If you can do private deals, not through a lot, or worse the wholesalers...

One great way to filter this is to understand why they are selling the car. Good reasons lead to good cars.

-no longer needed, change in family scenario
-business car sold every X miles

Those were the reasons I got when buying my daily runner vehicle. The guy would buy cars with his rental company, which then rented them to his business. Maintenance and all that got done on the vehicles on schedule, and when it's time to cycle out the vehicle for a new one, he sells.

So far, I've got 150K of my miles on that vehicle, and it was maintained, full dealer service, which I kept up on. One of the best used deals I've had so far. Since I've all the records, I know I've got some basics to get done in the next 50K. No big deal.

Another thing to do is research the models and overall performance. Calling in the service departments, or your local mechanic can yield some good info.

I just got another used car to become the daily runner. Reason was a death in a family, car no longer needed. That's a potentially good reason.

Turns out that model of car was released as a V6 and V4. The V6 is an outstanding runner with few problems and a modest maintenance schedule. The V4 is just pissy, not the same kind of car. I got the V6, and will need to have some preventative maintenance done in the next year or so. The prior owner kept up on that with service records.

This is a no brainer to continue. I'll have my mechanic take a good look, and recommend the "make it go 80K" with few hassles work. This will probably cost $1K or so. Given the price of the car, the total investment is well worth it.

Both of those work well for cars less than 10 years old and under 100K miles or so.

For newer ones, it's a bit harder because the failure data might not be out there yet. I tend to avoid that scenario, buying new, or buying old enough to make getting the necessary things done totally worth it.

Some older vehicles are more or less time tested. I have one of those too. It's the backup car that costs me almost nothing. I loan it out sometimes too, if somebody needs a runner for a short time. It's long paid for, runs great, and just isn't worth much, so it's all low risk. I have 360K miles on that old car. Paid $1500, and $500 or so every few years to maintain. That was my rainy day, "have to get there" or "they need to get there" car, and it has served us well. That model is known for very long service life, and the purchase reasons?

-damaged front axle due to accident
-they got new car

In every other way, that car was perfectly maintained. The guy I got it from did the axle work, and sold it cheap as a runner, due to it's cosmetics. Wonderful purchase!

To me, that under 5 years old used market is where a lot of the risk is. Buying ones that are 5 to 10 years old, where the reason for selling the car makes sense, the driver / maintenance profile is sane, etc... is much lower risk.

Additionally, the lower overall costs in that range mean there is plenty of room to invest a little common sense maintenance without feeling like it's all too much money. So, that's my sweet spot. I really don't value higher end / expensive cars enough to own them.

They sure are fun to gawk at and drive once in a while though!