Agreed. You need to eval the whole vehicle and if it doesnt run, low ball.
I was a brief owner of the geo metro and it was a costly adventure. Although I purchased the car from an estate sale for 100 bucks it was nothing but work. No sooner I fixed one problem, drove 3-5 miles down the road I got a new noise, smell or problem that cost hundreds in parts and hours in labor. I spent just under 3 grand and sold it at a loss when the tranny started to make noises like it was full of marbles.
Funny thing was it was owned by a mechanic, looked well all over despite being parked, but the evap can was missing under the hood. It even had recaro seats and a nice 200 watt cd/casette system and piaa driving/fog lamps.
It had I think 180 thousand miles.
I purchased a tacoma that was parked for 5 years with 42 thousand miles on it. 10 thousand miles later the engine was rattling and tranny not liking over drive. This was even after servicing everything. Traded it for the insight for what I paid for it.
