Guy at the parts counter in Toledo said 'cheap cars are cheap for a reason' and I can't stop thinking about it

Hannah Young · 2026-10-14T22:05:04.176159+00:00

I was buying a $22 wheel bearing for my 2001 Civic last Saturday and some older guy next to me laughed and said he stopped buying sub $3k cars back in 2015 because he spent more on tools than the car was worth. I wanted to argue but then I did the math on my own car and I'm at $1,400 in parts alone since I bought it for $1,800 back in March. The wild part is I still think I'm ahead because a shop would've charged me triple, but there's a part of me wondering if he's right that I'm just paying rent on a beater instead of owning one. Where do you all draw the line between a car that's worth fixing and one that needs to go to the scrapyard?

Rigidtalk

Loading…

Guy at the parts counter in Toledo said 'cheap cars are cheap for a reason' and I can't stop thinking about it | Cars for Cheap - Rigidtalk