Confusing logic

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OK, so this is from my tutorial and it works fine, but I'm confused by why, so I'm missing something...

command = ""
started = False

while True:
    command = input("> ").lower()
    if command == "start":
        if started:
            print("Car already started.")
        else:
            started = True
            print("Car started.")
    elif command == "stop":
        print("Car stopped.")
    elif command == "help":
        print("""
start - to start car
stop - to stop car
quit - to quit game
        """)
    elif command == "quit":
        break
    else:
        print("Sorry, I don't understand that.")

I don't understand why it works this way, I thought this would work if I set the variable "started" to True, not False. It is the exact opposite to what I expected.

if command == "start":
        if started:
            print("Car already started.")
        else:
            started = True
            print("Car started.")

So, someone inputs "start" (the car), if started (false, so not started), print that it is "already started"... ugh it's giving me a headache