Every Saturday night, my parents would go to their friends’ house and stay there until late. I figured that if I could get my hands on my dad’s car keys when they left the house, I would have a good 4-5 hours with the car before they’d come home. My dad didn’t notice until he finally outsmarted me by recording down the car mileage.

I purchased my 2003 Toyota 4Runner on 6/29/2013 for $10,000 with 139k miles on the clock. 5-1/2 years later, I’m happy to still be trekking on with the same car with 240k miles on the clock.

I had a commuter car, but really wanted a car that I would have fun working on. I found this 2nd generation Mazda MX-6 for $800 in non-running condition. After years of working on the car, it was on its 3rd engine and 3rd transmission. This car is how I got my start working on cars.

Craigslist has primarily been my go-to when looking for a motorcycle to purchase. Unfortunately three different times, I arranged to meet with someone selling their Ninja 250 and I ended up walking away empty-handed. I’ve talked about Craigslist etiquette in the past and in these three scenarios, the sellers could use some, that’s for sure.

I found a pristine, low-mileage 1998 BMW E39 540i, but the deal didn’t go through even though I was first in line to buy the car. Apparently someone swooped in before my test drive appointment to buy the car. So I have to ask: Who gets the car first: the first buyer in line or the first buyer with cash-in-hand?

I found this Audi S4 (B5) that was going for half the going price. The seller told me he hasn’t run the car in a year or two, but I test drove and it appeared to be run fine. For some reason, the seller strongly urged me to have the car towed. I was a bit suspicious, but I couldn’t resist the deal and had the car towed back to my place… and so work on the car began.

The Mk1 & Mk2 Volkswagen GTI’s are known as the true GTI’s, with the 3rd and 4th generations losing its way. The Mark 5 Volkswagen GTI is supposed to be the “return of the hot-hatch.” So when I went to purchase this car, I was excited about seeing what the hype was all about.

While vacationing in Hawaii, we encountered a ridiculous amount of Toyota trucks and SUV’s. I think of the hilarious clip that comedian Jo Koy made while he was in Maui because of this very phenomenon…yet I ended up ogling over this 4Runner TRD Pro.

I have to say that I’m really appreciate of those people who identify scams on Craigslist and then make their own post to warn others of these duplicitous individuals. I came across this guy who warns everyone this 2000 Porsche Boxster.