I've bought new vehicles in the past for DW to haul the kids around in. Always wanted to be positive of what I was getting for them. Now that kids are older we look for something that is a year or two old, usually a leased vehicle that was turned in. You can get some great deals when you're not in a hurry. My pick-up is a '97 that I bought in '99 with 12,000 miles on it. Its up to about 150,000 and still chugging along. The passenger seat is molded to my dog's hind quarters so how could I trade it? Other than that we're more clearance sale shoppers than thrift store shoppers. Nothing against it, just that our local thrift store isn't very nice.