Sorry, this sounds weird to me. If I need a car, but cars are too expensive I should sell mine to buy another? So if I have a beater on its last legs, I should not have a problem buying a working beater because my broken one will be worth more?

Try this same argument with houses, unless you don’t plan on living in one the math does not work.

If they sell their current car first, what do they use in the interim? Most places in the US do not have any public transportation to speak of, and those that do are not reliable or frequent enough to get anywhere on time.

First time car buyers don’t have any car to sell.