The goal: To get a late model Honda Odyssey into my garage so I can go all “Frankenstein” on it.
After doing some research and test driving vans with Flinstones-braking technology, I’ve decided that a Honda Odyssey would be the perfect minivan for this trip – mostly because:
- It goes up a hill
- Can sleep a 6 foot tall hobo +1 (I measured)
- Has somewhere between 30-40 airbags (not the circa-1993 kind that hits you like a brick in the face when someone taps your bumper).
- Looks about as cool as any minivan is allowed to look
- Has a cool storage compartment that can store a lot of Bananarama tapes
- The engine is not held together by duct tape
- 26 miles per gallon on the highway
Unfortunately these buggers cost 15-25K used. But realistically we’ll only need it for a few months to a year – so if we intend to sell it, we get a different version of the math.
The math behind the van
Going off Rob’s suggestion, we can look at the depreciation by looking at Kelley Blue Book prices.
A 2005 LX Honda Odyssey in Good condition and with 40,000 miles costs $17,795.
A 2004 LX Honda Odyssey in Good condition and with 60,000 miles costs $14,220.
So buying a van, putting 20,000 miles on it, and aging it for a year ends up costing about $3,575 in depreciation – and that’s on the high end. Realistically it would probably be quite a bit less.
So the next question is: If it will only cost a few thousand in the end (which we can probably make on the road), how can we get someone to put up $20,000, with the prospect of getting it all back?