Once we buy a used car we have to set aside for maintenance , and it is a big decision. If you go to dealer they will sell you jack up priced car, not always sure that the dealer sold car are better than the car bought from a person. It depends how and who drove the car, routine maintenance is done or not decides the life span of the car. If you buy a car from a good neighborhood, may assume they had maintained better.
Craigslist may be dangerous but you need to be careful, I mean never take cash and go to their place rather ask to come to a public place, have a company who knows about car and two opinions are better than one. Ask for VIN number and have a VIN check once you liked the car. It is not that hard to replace odometer with lower one. Check locally if they will help pre-buying inspection, may charge up to hour and plus but it may be worth it.
If you know how to drive a standard car, you may find decent car if you a time to shop around. Good luck.