6 Tips for a Successful Family Car Buying Experience

This post is sponsored by Kelley Blue Book on behalf of Everywhere Agency; however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Buying a car is one of the biggest investments you'll make.  When it comes time to determining the best car for you and your family, has always helped us narrow down our decisions.  I have been using Kelley Blue Book for close to 20 years.  Kelley Blue Book helps to research cars, determine the value of a used car, and to compare features of cars I was interested in.  Today, I am sharing 6 tips for a successful family car buying experience with !

there isn't any snow here in Portland, so we drove around 45 minutes to Government Camp for this gorgeous scene 

Our Family Car Buying Experience

One of our favorite features of is their Best Cars and Top 10 Lists.  My mom has owned several Honda's and I always knew they were great cars.  She's had her CRV for around 10 years and it's been so reliable!  While researching our current SUV, I knew I was interested in a Honda.  awarded Honda number one best car brand in 2018 (based on comfort, reliability, resale value, etc).  are out and our SUV is on the list.  We chose a Honda Pilot and I am so in love with our car!  has named the Honda Pilot SUV Best Buy for the last four years!

I thought our previous SUV would be a good fit for us when we purchased it in 2014.  We only had one child at that time.  When Madi came along, our SUV was just too small.  I could never drive if we needed to go somewhere with my family and my mom, and would always have to take two cars.  If we went to the beach, we could never take Dexter.  There just wasn't enough room for all our beach stuff and him!  We made the decision to upgrade to the Honda Pilot this last Summer.  I am so happy with our purchase!

Kelley Blue Book's Best Buy List - 2019

is a great place to start if you are in the market for a brand new vehicle.  There are so many great options that made the list.  The Audi Q7, the Volvo XC40 (which we drove to the beach for a girls weekend in and loved it!), and the Honda Odyssey just to name a few.

is also a great place to search for local used cars.  I have also used their services in the past to check the value of my car before listing it for sale.

Tips for Buying a Car as a Family

Since we recently went through the car buying experience, I wanted to share a few tips with you!  Especially when you have other people to keep in mind, it's important to think this huge decision through!

1. Hopefully once you've decided on a type of vehicle, you've done some research to narrow down your decision.  is a great place to start!  Go car shopping without the kids first.  Hire a baby sitter and spend the day test driving a few of your favorite models.  It's pretty much impossible to do this with kids along, so it's best to leave them home at least for the first round!
2. Are you going to be expanding your family soon or are you done growing?  If you want to expand your family, make sure to keep that in mind when looking at cars.  Babies need a lot of equipment.  You'll want to make sure to pick a car with lots of storage space!  If you have toddlers/babies currently, will your huge double stroller fit in the back?  Bring it with you to make sure!
3. Will you be going on a lot of road trips with your kids?  If so, I'd highly recommend getting a model with an entertainment system!  Being able to pop in the girls favorite movie during a long car ride has been an absolute life saver!  While I would love to have a panoramic sunroof (it was either that or the DVD player), I'll have to wait till the girls are a little older for that!
4. Since we're talking family cars, do you want the extra seat or the pilot chairs?  We decided on the bench seat as the middle row and I still go back and forth on whether that was a good decision.  With the car seats in the car, it's pretty difficult to get into the third row.  We don't use it a ton right now luckily, and the extra seat is nice, but I'm not sure we'll ever drive anywhere with all eight seats full!
5. Bring your kids to test drive your final car picks once you've narrowed your decision down to two or three cars.  You'll want to make sure their car seats fit ok and that they can fit comfortably in their spots with plenty of leg room (so they don't kick your seat!).
6. Once you find your car and are ready to make the purchase, try your best to leave the kids at home to sign paperwork!  This took several hours and the girls were about to lose it.  The dealership where we purchased our car from had lots of snacks and a play area, but it would have been much better to leave them with Grandma.  We actually hadn't planned on buying the car that day but the price was too good to pass up.

How did you determine the perfect car for your family?  I'd love to hear your tips!   Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks as always for reading!

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