[donw]

I can think of a couple of factors.

One, there's a big urban/non-urban split in American culture. The former are far less likely to know anything about working on cars, nor are they likely to have a friend or uncle that can help.

That cohort is very over-represented on HN.

Second, there's a lot of shady stuff happening in the used car market, and you really do need to be on top of things to not get scammed. We're talking that's absolutely illegal, but also difficult and expensive to enforce, so if you get stuck on the wrong end of a deal, you're just going to eat those costs.

[aprilthird2021]

I don't get this at all. I'm an urban know-nothing about cars. The current car I have I bought online from a private seller. I insisted on taking the car to a 3rd party mechanic for an assessment. Paid for the assessment, then bought the car.

It is spending maybe $400-$500 to save potentially over $10000