>The other factor with the repairs if you chose to fix the car, is the availability of the parts. I’ve had a few customers who planned on doing an affordable and “easy” fix to their current car but a critical part was back-ordered for months.

Two tips:

Car recyclers, junkyards, salvage yards, pick-n-pull, pull-a-part. They all are great source of used but still perfectly fine components to rebuild cars on the cheap.

Usually half if not more of the bill is labor. There are tons of maintenance and small repairs that can be done in a driveway with few Youtube tutorials. Car part stores will even lend you specialized tools https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/o/loaner-tools