Anyone NOT have a vehicle that fits whole family?

[ksr5377]

DH and I are looking at vehicles and have a family of 6.  As we have been looking and talking we realized that now that kids are older, one is driving, they all have different activities etc. we hardly ever all ride together anywhere.  We started keeping track and realized it averages about once a month.  Maybe.  We think the recent holidays skewed that average a bit higher as we all travelled to see my family. We only do that every other year or so.  

Anyways, it occurred to us that the cost of driving two cars here and there is much less than the cost of a larger vehicle plus the lower gas mileage that larger vehicle has.  Now we're thinking that potentially this cost savings is worth the hassle of two drivers here and there.  Especially since we'll have a 4th driver in about 6 months and will be adding another vehicle then.  I thought I would throw it on the forum to see if anyone has done this and if you were happy with the choice or regretted it.

[Eos]

We only ever had one VW van that fit us all, but my kids age split is over 16 years so really didn't use it after ds went to college and the van died its final transmission-related death.  Never been a problem.

[BusyMom5]

Following- same discussion going on at my house.  I've driven a Suburban forever, but we really don't need it all the time.  We are thinking maybe a crossover that we can fit in if needed, even if it's a bit crowded.  Most likely someone else would be driving a different car for whatever reason- going to work or school.  

[Soror]

Yes, I replaced my old van with a car last January. In that time, we've needed to use 2 vehicles to all go some place 3 times- to abd from airport, family get together, and Thanksgiving.  No regrets. I love driving a car. I hate bigger vehicles. It was certainly worth it in gas savings alone. Since ds got his license there were few times we all rode together. Now dd will be getting hers in April. As it is mostly it is just the younger girls and me riding together.

[Faith-manor]

Our minivan camper when all the seats are in it fits us and our three adult sons for travel. Our last trip was in May. We took them on one last, major trip together as a graduation gift since in the last three years, all three had graduated college at some point. Now the back seats are out, and my mom drives the van as her regular vehicle so she can hold four. But when we want to camp, we take it without the seats except the front buckets, and she drives our Equinoxes which could technically hold five people, but I wouldn't do it for a long trip because it is would be tight for the person sitting in the center.

The Equinoxes gets 29/30 mpg for me around town, and 32 on the highway most of the time which is way better than the Sienna, and for whatever reason, it is cheaper to insure. Insurance costs are a huge issue in Michigan, so we prefer out two car method. Dh drives a Saturn Astra, an itty bitty sail-a-car as he described it. He gets 35-36 to a gallon no matter if it is town or freeway driving because it is a manual which apparently increases fuel efficiency if you drive it right. It is bizarrely cheap to insure. 

[ksr5377]

31 minutes ago, Soror said:

Yes, I replaced my old van with a car last January. In that time, we've needed to use 2 vehicles to all go some place 3 times- to abd from airport, family get together, and Thanksgiving.  No regrets. I love driving a car. I hate bigger vehicles. It was certainly worth it in gas savings alone. Since ds got his license there were few times we all rode together. Now dd will be getting hers in April. As it is mostly it is just the younger girls and me riding together.

This sounds a lot like us.  Oldest DD is in school, so it's usually just me and the 3 still homeschooling.  It seems like even when all 6 of us end up somewhere at the same time, schedules don't allow us to all drive together anyways.  For example,  we'll often to DH's mom's house Friday nights for dinner.  Well, the 3 kids at home and I will go a bit earlier in the afternoon to play some board games or something like that with her and DH and oldest DD will come after they are home from work/school.  This evening we have a calling hours to go to but DH wants to go at the beginning when he knows a few other friends will be there and I can't get there until 2 hours later after some meetings.

[hshibley]

Yes we did that after our minivan died years ago. It worked out fine. As the kids got older the number of times we need 2 cars to go somewhere wasn’t more than 2 or 3 times a month. 

[Harriet Vane]

We spent almost a decade taking care of some kids on weekends. When the extra kids were with us, our car was short one seat. In other words, our minivan could hold a driver and seven kids. If there were two adults plus all the kids, then there was one more person than there were seats. In our case, we lived in a city with a fabulous public transportation system. Most of the time we could get by with just one adult wrangling the kids to and from their home and doing the driving. If we wanted to go somewhere special as a whole family, then one person (usually dh) would ride a bike or take the train.

It was really hard sometimes working around this. But we were always able to do so.

I think in your case, if you actually have two cars (so enough seats for everyone), then it shouldn't be a big deal at all. You might actually find you prefer the flexibility of two cars.

[stephanier.1765]

The one thing I miss since downsizing is the ability to haul things. When I find that great piece of furniture at Goodwill, I have to really, really, really want it because then I either need to find someone to haul it for me or rent something. It's taken a lot of the fun out of re-doing a room. Other than that, no regrets.

[katilac]

I'd have a tough time doing it, because so many great conversations and memories were created when all in the car together. 

We only have 2 kids, but often had 6 people with other family members. I only needed a minivan to do that, though, not a Suburban or anything. 

