re: How would you advise a genuinely broke person regarding buying a car?

only real option if he has to have a vehicle is some fly by night buy here pay here used car lot. If someone as big as Car-Mart thinks he's not a big risk by their standards (which is low), they may take a chance on him for as little as 500$ down on something they've had on the lot for a while. But a lot of fly by night car lots will put you in a clunker for $500 down, which is about half the wholesale value of the vehicle, and take 200$ per month for a couple years. Of course no one finishes the term before the car breaks down to parts value, but it might buy him a few months of time to get something better.