I have been a shade tree mechanic since the late 80’s. Went to tech school in 88. Left before I could finish because I was needed on the family ranch. I started working on peoples cars in my spare time making extra money. I always had one in the shop and at least 2 in the yard waiting. I quit doing that because I wanted more free time. I have never taken any of my own cars to a shop for repairs and have not had any formal training since tech school. A few things I know over the years. The old cars were good solid cars but were not without flaws. They required more maintenance and cost more to run in general. When they started using computers to control the cars people got scared of them and won’t work on them. The newer cars are in many ways easier to fix, pull codes and start testing sensors for the systems giving trouble. Everything monitors and controls everything else. In the 70’s and 80’s 100,000 miles was about the end of the life for the car. Now it is common to see 250,000 miles on cars still running strong. But for those of us that like the old cars, they are getting hard to find. The old cash for clunkers program took away our old parts cars. For the last 10 years or so I have been back to working on vehicles on my spare time and have enough work to stay busy. I am cheaper than the shops but more than that I work on older cars. The shops and new mechanics don’t know how. Ask a recent tech school grad to rebuild a carb, they won’t have a clue. I went to a parts store last year to get a rebuild kit for a starter. The counter kid told me you can’t rebuild them, you replace them. I have rebuilt many! So I asked him for the price of a starter he asked if I wanted a new one or a rebuilt one. As time passes the old cars will become harder and harder to find. Regulations on fuel consumption will become more of an issue which will impact used cars. The push and possible requirement to switch to electric cars will make people hang onto the old cars longer. The electric cars are being pushed as maintenance free. They claim the money saved on oil changes and fuel offsets the cost of cars. Service and information I have seen on electric cars suggest changing batteries every 2 years at a cost of around $20,000. I am sure this will change with technology. So future used cars will involve checking the age of batteries.