It is, ahem, quite possible that I own a minivan van, and my kids are grown. We potentially need to evacuate a lot of pets and potentially extra people in hurricane season, so that played into it. Also, we had just gone on a fun vacation with two other couples, and we had grand plans for taking shorter trips with 6 in the van. This was, of course, 3 months before Covid hit 🤣

[Lecka]

While we are a family of 5, our vehicles don’t fit everyone comfortably.  
 

We decided when we purchased a different vehicle, to rent a mini-van for any driving trips.  
 

This has worked well for us.  

 

We can be uncomfortable for 10-15 minutes once in a while and it’s not a big deal, but we could not take a trip this way.

 

We do also sometimes take two cars when we “could” take one, and this is a little bit about comfort, but a lot about often 1 adult and 2 kids want to leave earlier, and 1 adult and 2 child want to stay longer.  This is just a common dynamic for us.  

 

Edit: seeing other responses, we were eager to get rid of the mini-van.  It is more expensive, the tires are more expensive, it’s harder for me to park, and my husband is someone who doesn’t care for mini-vans.
 

In the meantime he wanted a pick-up for years, and waited on that until our need for a mini-van decreased.  
 

So there was a lot of personal

preference for us.  

Edited January 15, 2023 by Lecka

[Spryte]

Our at-home family is smaller now, but for a while we did not have a vehicle that would carry all of us at once. We Ubered if we needed occasionally. We rented a minivan when we needed to travel out of town. The occasional rental was less than the upkeep and cost of a larger vehicle. And it fit our primary goal of having a smaller footprint.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

This is what we plan to do. We have four teenagers and currently drive a minivan. Our oldest has her license and her own car and our second will probably get her license this year. She’ll be 18 early next year. Number three is getting her permit this fall. We already take two cars many places, and sometimes even three, due to conflicting schedules and only once or twice a month do all six of us go somewhere together. We think we might get another year or two out of the van and then when it dies we’ll replace it with something smaller. 

[BlsdMama]

We do. When gas prices got super high, we traded off the wheelchair van that was a modified fifteen passenger. Our Honda Odyssey is an eight passenger. DH, myself, and the five non-drivers fit fine plus a free seat. DD20 lives on campus but goes to church with us most weekends, DS18 lives at home as does DD16. All three of them own their own vehicles. 
 

We thought perhaps keep the big van, but paying insurance for a vehicle we don’t drive plus deterioration over time (it doesn’t fit in the garage) seemed silly. The only place all ten  of us go together is church these days. At some point it will become a huge pain to transfer me in and out of my big wheelchair or the small one won’t work. Then we’ll need a new plan because wheelchair minivans max at five passengers which is a no go. We sold the other van around May-ish, I think. No regrets. 

[cjzimmer1]

6 hours ago, ksr5377 said:

DH and I are looking at vehicles and have a family of 6.  As we have been looking and talking we realized that now that kids are older, one is driving, they all have different activities etc. we hardly ever all ride together anywhere.  We started keeping track and realized it averages about once a month.  Maybe.  We think the recent holidays skewed that average a bit higher as we all travelled to see my family. We only do that every other year or so.  

Anyways, it occurred to us that the cost of driving two cars here and there is much less than the cost of a larger vehicle plus the lower gas mileage that larger vehicle has.  Now we're thinking that potentially this cost savings is worth the hassle of two drivers here and there.  Especially since we'll have a 4th driver in about 6 months and will be adding another vehicle then.  I thought I would throw it on the forum to see if anyone has done this and if you were happy with the choice or regretted it.

When my sixth kid was born, our largest vehicle only seated 7.  We couldn't afford a larger vehicle.  None of my kids were old enough to drive at that point.  But there wasn't that many places where everyone went together.  Mostly we took two vehicles but when they was cost prohibitive, I jerry rigged an extra seat (not recommending this approach just stating what we did).  It took about 3 years before we could buy a bigger vehicle.  It honestly wasn't that big of a deal.  Now with older kids and "only" have 3-4 kids with us, we almost never use the bigger vehicle since it cost so much more to run.  

In your case with older kids who already have other transportation,  I would absolutely go for the smaller vehicle.  

[mommyoffive]

We did until March of last year.  I can see in your scenario how it would work. 

I hate cars and hope to always have a minivan or suv.  I love being up higher.  We both have minivans  now that can seat the whole family.  Which is awesome because when I need dh to pick up certain kids I don't have to figure out solutions on if he can fit them all.  Who knows what the future holds when some of my kids start driving and flying the nest.  I see maybe we could get a smaller car but then I think we will be picking kids up at college, kids coming home, significant others, and grandkids.  We also have 2 large dogs currently.  

Oh and we have a hybrid minivan so we are getting pretty good gas mileage.  Especially in the warmer months and with city driving.  I would love to get another hybrid or electric minivan/suv going forward.

