storage, etc. I realize that a mini van makes sense with kids, but let’s be honest, most guys would chose an SUV any day over a mini van. I’ve spent a lot of time this week emailing car salesmen about a new car and talking pricing, mileage, safety, etc.  And I think that I’ve narrowed the search down to two mini vans.  They are literally the same, except some features and one has 19,000 more miles than the other. The price is also obviously higher for the lower mileage mini van too. But, I learning that I have to not have much say in the car, other than how much we can spend.

And at the end of the day, it is my wife’s mini van, and she will be the one driving it the most and really the most important thing is that she and the boys are safe.