Best thing is to ask a friend or friend of a friend in the area.

Since I don’t live in the area, I just quickly used Autotrader to see what Honda and Toyota’s are in that area. 

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/all-cars/cars-under-5000/smithfield-va-23430?makeCodeList=HONDA%2CTOYOTA&searchRadius=50&marketExtension=off&isNewSearch=true&showAccelerateBanner=false&sortBy=relevance&numRecords=25

Assuming these are in decent condition and check out, they may fair ok. Granted, these are older cars, and it is hard to get something good for $5K these days. 

I personally would stay away from the pre 2008 Pilot, seventh gen Civic, sixth generation Accord (transmission issues). 

You might be able to find a lower-priced car by looking for something that is cosmetically distressed. Failed clear-coat, pock-marks from hail, minor fender bender, etc. Also sedans will usually be less expensive than SUVs or trucks. When money is tight all that's really important is that the car is OK mechanically, who cares what it looks like.

Auto Tempest, they have sources from all major car sites eBay, Cars.com, Auto Trader, etc into one site and as always make sure to check the car out for issues and check the VIN number for recalls. Hope you find a good car!

Hope this doesn't sound to far off topic but I'm writing about the word " CHEAP ". I think " cheap " can mean different things to different people. This thought was made even more clear recently while watching the new JEEP WAGONEER commercial. The New Jeep looked really nice but one of the commercials calmly said " STARTING AT ABOUT $52,000. That's when I realized that both NEW and USED cars made this giant leap forward during or after Covid.

Also, " CHEAP " sometimes means not such a good vehicle. I can think of a few cars over the years that were " CHEAP " even when they were new starting with the YUGO. ( has anyone seen a YUGO on the road in the last 10 or 20 years?

But let me answer your question more directly and I'm going to check to see how far SMITHFIELD VA is from CARY NC. Then to figure out how much my 95 Toyota Camery LE is worth. I would feel guilty asking 5K for the car even though it's been in the family since brand new. And with 2 new tires, I probably wouldn't hesitate to drive it cross country.

I made a deal with a guy on Craigslist to paint my art studio in exchange for the car and $300.00 bucks. He took the money and never picked up the car. It sat under a tree for almost 4 years. When all of my other cars decided to give me problems. I put a freshly charged battery in her, she started right up. I put air into the tires, checked the fluids, put 3 gallons of fresh gas into her and have been driving her all over the area that I live. My Toyota's seem to run forever.

She needs a paint job. NO RUST ANYWHERE! Gets EXCELLENT mileage ( as much as 37 MPG on a road trip to NJ. ) But now I think it's time to pass her on

Let me know if you think she's too old. She has about 150K miles She's silverish blue but I think Toyota call her green? She's never been painted so the clear coat is pealing off. 4 cyl auto

I checked; my email address is there but i've been busy with getting my " NEW CAR " ready for a trip to see my Mom. I'll make a point of checking my email for the next few days. My goal is to leave Saturday.

You asked how much I want for her ( most vehicles seem female to me; I often name my cars; most with FEMALE NAMES )

Since the market has changed as much as it has since COVID; I'd like to see if we can figure out a fair price for all of us.

I just got what i call my "NEW CAR" but it's NEW TO ME; a 2017 that I just made the last payment on. I LOVE the car. But Covid once again played a part in MY NEW CAR which sat in the garage for 18 months, with a battery tender, occasional starts, but not driven 5 miles a day on my normal activities. Then after a longer period of time I went to start her and lights started telling me things were wrong with her. Long story short.  it cost me $2,200.00 for water in the gas which I predicted and the dealer argued with me that it was likely much more than that. In fact I wrote down what would happen and for a while I thought I might be the new Nostradamus! 😎  

I put a battery into the Toyota which was sitting under a tree for a couple maybe even a few years never picked up by the craigslist guy who I made the deal with to paint one room in my garage. I turned the key and she started like it was yesterday and was still warm from a trip to the store. Drove her onto the driveway, saw the tires were low and the car was filthy. Like most of my life, I fixed or attended to everything and drove her to be emission certified. My mechanic only charged me extra for a brake light bulb. I've been driving her ever since and I considered driving her about 800 miles after buying two new tires ( never purchased but the ones that need to be replaced have lots of tread but are dry rotted.

I had to negotiate that 2,200 for the bad gas in my new car; which BTW I syphoned out as much as I could ( 3/4 of a tank ) eyeballed it in glass containers after allowing it to sit over night. Besides smelling a little stale, I put it in the toyota and unless you were an expert in sniff science you would never know that gas in a luxury sports coupe that cost me 2200 buck to fix; ran perfectly in the Toy.

She has 154,000 miles on her and with a paint job and a few must fixes ( door handled both front and rear on the driver side ) She's ready for the next 154,000. The back seat has never been sat in.

I will fix the door handles, I'll also tell you everything that I would do if a single Mom is going to depend on reliability.

Let me know

Scotty answered

https://youtu.be/8_IWR7yElf8?t=247