my transmission died
uncle told me: “just buy a reliable used car like we used to.”
then i showed him the market.
a decent 2015 honda with over 140k miles was like $14k cash.
he said: “back in my day i paid $4,000.”
i adjusted it for inflation and it was STILL cheaper than cars today
then he hit me with “you just need to negotiate better.”
now people are out here paying hundreds monthly for 8-9 years on used cars they didn’t even want.
“just buy used” stopped making sense when used cars started costing what new cars used to.