You might be surprised. I just bought a 2001 Toyota Tundra, super reliable Toyota, right? These list between $7-25k in my area with around my milage (180k). I got a super good deal on it, and it was in good visual inspection. Well, now I can’t find a timing belt sticker and the previous owner didn’t have a book of receipts. Toyota dealer wants $3500 to do the timing belt, something that has to be done every 80-100k miles or you have a ticking time bomb. There are only two independent shops that I would trust in my town, but have a two month wait almost all the time. I can do the job myself and have the tools, but most people would not be able to. Luckily for me, it is to replace my 03 Dodge truck with 350k miles on it, as that is just getting too expensive to keep running. I have already got new shocks, brakes, ball joints, center bearing, and full tune up. I already have over $3k in parts, with “free” labor. For me, this is worth it, but to the average person, you could easily have shop bills over $20k on a “reliable” vehicle that they paid around $10k for. That is a tall order for the majority of lower income people out there.
You might be surprised. I just bought a 2001 Toyota Tundra, super reliable Toyota, right? These list between $7-25k in my area with around my milage (180k). I got a super good deal on it, and it was in good visual inspection. Well, now I can’t find a timing belt sticker and the previous owner didn’t have a book of receipts. Toyota dealer wants $3500 to do the timing belt, something that has to be done every 80-100k miles or you have a ticking time bomb. There are only two independent shops that I would trust in my town, but have a two month wait almost all the time. I can do the job myself and have the tools, but most people would not be able to. Luckily for me, it is to replace my 03 Dodge truck with 350k miles on it, as that is just getting too expensive to keep running. I have already got new shocks, brakes, ball joints, center bearing, and full tune up. I already have over $3k in parts, with “free” labor. For me, this is worth it, but to the average person, you could easily have shop bills over $20k on a “reliable” vehicle that they paid around $10k for. That is a tall order for the majority of lower income people out there.