Why are normalfags so bad at buying used cars?

>be looking for a old shitbox so I can commute to work since my old taurus is rusted to bits and needs to be scrapped
>my mom says she saw some old boxy accord while driving around that was for sale
>thinking it might be a 5th gen, interested depending on price.
>drive there, turns out to be a '02 6th gen accord
>old lady is in her driveway in her car, decide to ask more about it
>turns out to be the people across the street selling it, but the lady talks about it anyways
>edge of the fender is caved in from rust, has some bad paint on it
>auto tragic
>192000km
>whatthefuck this is left hand drive why is it in kilometers
>owners are actually from portugal and go there in the summer, but no idea where the car actually came from
>turns out there is some birds living in the engine bay
>shitty blue tint on half the windows
>all the suspension paint has rusted off and it looks bad
>$2500, not interested at this point
>mom says, user you should buy it, it is in great shape, you'll never find something this nice around here, it has a STICKER, buy it
>mom keeps telling the lady how nice it is

Why can't normalfags ever shut their mouths when looking at cars? If someone is thinking about buying something, you don't go and compliment how nice it is in front of the person handling the deal.

lel, she decided to call to ask about the mileage, turns out the lady at the place was lying, said it was 192k km and that it was divide by 2 +10000 for the mileage. Was actually 192k miles when pressed on the phone about it.

>mfw proven right

Uropean Accords and Merrikan Accords from that gen are completely different you know. This should have been the first clue.

>aunt wants to buy a used mini cooper because she wants a small car
>tell he to look on Craigslist and wait for a good deal to show up
>nah, she wants one now
>few weeks later
>she shows up at our house to show off her "new" car
>it's a '06 mini cooper
>176,000 miles
>bought at a used car dealership for $8000
>she also didn't realized that the car has only 2 doors after she bought it
>she also thought it was a Japanese car because how small it was
>she had a face of total regret when we told her the car was German and sometimes new parts can be expensive

>06 Mini
>small

>""""""""""mini"""""""""" Cooper
>small car

It wasn't actually a european, turns out the lady we were talking to was trying to jew us into thinking it was 110k miles due to the KM conversion, not 192k miles which it actually was when we called the owner.

The owner wasn't there so we just had to look on the outside, since no key.

>mini cooper
>german

>she also didn't realized that the car has only 2 doors after she bought it
All the other stuff was dumb, but that takes the cake. How the fuck do you buy something without even knowing how many doors it has?

I went to a dealership to check out a car for $5k yesterday, but turns out someone beat me there and agreed to make payments on it.

To make it worse, I live in the rust belt and the car was rust free, obviously garage kept, but if whoever bought it has to make payments on a $5k car you know it's going to sit outside year round and rust away.

Mini is owned by BMW

I could see not realizing the Veloster was a 3 door, but anything else there's no excuse.

dodge is owned by FIAT i think. That dont mean that the viper aint american.

The Viper wasn't designed in FCA times.
If anything, the Viper would be more German, as iirc, Daimler was in on Chrysler at the time.

Were the minicoopers designers german to begin with? i still think it dont matter. Hell, many german cars were designed by japs.

The mini cooper is still a cooper. And cooper is still a "british" brand. The elise isn't a jap car even if it uses a jap engine.

>still a cooper
>cooper is still a "british" brand
Cooper is the model. Mini is the make.

Many Japanese cars are designed and made here in the US. Does that make them American cars?

Either way, you are incorrect, as the Mini Cooper of that time is certainly a german car, even if the brand isn't considered German.

Then what the fuck do you call the nationality of the car. The nationality of the designer? the nationality where the parts are made? the location where the car is put together? the origin country of the brand or the country of the company that owns the brand?

I typically find something cheap because somebody doesn't "have the time or money" to get it fixed.

My first car was a 96 Corolla for $350. Seller said it had a blown head gasket. Got it home and drained the oil. There was no water in it. The oil all over the engine was from a bad crank seal and it was overheating because some fuck with used a ton or form a gasket on the thermostat instead of buying the $2 o ring and clogged it up.

I bought a Jeep Cherokee for $650 with a had transmission. Found one at a junk yard for $300. Spend a few extra bucks in new gaskets and Tune up parts. Thing ran like new. Sold it for $1,400.

I just bought a Ford Mustang that hit a deer for $950 but the frame and engine was still good. Replaced the radiator and headlight, found a fender for sale on Facebook for $25. Now I just need to get a new windshield for it. It has a 302 5 speed in it. Plan on parting out the motor and building a 351W in it.

it's arbitrary, but it's technically by where the parent company is based.
I mean, BMW has owned Mini for like 17 years now. If it's not German i don't know what is.

BMW also owns Rolls Royce but no one is going to call a Rolls Royce a German car.

True. I've missed out on many good deals taking my parents advice on car buying.

Sitting outside isn`t that bad as long as its away from all the salted roads and kept clean.

They salt the shit out of the roads here before and after every snowfall.

Maybe that's why it's the only good modern American car

Parents always pressure their kids into buying some rust bucket death trap because the seller says it runs good and is reliable.

I just look at the body frame and transmission. I know how to work on engines and in most cases you can get an engine running for less than $100 on any old daily driver shit box. However I don't know how to reverse rust or rebuild transmissions.

Why is my dad always talking about miles per year when he's shopping for a used car? It doesn't really fucking matter, 130k miles is still 130k miles.

if someone puts 130,000 miles on a car from 2014 you know that it has been constantly abused .It's like saying if you do 500 pushups in a day or 500 pushups in a week which one would put more strain on you

still stupid, for instance my car service record shows about 7k a year from 00 to 09 then after that they started doing 30k a year for some reason

You you end up figuring out how to reverse rust, you'll be a millionaire.
The only solution to rust is to remove it and then coat the exposed metal so it doesn't rust again.
On a car, this is not economical and would cost upwards of 50 grand just in labor for an early millennial or late 90's car.

But even if a car took longer to get to 130k it still has the same amount of miles on it. It's just as worn out.

>tfw my first car could have been a 3k NA Miata but my parents coerced* me into buying an old as fuck Merc. It was a nice enough car, but shit I'd probably still have that Miata today if it wasn't for them.
*see: Guilted

That's what I've been doing, just cruising craigslist for stuff with relatively simple issues. Haven't found anything I've really felt like looking at though. There's a manual B2500 with 130k on it but needs battery terminals and a brake line for $1500, maybe if I get it for $1100 idk.

Its just as important how and where its driven. Highway miles, or city miles, road conditions, maintenance, etc.

It's not a Cooper Mini, it's a MINI, user.

Nothing about the car is british and the only thing it has in common with the original Mini is the look.

The MINI is far larger, designed entirely by germans, and made to appeal to normies who think it looks cool and retro. It is not designed to be an incredibly compact, minimalistic, and cheap car.

It's as much as Mini as the VW New Beetle is an aircooled Beetle. Hell, at least both Beetles are built by the same company. Can't say that about the MINI.