We Did It: Paying Cash for a Minivan

How we created enough savings to buy a (used) car with cash only:

• After we paid off our Saturn  a year and a half ago, we started paying ourselves, building significant savings.
• The only debt we have is our home mortgage (even owing that drives me bonkers).
• In case you didn't know this about me, I don't pay full price for many things.  I shop the rewards program at CVS and use coupons or buy store brands whenever possible.
• Most work around the house is done by Jadie.  Even our bathroom remodels last year came in under $2,000 total.

Here's how the deal went down:

• We made a mental list of what we wanted.

1. Stow-n-go for all 5 seats.
2. around 50K miles, if possible.
3. 5 years old or less.

• We shopped online for minivans, getting a firm idea of the going rate for what we wanted.
• We stopped at a Carmax in Austin to get an education regarding pricing and features of various minivans.  They have No-Haggle pricing and No-Pressure sales, so we felt free to ask questions.
• While working in Temple, Jadie spotted a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan with 54K miles and 5 Stow-N-Go seats.
• We drove down to take the minivan for a test drive with the kiddos.
• We almost walked away that night, but the manager of the dealership quickly made a $1,500 price drop to keep us interested. (I'm assuming this is because this vehicle had been sitting in their parking lot for over 2 months.)
• We still walked, saying we'd think about it.
• We looked at every dealership in Waco to scope out comparable or better deals.  Zip.  Zero.
• Jadie called the dealership in Temple and negotiated another $500 price drop.
• Jadie brought the minivan home last night so we could have our mechanic look at it today.
• No major issues with the minivan functionality or under the hood.
• We gave the dealership a list of things we saw and wanted to have repaired.  They agreed.
• We drove to Temple to pay for our new minivan!