I’m sure almost all of you have gone out and bought a used car. There is one thing I find amazing about buying a used car: Every person you call or email to ask about the car they’re selling tells you that the car is absolutely perfect and need no work of any kind.

It’s true – every car. I find that very hard to believe, especially considering that 75% of the people who sell a car are selling it because the car has issues and problems that they do not want to fix.

Then when you ask them if they have any service records, they always tell you that they don’t have any because the car has been “dealer maintained.” They tell you that although they have no records, that the car is absolutely perfect.

Now, there is a trick I’ve learned about buying a used car. There are actually people out there who sell a car only because they’re sick of it or because they want a newer model.

What I always tell people is to look for the seller who is really honest and has all of the paperwork, including the service history. Look for the seller who actually washed the car.

You can tell if a seller is one of these honest sellers by the way their ad is written. Honest seller’s ads are written with a lot of passion. They love and are going to miss the car, even though they want something new.

So how does all this talk about buying used cars relate to dating? We’re all used cars. Every one of us.

Have you tried online dating? Everyone online is perfect according to their profiles and how they describe themselves. Everyone has had such a wonderful and exciting life. When you go out on a date with them, though, you start to see their cracks and flaws.

What you need to realize is that the older we get, the more flawed we become. There’s nothing wrong with flaws. Flaws are part of who you are. Learning your flaws, embracing them, going to the mechanic once in a while to get your flaws fixed, and having an action plan to work on them is really important.

You’re not perfect, so stop chasing after and looking for perfection. So many single people spend their time looking for perfection and thinking that they need to find someone perfect.

They will have a list of all the things that they want. The list say that the person they’re looking for MUST be this and MUST be that, and if someone isn’t those things then they’re out of there.

You’re not perfect. You’re as flawed as every single car you’ve ever looked at on AutoTrader. So embrace those flaws. Be honest when you don’t know something. You’ll be amazed at who you meet and how your life progresses.

So if you’re planning this week to put a classified ad on one of the online dating sites, try making yourself sound more real instead of sounding like all those cars that are posted on AutoTrader.