QOTD: How Much Work Will You Put Into A Used Car?

by Tim Healey

Published: March 4th, 2026

qotd how much work will you put into a used car

Every so often, one of our Used Car Of The Day picks is one that needs a little -- or a lot -- of work. Today's selection is one of those.

Some of you, I know, like to wrench. Restoring a car would be a challenge you'd love to take on -- even if the vehicle isn't sporty, stylish, or rare. Even if you can't flip it for a big profit when you're done. Even if it will never be entered in a car show.

Others among you might snap up a car for cheap and fix it up enough to drive it daily -- maybe you'd do the work yourself or maybe you'd have a mechanic do it.

Or, perhaps, anything that needs a lot of work is a no-go. You just don't want to spend the time and/or the money.

Where are you at on this spectrum? Go ahead and sound off below.

[Image: Tonhio411/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 48 comments

Cor138612958 on Mar 16, 2026

Depends on the car and how much I like it.

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Liv138833242 on Mar 16, 2026

I'm a fair weather mechanic. I love improving a car by making easy, sensible fixes. Even the bigger jobs are no big deal if it's on my own schedule and I have a clear direction and understand my objective. But I live in the rainy PNW with no real garage space to park a car so my repairs and restorations take place in late spring and summer. Nothing better than a late June summer day taking an evening cruise after working on a car all day to make it run better, or look better, or both.

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