Buying a Car

Have you ever made a decision too quickly, without all of the important information? Maybe you later regretted your decision. In this project, you'll find reliable information to make a financial decision.

Objective: Apply reliable information to personal financial decisions.

Consider the following scenario.

Pastor Nancyis looking to purchase a vehicle to use for the bus ministry at her church. The route they use to pick kids up is about 7 miles long. They drive it two days a week, Sundays and Wednesdays for pickup and return, so it typically only gets driven about 28 miles per week. She wants to choose a reliable vehicle for this as well.The church has saved $43,000to put toward the purchase of this van.

She finds a fewvan models for sale and knows that she needs to pay attention to how many miles are on the vehicle as well. She also knows they will need to pay for the sales tax and license for the car. Nancy sets aside $2,000 for these expenses. She does some research and finds the following vans within her budget:

2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris (Passenger Van)	2019Ram Promaster City	2018Nissan NV200 Cargo Van
White	White	Black
4cylinder, 2.0 L	4 cylinder, 2.4 L	4 cylinder, 2.0 L
Automatic – 7 speed	Automatic – 9 speed	Automatic (variable gear ratios)
29,474 miles	38,546miles	35,123 miles
$38,976	$41,379	$40,070
18.5-gallon gas tank	16-gallon gas tank	28-gallon gas tank

Nancy thinks about how much the church will need to pay for car insurance. She thinks that it would be a good idea to get quotes on auto insurance for the models that she is considering. She also thinks about the van's gas mileage and how the van was rated by consumer Web sites and magazines.

Part 1:

Gather reliable information to help Nancy make her decision. Do this by gathering information about the mileage of each van. To gather this information use www.fueleconomy.gov. Search for each van by clicking “Find a car” and then “Find a car-home”.

	City	Combined	Highway
2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris (Passenger Van)
2019 Ram Promaster City
2018 Nissan NV200Cargo Van

Part 2:

Gather information about the safety rating of each van. This information is available at https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings#vehicle_compare_1990. You can search by typing in the year and the make and model of the van in the search bar on the page. Type yes or no in each box based on whether or not that van has that safety feature.

	Front Passenger Head Restraint	Adjustable Upper Belt Anchorage
2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris (Passenger Van)
2019 Ram Promaster City
2018 Nissan NV200 Cargo Van

Part 3:

Write a paragraph describing which van you think Nancy should purchase. Include at least three reasons why you feel that van is the best choice. Support your reasons with the features for the van and table results from above. Also make sure you include at least two sentences about the importance of this ministry and how it is helping carry out the Great Commission given in Matthew 28.