Over the holiday break, Clark's executive producer Christa was in a car wreck. While she's fine, her SUV was injured. This is the same vehicle that she bought used and paid for in full about 4 years ago. While the SUV was being repaired, her insurance company gave her a minivan to run around in. Christa is one woman who normally wouldn't be caught dead in a minivan. But after driving it for 3 weeks, she fell in love with the roominess and safety features it offered for parents with young children. She phoned Clark in Las Vegas and asked him if he thought it was a good idea to buy a minivan. Clark didn't think so, nor did Christa's husband Mike. Then she saw an article in the paper about how buying 2007 minivans is a smart move right now. That's partly because this is the last year manufacturers will make surplus vehicles; going forward they'll be making them only when orders come in. When Christa looked at the byline on the article, it said Clark Howard! Turns out Clark wrote this article several weeks before the holiday season and didn't remember his own advice. So mama went ahead and got herself a Honda Odyssey minivan. She went through the Sam's Club buying service and loved the no-haggle process. She also got credit union financing that was just under 5 percent, and then the dealership was able to match the rate and offer additional incentives. But now she has a 60-month loan, which definitely pains Clark to hear!