Edit: realized that for whatever reason my link got altered when pasting, and was broken. Fixed now. Also bolded the key text for TL;DR purposes. Note that the link has more pictures than just the one it's pulling through here of the underside.

Sorry for a long-ish post, I'm an explainer.

I am in GA. Looking at a 2013 Highlander (base plus). Have been looking a lot, and found a car that's a pretty good price, at least for my area ($22k, base plus with 46k miles). Car is from NY. Outside the topic, it's an I4 - the general consensus seems to push for V6, I know, but my previous (2002 highlander) was a 4-cylinder and it's been rare that it's been too much of an issue, for how I use it. Anyway, just to give a clear picture of the vehicle.

(I am looking at an alternate as well that's a V6, but I haven't gotten to see it in person yet to check the salt/rust - it's also a northern car, I think from PA).

My question is regarding salt damage. See photos in this imgur gallery - https://imgur.com/gallery/xwvz1

Is this the kind of thing that would give you pause? Bear in mind I hope to keep this car for a long time (my current Highlander is a 2002). Consensus so far has been that it's minor and fine, particularly given that I'm down here where it won't continue to be exposed to yet more salt/ice, at least 99% of the time. Just trying to get a better opinion "sample size", since a few have disagreed. What amount of salt makes a car a no-go?

My father-in-law says it would be better to buy a car not from the north, and I can see the difference when he shows me cars from NC, etc. But I want to know if this is a "dealbreaker" sort of thing, or more a "it would be nice, but" kind of thing - or even if it's something that may have become less of an issue perhaps since he was last in the market. From what I've read, modern cars seem to do a lot better with it than they used to.

I've been looking a while, and would like to get my new car sooner rather than keep dragging it out looking for the "perfect" car/deal (particularly because the heat/ac died in my car in the last few weeks, and the cost versus trade value makes it prohibitive to fix, so.. less than fun in GA. Also trying to still get what I can in the trade value before it drops much further).

He's also found cheaper cars, but theyre eight-plus hours away in Florida mostly, and who knows what may be up with them.

Is this an issue to avoid and keep looking? The car in the photos is otherwise nice, just this makes me wonder. Thanks for any help!