Jim, I think your goals for owning a car are different from others'.
In particular you seem feel that how the market values a car is
irrelevant, hence odometer readings and salvage status are irrelevant.
Fine for your and some people's needs. Not for mine and others',
though. I want a car for which a price has been "set" by a resource
like Kelly Blue Book. KBB.com will not spew out a price for cars with
unknown mileage or having salvage status. Your argument is probably
more with kbb than anything else.