As far as maintaing cars on a budget goes, I feel I could offer some pointers.
Going by the "$5000" figure I guess I spent about "$2/day per car." (My yearly maintenance costs are about $1,000 on years when I'm buying fresh rubber or doing large jobs. Significantly less than that on years that only require servicing consumables like brakes and fluids.)
0) Find a reliable car. This seems like a no brainer, but honestly some cars are just _built like tanks._
This is the toughest part as you'll end up spending more money since these cars naturally hold their resale value a bit better.
Find something like an older Toyota with an S engine [Camry], or perhaps a Volvo, etc.
My rule of thumb? If you don't get search results for "[Car in question] + 300,000 miles" -- you're about to buy the wrong car!
My Mustang has 300,000mi+ on the clock, my old minivan had 240,000, and it's not hard to imagine my Camry making it to 300,000mi
if I continue to maintain it.
1) Find an honest mechanic that's _willing to install customer supplied parts._
Sadly: all shops will charge [what I consider] an outrageous markup on parts. This is usually to "subsidize" whatever warranty
they offer on their work.
So be aware that you're effectively making a bet that the part you're buying isn't a dud. Otherwise you're going to find out
why they charge such a ridiculous markup. (Hint: the shop won't make you wait 2 weeks while their parts supplier processes the RMA. --
They swap in a brand new part in 24 hours, and hope that the RMA goes through.)
2) Perform certain maintenance yourself. Here's how I see it.
* You should be able to: rotate your tires, change your own oil, change air & cabin air filters, check the levels of all other fluids.
* It's nice if you can: top off & change other fluids, replace belts, change spark plugs & wires, replace a distributor cap or similar component. (Only applies to older vehicles with a cap or external ignition control module driving the ignition coils. On modern vehicles you'll have coil-on-plug fired directly from the ECU.)
* You're doing _really well_ if you can: change your own brakes [pads, rotors, drums, and shoes], swap out components on the accessory belt (anything pulley driven, like your pumps, alternator, etc.), replace _any_ suspension or steering components.
Unless something goes _wrong_, nothing above really requires any specialty tooling. Air tooling is nice, but honestly I've gotten by for years with nothing but an electric impact wrench [for removing & installing wheels]... everything else can be done with a good set of wrenches, a breaker bar, and a dash of blood and tears.
(As a precaution: the last category involves some _very dangerous jobs._ -- Improper installation of brakes will at best render your vehicle immobile, at worst it will endanger the safety of yourself and others on the road.
As for suspension: those springs support a significant amount of weight. They are _incredibly dangerous_ if not handled properly.)
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To elaborate a bit on point #1 we will use a fairly recent example.
I had a timing belt installed: I purchased the components [the belt, idler pulleys, water pump, various gaskets] myself for $90.
These components have a 5-year/50,000 mi warranty on the parts themselves.
(The shop offered a 2 year / 12,000 mi. warranty for comparison.)
The labor comes to $375 because I have a mechanic that will install customer supplied parts. Total I spent: $465 for a job that costs $600-$800 in my area.
If you want to know where the extra money comes from: let's look at the parts I _didn't supply._
I needed a thermostat & gasket, a power steering belt, an a serpentine belt. The thermostat and gasket were $25, the belts were $40 a piece, for a total of $105. I could've bought my own thermostat and gasket for $12, and I could've gotten _the same exact belts_ for $9/piece. (A savings of $75 dollars.)
At this kind of markup: my timing belt kit would've cost $200+ instead of $90, which falls right in line with the $600-$800 estimate from other shops.
If you're used to paying for parts through a garage: you're probably paying twice as much as you need to for parts.
Finding parts is a cinch: you can either ask your local part store [and then source the parts there, or online] -- or you can use a parts catalog like RockAuto which has their inventory broken down by make, model, year, and engine.
When it comes to car parts: it's worth shopping around to save money on shipping; auto parts can get quite heavy, and it makes a huge difference if you can get them shipped from a single warehouse.