so I've sold a car and forgot i had bought parts for it. i think it's pretty common.

Also, how did the kid bring the car back if the starter was dead?

Sure it could be bump-started if it was a manual, or otherwise towed, but the author left that out.

I'm pretty sure he just meant that he bought the starter before the kid brought the car back.

Yep, so he either knowingly sold him a car with a dying starter or the story is made up

Yeah, I'm not sure about the story. I did buy a car off my neighbor's, well my dad bought it for me and after a few months it started acting weird and the neighbors helped me replace the spark plugs and do general maintenance. Both my dad and I are in IT so it was helpful to learn.

I read it as once the kid called about the failed starter, they went out and bought a new one specifically to teach the kid how to do the repair

Tbh, I know a few gear head types that just have a bunch of parts in their garage. If they see a part being sold for a decent price and it has potential use they'll just hoard it.

Literally this isADHD, I have packages with parts for shit that has been broken for months that is unopened because I have had neither the time nor the lack of task paralysis to begin whatever fuckass journey I will need to go on to find the time tools and lack of distractions (both important and not) to complete those tasks.

Next weekend tho I promise

Story sounds made up to me. He's not bringing it back with a dead starter unless he knows someone with a car hauler, in which case that person could probably just as easily help him with replacing it in less time than it would take to tow and work on it at this guys house and if the guy already had a replacement for it why didn't he replace it/throw it in with the car when he sold it the first time.