<prompt> Human: Im clearly doing something wrong. So my first car was a used one, and a bad model but I was unaware of this at the time, and in no time it pretty much decided it was done with this cruel world. I messed up not doing the research and not having any idea how to maintain a vehicle. Lost about 3,000.Second car is good. I overpaid though. Its a really nice 2003 automatic, and is very reliable, but the entire heating system is whack and the oil keeps leaking. : Im selling it, but for significantly less than what I bought it for. Lost probably 3,500 overall. Im clearly ignorant of cars and what cars are actually worth. Are there any websites to teach idiots like myself how to maintain a car, or anything that has a list of what car models are bad? Maybe a checklist of some sort? Are there any signs that I should look out for that the seller might know theres a problem?Sure, I could buy a brand new car, but from my experiences, a car is pretty terrible investment. : Also, car payments are a part of life I want to completely avoid.  <response>: from my experiences, a car is pretty terrible investmentYour experience reflects reality - cars are a terrible investment! Actually, they arent an investment at all because they always go down in value. They are meant to be purchased and used for transportation. Expecting them to maintain or appreciate in value is unrealistic. 