Our New Van

At the beginning of the summer the transmission went out on a friends vehicle. They couldn't decide what they wanted to do with the van. Should they fix it or use the money to buy a smaller vehicle? (Both of their kids are off to college.)

They decided to purchase a smaller vehicle, and we talked about buying their van. They weren't sure what they wanted to do, and we didn't hear anything.

Last Saturday they called to see if we were still interested in the van. We were. A van with a bad transmission isn't worth much, we were thinking a couple of 100 dollars. They gave it to us, FREE!

Ah yes, we need to get the transmission fixed. We've talked about several different options. The most expensive would be around $800. The best scenario would be that we would trade a rebuild for firewood with a mechanic that lives near here.

It isn't our dream vehicle. The biggest drawback is it is a sport caravan, meaning it is smaller than our current minivan. We may need to get a carrier for all our luggage for trips. But it is a year newer with about 50,000 less miles. The body is good shape and it has two sliding doors. It is a step up and you can't beat the price. We'll keep you updated on how much the transmission actually does cost us.