New Van

When we were expecting Kate, we discussed whether we needed to upgrade to a larger car.  There aren't many options bigger than a suburban.  Our suburban had seats for 9, but the 9th seat was a small one between the driver and passenger.  It had very little leg room, so a smaller child had to sit there.  It always made me nervous using it, because it only had a lap belt, and was between two airbags.  But, we really didn't like the options of vans out there, so we made do.  We found we rarely were all together - only when we went to church or on vacations.  Over time we got increasingly uncomfortable squeezing into our suburban.  The final straw was the trip we made to Aberdeen for my class reunion.  We decided we'd put it off long enough, it was time for a bigger car.


So we listed our suburban online (we could get more for it selling it private party than we could on trade in).  It sold in 4 days.

So then we needed to find our new vehicle.  We had researched prior to all this, and decided we wanted a Nissan NV3500.  We thought we would just go to the dealerships here in Boise, and let them compete for our business.  But as it turned out, these vans are very rare (they just started making them in 2013 and production hasn't caught up to demand), and nobody could get their hands on one!  We turned to a dealership in Pocatello who could get one within 48 hours, and was offering the best price.  The two dealerships here in Boise said they wouldn't have one in till October, and they were a couple thousand higher in price.  Our suburban had sold, and the new owners were coming to get it that week, so we needed something now.  We decided we'd make the drive to Pocatello that weekend to get the van.  But at the last minute, a dealership here in Boise called us and said they really wanted our business.  They came down on their price and moved heaven and earth to get a van here for us.  So we saved ourselves a trip to Pocatello and bought local.  It turned out taking longer than they thought to get the van in, so we got a cute little loaner car for a week so I could get kids to their various activities during the week. 

The van is a beast.  It's huge.  12 passengers!  But we love it because we fit in it.  I haven't taken any good pictures of it, but here are some online pictures of what it looks like.
 

 

This is the closest thing I have to a picture of it - two sleeping kids after a shopping at Costco.