Hello, I’m looking at purchasing a ~20 year old sedan that has spent most of its life on the East Coast of the US. It has previously had parts of the exhaust rust. Is this an amount of rust you would be concerned about?
What you’re showing us doesn’t look too bad . . .
But you should get that car up on a lift . . . or at least 4 jack stands . . . and show us more pictures, imo
And inspect the car during the daytime 
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You can’t see the places that matter from those pictures. The car must be too embarrassing to tell us its specifics. Cars are specific, not generic. They also go for miles. How many so far? It’s the whole situation that matters. If it were from Hartford Ct. there wouldn’t be a body worth looking at.
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What are the places that matter for rust? I’m happy to pm you more details if it would help evaluate the rust - I otherwise would 100% buy the car but I do not know enough about rust specifically.
These are the places I was most concerned about (the control arms/wheel bearings)- so that’s a good sign! I could of course be missing something obvious, knowing nothing. But I just want to know if it’s worth a PPI from someone qualified.
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Just take this mystery vehicle to an independent body shop and pay to have it looked over than you will have an professional evaluation. Why you don’t seem to want to say what this 20 year old vehicle is beyond me.
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Based on the pictures of the under side of the vehicle, it looks alot like a 9th gen (2003-2008?) Toyota Corolla…
So I’m gonna say it is a 2006 Toyota Corolla, which are great cars and I have seen them go 500,000 hard miles (20+ fleet vehicles) with little maintenance/repairs, other than tires, brakes and oil changes and normal wear and tear stuff…
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How about you tell us what this mystery vehicle is?
That will also influence any further advice, imo
The pictures show a Corolla rear beam axle; must be a Corolla. It’s still a twenty-year-old car with minor rust, not a valuable car either way.
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Some people like 20 yr old Toyotas.
Someday I might buy one.
If you buy 20 year old car in 10 years is it still a 20 year old car, or is it now a 30 year old car??? I’m sooo confused… 
(it was a joke)
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That’s actually better than average for a 20 year old car in a salt area. The 2005 F-150s have been almost junk due to the bottom of the frame rusting away completely in as little as 15 years. Some cars I think Nissan have rust starting in the bottoms of the doors and they aren’t that old.
To check for rust look at the rocker panels. Some do not have factor holes with plugs which means they are not treated inside, so they rust from the inside out. This alone doesn’t make the car undriveable, but it looks bad, and it can damage the jacking location on the pinch weld. Look at the body area under the rear bumper cover. Look inside the doors at the bottom. Look at things like wheel hubs, have the grooves for the ABS sensors rusted away? How about the brake lines, is there rust? Gas tank hanger straps. Take a good look under the car at all the areas that have thin metal, and anything else that could trap water inside like subframe components. Are essential bolts rusted and unusable? Can the alignment bolts be loosened to adjust the alignment? Is the parking brake cable sticking?
Guy at work was at the new car dealer during lunch looking at the high end trucks. A couple of sales people were racing each other to get to him first. The guy that got there first asked out of breath if he could help…Nah, I’m just looking at the truck I’m going to buy in 10 years… They slinked away and left him alone to browse.
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