New cars

Every once and a while I am reminded what it means to learn about a new area. The latest is the car buying process. In general I believe in the concept of buying used cars. That is all well and good if you are a mechanic. I'm not. I know how to change a tire, check oil, jump start the car (and various other issues that I learned from my dad and his "reliable" cars). But to get a used car just seems like such a nightmare...I think I have managed to go to about 10 dealerships, go online to cars.com for 6 hours a day, and fill my head with tons of facts that may or may not be helpful in the end...Just hoping I can learn enough that I am not going to become my own part-time mechanic...