My friend recently bought a used car that wasn't that bad for about $2000, and he did the whole buy here pay here thing and it seems to be working out for him. They financed it very well, with very little interest, and the car passed the state inspection on the first try (which is very rigorous). My suggestion from car shopping with him for two months would be to be picky, don't get suckered in to anything, fight for the price you want, shop around and always look for a better deal, and if you absolutely nothing about cars (which he didn't) bring someone with you who knows a lot about cars (like myself). This is all very common sense stuff, but you would be surprised how often people get suckered in to buying absolutely horrible cars.