We’ve had great success with saving money on wrecked cars. If you’re careful you can get a great deal. My advice is to go straight to the salvage auction yourself and bid on a very lightly wrecked vehicle that you can look at with your own eyes and see the exact extent of the damage. Amazing what they will “total” a car for these days. You can sometimes find a car several years old with very little damage and moderate mileage. Surpisingly, some very lightly rolled cars sometimes have very repairable damage. Other times you may find one with some hood dents and headlamp smashed or other completely cosmetic damage. If you get to know somebody who does reasonable body-work, this can be repaired fairly cheaply. Look for shade-tree mechanics in the country who need work. Go to a body shop in the city and you’re into some $$$. If you need a part like a side panel, window or whatnot, call around to local scrapyards. You can often find your part cheaply and deliver it yourself to your mechanic.
We have followed this strategy for years and have never paid much for some very nice looking autos. Also, we have had little mechanical trouble, as we hand pick them. We have even sold a few at profit, always disclosing fully the original damage and even giving the new owners photos we took prior to repair.
I know a few folks get bad deals through nasty people selling lemons, but I feel this problem is inflated to scare people off cars suffering even the slightest damage. A tactic to sell more new cars or auto history services? Who knows?
Good luck,
Neville