Buying Mission (Fleet) Vehicles

[ajdrem]

I'm currently in the market for a new car. The church sells old mission vehicles at about 50k miles for fairly cheap. However, you hear horror stories about how missionaries drive their cars which makes me hesitant. I know there are regular service requirements for missionaires however. Has anyone had experience buying a mission car? How did it hold up for you?

[talisyn]

Where can you buy the cars? Is there a website?

[Wingnut]

Talisyn, call your local mission office. There is no central website.

Ajdrem, the car I drive is one I bought over five years ago from the mission office. It was 3 years old when I bought it, and had ~42K miles on it. I paid $8K for it. I have not had any issues that wouldn't come up in any other car. Basic maintenance, etc.

My in-laws also bought a mission car (mission president's car). They've had it for a few years and (as far as I know) have also not had any issues.

If you're in the market for a used car, I would really recommend buying from the mission office, for a few reasons:

(1) Like you said, they are very regularly maintained and cleaned.

(2) No one has ever smoked in them, so there's no gross odor.

(3) No one has ever had pets in them, so there's no gross odor (sorry pet aficionados, I'm not one of you). This is great if you have allergies.

(4) They aren't very old and have pretty good mileage on them.

(5) The Church doesn't try to make a profit off of them -- they're priced to sell.

(6) They are driven carefully. I've never once heard a "horror story" about how missionaries drive. Missionaries are required to have a guide when reversing their cars, to avoid hitting people or other obstacles. Missionaries are ingrained with the idea that it is the Lord's car that they are driving, and that they should treat it as such.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Wingnut
add spacing for easier reading

[MarginOfError]

I've heard some horror stories about missionaries and cars, but very few of them compared to the number of missionaries. What's more, the truly horrible stories usually involve some element such as the missionaries not wearing their seat belts.

I don't hear much about missionaries drag racing, or taking their sedans out mudding. Usually it's just speeding or racing, which are things that won't do much damage to the car.

[BenRaines]

As far as I know if a missionary abuses a car they find themselves assigned to foot or if they are lucky a bike.

Ben Raines

[Dravin]

(6) They are driven carefully. I've never once heard a "horror story" about how missionaries drive.

Well... carefully for a bunch of 20 year olds. In my experience, baring the whole backing deal (which is mostly a body damage protection and shouldn't affect that mechanical soundness of the car much) missionaries drive like your average person (moments of 20 year old brain deadness aside) it's the maintenance not the driving that makes the world of difference. The mission takes those oil changes, tire pressure checks and the like very seriously.

That said check out the car before you buy it, it's a Church owned vehicle but some caution is still warranted.

[pam]

I have a friend who went on a mission just a year ago with his wife. He was in charge of all the cars in the mission. If all cars were given the same kind of care he was required I would buy one in a heart beat. Regular checkups, oil changes, tire rotations. The minute something went wrong they had it in the shop.

His only complaint was the little minor fender benders the missionaries got into. But I never heard of him mentioning anything major. And when a car reached a certain amount of miles they got new ones.

[Hemidakota]

I'm currently in the market for a new car. The church sells old mission vehicles at about 50k miles for fairly cheap. However, you hear horror stories about how missionaries drive their cars which makes me hesitant. I know there are regular service requirements for missionaires however. Has anyone had experience buying a mission car? How did it hold up for you?

No matter where you turn, it is always a risk factor in buying anything used. I just paid 10K cash for a compact car for two of my daughters from a national rental company. Safety was my concern [this vehicle has 8-airbags in the front driver/passenger area], so was, seeing an impeccable maintenance record from the rental company. Either way. it is still a risk you take, when drivers do not really care about the vehicle when it is not self own.

Several mission cars from my last calling, had several mishaps. Sad though...being new in all when the church purchased them. The only problem, most of them were not repaired back to the original conditions. Just ask for the VIN to verify for any accidents.