You have suddenly realized that you have the need to buy a van. It could be either because your work requires you to carry equipment that won’t comfortably fit in your car, or it could be maybe you go skiing or biking or rafting on the weekends and need the extra room. It could even be that maybe you now have kids of the age that need to be picked up and dropped off to school and extracurricular activities, and you are part of the car pool, which necessitates having room for a car full of kids.

Whatever the reasons, you’ve also decided that you do not want to invest in a new vehicle, which you know will lose value the moment you drive it off the lot. And which will probably acquire dents and bruises, food smells and what not, depending on the usage. So your best bet is to invest in a used van. You will be relieved to hear that you have options galore. There are myriad ways you can go about looking for used vans; you can search online, use aggregator sites, go to specialty used car websites, and also check in-person or via the phone with dealerships in your city or town, as well as go through family or friends.

Now let’s take a closer look at these options. For online option, one of the good sites to start with is always eBay. eBay offers both bidding and “Buy It Now” options for purchases. Even if you don’t wish to actually buy from eBay, it gives you a good idea of the different types of vans and minivans that are available. You can peg your price range and figure out what features and models you are most interested in.

For offline options, you should check out private sellers through contacts, or head to the nearest dealers. If you are certain of which manufacturer you want to go with, then think about heading to your local certified pre-owned dealer for that car company, where you can check out their range of used vans. With this option, you can get financing, extended limited warranty, roadside assistance and perhaps most pertinent of all, you will get some level of assurance of the condition and quality of the car, since it will have the manufacturer’s seal of approval and certified pre-owned certification, having undergone a series of inspections and also having been restored to as close to factory conditions as possible.

Further, buying a used van has certain pros and cons. In terms of benefits, used vans come with extremely low insurance premiums, which automatically reduces the overall cost of buying and owning the vehicle for the long run. Another major positive of purchasing used vans is that they depreciate slowly compared to brand-new ones. This means that second-hand vans have a more stable resale value compared to new vans. In terms of cons, used vans do not come with as much warranty coverage as new vans. Also, the overall quality and reliability of a used vehicle is uncertain and mainly depends on how its previous owners maintained it.