2005 Corolla LE - Good price and maintanence?

[philly035]

Hi guys,

I have a question regarding a car I'm looking into purchasing...

2005 Corolla LE
65,000 miles
no accidents / clear title (ran a autocheck report on it) 1 owner.

I'll be seeing it for the first time tomorrow, and also bringing it to my mechanic. Hopefully all looks good and we can complete the transaction. I'm very excited as this will be my first car after college, but am also a bit concerned over such a large transaction.

My questions:

1. Are there any common problems I should look for in this corolla (especially at these miles?)

2. What type of maintenance would should be done on a car with this many miles? Autocheck shows absolutely nothing documented, so I'm assuming all was done by a local shop. And would my mechanic be able to confirm what was done?

3. The car is still under lien by toyota financial services. He owes about $4500 left on it. I will fill out the form here:

https://my.toyotafinancial.com/consu...orm_toyota.pdf

and send a cashier's check to Toyota and have the title mailed to me. Now he is asking $6300, so what is the best way to complete this transaction? Would it be safe to send the payment off to toyota, give him a cashier's check as well, and call it a day?

Sorry for all the questions, but again this is my first car purchase and I'm trying to determine the best way to complete this transaction while not getting scammed. Has anyone had any experience purchasing a car still under lien from a private seller?

Thanks in advance to all who are able to answer some/all my questions. Looking forward to frequently visiting this forum for advice / giving advice of my own.

[dorman68]

The 9th gen Corolla does not need much maintenance. I would take the oil cap off and look in there with a flash light to check for evidence of sludge due to lack of oil changes. The spark plugs are good for 100,000, the factory fill coolant is rated to lasted 10 years or 100k which ever comes first. Perhaps check the serpentine belt for cracks, check the air filter, check the trans fluid(assuming the car has an auto trans) to see if it is burnt or discolored. The owners manual states that the fluid never needs to be serviced under "normal duty" use. I don't believe it for one second. I just do a drain and refill every 30,000 miles (no need to remove the pan as they have a metal screen for a filter). At a 100k I recommend to remove the pan and rinse out the filter as it is a steel mesh screen type that can be easily cleaned. As for buying a car with a lien on it, I have never done that type of transaction. If I were buying the car I would not hand over any money until he has a clean title to hand you or possibly get a notarized bill of sale to cover your rear end.