[Meriwether]

We have a larger vehicle that fits all of us. We drive it to church and for road trips. We also drive it if we need the 4WD or have a vehicle in the shop. Everything else we drive the smaller vehicles that are cheaper to drive.

[rebcoola]

Us when we were trying to shop for a replacement for our suburban.  We looked at all the various options and for things we actually liked they were so crazy expensive.  Than we thought about how often we actually drive all together (not really very often) did some math and realized how much money we would save even if sometimes we drove 2 cars. So we have a VW Jetta and than added a Toyota Yaris. We just take both or DH rides his motorcycle and we take the VW.

[Ting Tang]

I have a minivan for our family of six, but we are four years away from anyone driving.  There are times; however, when my husband needs to tow our boat.  He can only tow it with a truck, so we split apart, and I drive a few in the minivan.  I much prefer a minivan over a big SUV, but in the future, I would prefer just to drive a sedan.  A lot of SUVs that hold a larger family sometimes are not fun to crawl in and out of, unless you're 8.  My in-laws have one of those, and so...yeah...  it sounds like the plan for smaller vehicles is a good option for you!

[happypamama]

We are a family of eight, with four drivers.  We do have a fullsize 12 passenger van that we take when we need to, like on vacation.  But, gas is so expensive, and also the van is a beast to park.  We have DH's small commuting vehicle (good on gas), and we also have two other small commuter vehicles that are great on gas that our two young adults drive.  We very often just take two of the smaller vehicles in lieu of the big van, unless we need to pay for parking.  We have found that this gives us plenty of flexibility as well.  For instance, we had passes to an amusement park for the family last summer, about a 45 minute drive.  Parking was free with the passes, so we usually just took two cars when a lot of us went, so that some of us could go earlier or leave earlier.  

 

Would I buy another 12 passenger van at this point?  I don't know.  We've had it for almost nine years, so well before any kids could drive and when I was regularly hauling all six kids around together.  I think if I had to replace it soon, I'd probably step down to an SUV or minivan.  We still need capacity for vacation, especially with a large dog, while we could easily take an SUV/minivan plus one of the little cars, two little cars wouldn't give us the luggage capacity.  But for day to day, if everyone wanted to go to dinner or on a day trip, yeah, two small cars would be cheaper than the big van.

[Arcadia]

We are a family of four so our Toyota Corolla sedan works for us. However we do rent a minivan if we want to go on a road trip with my visiting relatives or his visiting relatives. With my relatives, we usually have enough advance notice to rent a 8 seater Toyota Sienna and my relatives would chip in on the rental and gasoline cost. With my husband’s aunt, it was an unplanned very short road trip so we ended up with renting a Nissan minivan since they didn’t have any Toyota or Honda available.
I don’t drive and DS18 isn’t interested in driving. So when we need two cars, my husband drive one group and the other group takes a cab or UberX. If we are not in a rush for time, we actually rely on public transport. Where I am, it is easier to find parking for compact cars than larger cars. That was one reason we didn’t get a minivan, the other being the mileage since California tends to have the highest gasoline prices. 

[Soror]

On 1/15/2023 at 10:34 AM, ksr5377 said:

This sounds a lot like us.  Oldest DD is in school, so it's usually just me and the 3 still homeschooling.  It seems like even when all 6 of us end up somewhere at the same time, schedules don't allow us to all drive together anyways.  For example,  we'll often to DH's mom's house Friday nights for dinner.  Well, the 3 kids at home and I will go a bit earlier in the afternoon to play some board games or something like that with her and DH and oldest DD will come after they are home from work/school.  This evening we have a calling hours to go to but DH wants to go at the beginning when he knows a few other friends will be there and I can't get there until 2 hours later after some meetings.

Yes, even when we went to Thanksgiving it was nbd because ds wouldn't have rode with us anyway. He came with his gf they got there before us and left early.

On 1/15/2023 at 11:45 AM, katilac said:

I'd have a tough time doing it, because so many great conversations and memories were created when all in the car together. 

We only have 2 kids, but often had 6 people with other family members. I only needed a minivan to do that, though, not a Suburban or anything. 

It is, ahem, quite possible that I own a minivan van, and my kids are grown. We potentially need to evacuate a lot of pets and potentially extra people in hurricane season, so that played into it. Also, we had just gone on a fun vacation with two other couples, and we had grand plans for taking shorter trips with 6 in the van. This was, of course, 3 months before Covid hit 🤣

I had a friend ages ago before I even had kids that loved her minivan and had kids that had long since grown up. I don't understand it but to each their own. 

We're not missing any convos and memories by having a car because by the time we got a car my son drove himself and had his own things going on. He has his own friends he hangs with and his job. My dh's daily driver is a car so he and I can both take all 3 girls easily if needed. But that's pretty rare too. 

[rebcoola]

We even took 2 cars on our last road trip and It was kind of amazing. We couldn't trade drivers but we don't much anyway because of my motion sickness I either drive or take dramamine which renders me comatose.  The kids really enjoyed being able to switch cars be able to take a break from each other.   We could split up as needed which was nice at times.