I think the largest part of the fact that many mechanics drive inexpensive, late-model cars and get rid of them is the fact that inexpensive, late-model cars ar

I think the largest part of the fact that many mechanics drive inexpensive, late-model cars and get rid of them is the fact that inexpensive, late-model cars are more or less irreparable in a hobby setting. Things simply aren't mechanical anymore. Modern cars are so computerized and interconnected that you often can't just "fix" a broken part, you have to replace it. I'm sure a mechanic would be able to do the replacement if they had the part, but I imagine that takes a lot of the enjoyment out of being a mechanic. You could probably get around that by only buying cars that predate mass computerization (now 20+ years old), but then you're trading one problem for a potentially much larger set of problems. It's not that they might not want to fix cars - it's that it might not be worth it to indulge that activity as a hobby.