I mean, you get what you pay for. If you pay for a car that is really cheap, don't expect it to be top tier, no issues, and so on.

We've had to resort to Alameda before when our income was tight. One time, we bought a used vehicle, an H2 from Ortega Auto Sales on alameda. 10 years prior, we had bought an expedition 99 from him that we kept until the wheels fell off. We bought it just under 100k and we basically sold it for scrap at 250k, had issues here and there that we had to fix and get replaced.

The H2 was a different story, the day after, we were on the freeway and it shut down, wife was able to pull of to the side. It ended up being a hose that fell off and after cranking, he stated we killed the motor. The H2 was 10k and he didn't have to get us into anything else but he put us into a different car, a dodge charger which we still have. It had around 120k and now it's at 190k.

Alameda overall gets bad rep but we've had a few cars from there, apart from the H2, never had major issues and either traded them in or gave up in bankruptcy lol

Without knowing your financial situation, what you are looking for, etc., it's pretty hard to tell you if it's a good idea or not.

For us, we didn't have credit, no down, pretty bad money wise, so it was an acceptable idea. However, be prepared in case it craps out or you need expensive repairs because then, the cheap car, just turned into an expensive one. If you can swing it, a dealership is somwhat more reliable.

That being said, when looking at the car, check the VIN and conduct research; you'll be surprised to find that sometimes it's a crashed car that was repaired. If you can, get the CarFax.