I'd avoid the fast moving online dealers like Carvana. Look up the ownership history of Carvana and also watch videos of these car thief documentaries where they are talking about how easy it is to get a title made for a late model stolen car and dump it on to Carvana for a quick profit.
The best way to buy is the educated way. Figure out what you want, pick a few models, and learn as much as you can about those models. Which drivetrain combos are the most reliable? Which years seem to have the least problems? How common was the model (the more common a car and it's drivetrain was, the lower your future repair costs should be, generally speaking).
Get service history, and remember that carfax is only as accurate as the records that shops are willing to sell to carfax. Carfax is generally quite incomplete and in no way guarantees anything no matter what their carfax guarantee claims.
Use your gut feeling to buy from someone who seems trustworthy. If you don't trust your gut, find a friend with a good gut. Does the seller seem like a fast talking, smooth salesman? Probably a scumbag. Does the private seller seem to be associated with particular geographical areas of the world? Mileage has likely been changed or car has been totaled before without the title being branded (Sorry to my friends in the areas you know I'm referencing but you know exactly what I'm talking about lol).
Remember, aftermarket car warranties are a scam. They are sold by dealers to make people feel comfortable with not doing their due diligence on a sale.
Always get an independent inspection unless you are capable of doing a comprehensive one yourself.
Never buy a car that has been modified/tuned unless you understand that it's not going to last like one which was kept stock and maintained properly, and if you buy the modified/tuned car, never pay as much as you would pay for a well-cared-for car that is bone stock.
Never pay more for aftermarket accessories. They have no value and in general are never as durable as the OEM alternative... Unless we're talking about the emissions system.
Never be a desperate buyer. One thing I've noticed with scummy sellers is that if you aren't desperate, and they can't get you into a state of desperation with their "Well I already have someone else who wants to buy this so you better buy it now" lies is that the more scummy they are, the more quickly they will lose interest in trying to sell you the car if your desperation level does not rise. These are the kind of sellers you should walk away from.
Buying cars from sellers who reside in areas which have yearly inspection requirements (i.e. not just emissions testing, but also apparent functional/safety system condition) generally nets you a better car, especially for older cars.
Buying from these areas also usually means more private sellers who are well off and not looking to get top dollar for their car, they're just trying to get more than trade in value, or more than some used car broker will give them minus commission. Speaking of which, never buy a car that spent its life in a notoriously poor area.
Never send money through the internet or any payment service for a down payment or payment to "hold" a vehicle, and never put any money down in person without seeing the title, in the sellers name, and not without a signed written contract describing the nature of the payment and terms of the hold.
Another thing to remember, especially if you've been driving an older car all this time, is that all the newer cars track you. This started in the late 2000's with most cars though the first generation used 2G modems (depreciated years ago), switched to 3G and used that up to the early to mid 2010's (mostly depreciated now) and now use LTE/GSM/etc.
All of your driving habits, speeds, location, how fast you stop, what devices you connect to the car, what wireless devices are near the car, even "diagnostic data" in the form of pictures from the front/rear facing cameras is sent back to the OEM. This happens whether or not you "opt out". There is no law that prevents the OEM from collecting the data if you opt out; They simply don't distribute the data as widely if you opt out.
Once they have this data, it is sold to lexis nexis and a score of other entities which then use it to set your insurance rates, potential credit score impact, etc; It is associated with the advertising ID's on your other devices, for more targeted advertisement; The use of the data continues to evolve. The insurance company association is the big hit. Quite a few articles in the last year regarding people who couldn't figure out why their insurance rates suddenly doubled until they ran a lexis nexis report and discovered that their car had reported them doing things like speeding, engaging in hard acceleration or hard stops, etc. I consider it critical to immediately disable these systems when a car is purchased if you value your insurance rates and general data autonomy.
You will find lots of fearful people who will say "Oh but you have nothing to hide! Don't disable it, because then that makes me feel like I should too, and I don't like thinking and doing stuff, I just want to play!". Others will try to sell FUD about "Oh but your car won't call 911 if you get in an accident!". I'm here to tell you that we had none of that stuff in past decades and everyone was just fine. Everyone has smartphones nowadays anyway. Nothing in this life is without risk, I am more worried about cost of living.
Speaking of insurance, ALWAYS quote insurance on a car before buying it. I am shocked at how much people are paying for insurance on brand new cars that are only $25k out the door at the dealer - More than twice what full coverage costs on one of my 20 year old audis that had an MSRP of twice that or more. I do not carry full coverage, I carry only liability insurance, if the car gets wrecked it's wrecked. The amount of money I've saved over the years from doing that is astounding. I can insure 3 cars with liability only insurance for less than what a single one of them would cost for full collision coverage, and the old steel body audis are not that expensive for collision coverage. Of course, you might not want to do this on a more expensive car, I understand, but that's why I prefer to drive old cars :-)
idk that's my thoughts on used cars. Used car enjoyer here. I'll continue to drive my 2000's cars for the forseeable future. My daily driver has been totaled twice before, is about to roll over 200k miles, and she's just getting started.
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I am a 034 nutswinger 
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