Buying Advice!!!! - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

velli · 05-11-2007, 09:10 PM

Hi everyone,

I need your help telling me if this could be a good buy. This will be my first car so I am a little nervous.

2005 Toyota Corolla LE
37,200 miles
2 owners
17 inch aftermarket rims (they're sweet looking)
Carfax Report is clean
Automatic Transmission
White - exterior
gray - interior

Price $11800

I checked Kelli Blue Book and depending how you look resale value is in the mid 12 to mid 15 K range! I do know that Corollas will hold their value pretty well. I love the gas mileage and the car looks like it in excellent condition. I will be looking at it on Sunday.

I was hoping you guys would be able to tell me some useful pointers to what I should pay attention when looking at a used car (it is not a Toyota Dealer; it's a used car place). Have there been any known problems with that year Corolla? Do you think I should try to bargain the price down some more considering I will be paying cash for it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

islandboy57 · 05-11-2007, 10:59 PM

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me..but how come the car has already gone through two owners? Seems odd for such a new car - of course, they could have just gotten bored with it and had money to burn.

As with any used car, take it to a mechanic and have it checked out. Good luck!

w203 · 05-11-2007, 11:00 PM

What are the options?

velli · 05-12-2007, 12:27 AM

I am not sure what the standard features are on an LE but here is what is listed.

Driver Air Bag
Air Conditioning
Alloy Wheels
Cruise Control

Passenger Air Bag
Rear Window Defroster
Power Door Locks
Power Mirrors

Power Windows
Power Steering
Tilt Wheel

Another detail:
Owner 1 had the car for a year and but on a little over 20k in miles. Car was listed as a commercial vehicle.

Owner 2 put on the other 16 -17 K in 11 months. Carfax says something about a fleet vehicle.

Oh the only other "negative" thing is that the warranty is not good anymore, but I am figuring they are talking about the 3 yr/ 36K engine warranty right?

I am going to try to attach a picture...

89yotarollagts · 05-12-2007, 01:08 AM

your first car is an 05 lol lucky you !

jackie_ae · 05-12-2007, 01:08 AM

Can you post some pictures? anyway, have you tried strating the engine. Listen to the idle if its stable, plus also ask the seller a little history of the car like the last replacement of the Toyota multi rib belt a.k.a. timign belt since they don't show symptomps or wear, you only follow it by mileage. if you see that everything works well, then thats is a good by in my opinion.

sponger · 05-12-2007, 01:09 AM

Well, here are my 2 cents. Please take them with a grain of salt.

Toyotas come with a 3 yr 36K mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a 5 yr 60K mile power train warranty.

The bumper to bumper covers everything except wear and tear items.

The powertrain includes the engine, transmission, and "everything that makes the car go".

This means the car should still have the powertrain warranty. If it doesn't, then maybe that's because of the commercial use? I dunno. Maybe it's a salvage title? I don't even know if a salvage title would affect the warranty.

As far as I know Toyota warranties are transferrable, so that shouldn't be an issue. I could be wrong on that.

If Toyota warranties are in fact transferrable and it does not have the factory warranty, then that's something you want to look into and be cautious about.

Personally, I think the reason why it's so cheap is because of the after market rims. What may look nice to one person is tacky and stupid to another. My opinion of those rims falls into the latter category. Personally, I don't think the Corolla was really meant for flashy rims. It's a simple econo car and it looks like an egg on wheels. That's my opinion. I'm sure there are many people who look at their flashy rims upon which their egg sits on and think to themselves man that looks pretty sweet.

In any case, unless we're talking niche markets, after market parts are notorious for bringing down resale value.

velli · 05-12-2007, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sponger

Well, here are my 2 cents. Please take them with a grain of salt.

Toyotas come with a 3 yr 36K mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and a 5 yr 60K mile power train warranty.

The bumper to bumper covers everything except wear and tear items.

The powertrain includes the engine, transmission, and "everything that makes the car go".

This means the car should still have the powertrain warranty. If it doesn't, then maybe that's because of the commercial use? I dunno. Maybe it's a salvage title? I don't even know if a salvage title would affect the warranty.

As far as I know Toyota warranties are transferrable, so that shouldn't be an issue. I could be wrong on that.

If Toyota warranties are in fact transferrable and it does not have the factory warranty, then that's something you want to look into and be cautious about.

Personally, I think the reason why it's so cheap is because of the after market rims. What may look nice to one person is tacky and stupid to another. My opinion of those rims falls into the latter category. Personally, I don't think the Corolla was really meant for flashy rims. It's a simple econo car and it looks like an egg on wheels. That's my opinion. I'm sure there are many people who look at their flashy rims upon which their egg sits on and think to themselves man that looks pretty sweet.

In any case, unless we're talking niche markets, after market parts are notorious for bringing down resale value.

thanks and don't worry everyone is entitled to their opinion.In person they may very well look worse but in the pictures i like them....I will see on sunday and let you know. Personally if you are right that that would lower the value then i am really happy since it doesn't bother me.

Thank also for the warranty explanation, i will definitely inquire about that.

This brings me to another few questions.

1. Since this dealer has bought the car at an auction, how would he know the history of the car? (i am not sure how this works in the us; am from germany)

2. I have been reading some corolla posts and saw that some owners are experiencing start up problems, especially with a warm engine. Is there anything I can do during a test drive to see if this car could have that or is that something a mechanic can find?

Thanks again for all your replies and pls be honest...I won't be offended

Thanks,

sponger · 05-12-2007, 03:18 AM

Any dealership should give you at least a 1000 mile/ 30 day warranty. That should give you enough time to see if it has any problems. If they don't want to give you at least a month's warranty, then they're selling you something they know is bad.

If the dealership told you they bought the car at auction, then I don't see how they could've gotten a history on it other than from carfax. I see you did a carfax on it already, so if the dealership told you something more than what's on the carfax report, then they are either lying or who knows what.

Personally, I would rather have a CE brand new off the lot than an LE with close to 40K miles on it. For just a bit more than what you're willing to pay for this car, you can pick up a CE brand new at a toyota dealership. I paid $13,200 after taxes for mine.

It was $11,999 before taxes.

Power options, alloy wheels, and all the other things that an LE would typically come with aren't really things that I care for. In fact, I prefer not to have power windows/locks because they make after market stereo installation that much more of a pain in the ass. Also, I like knowing that I can manually open that shit up if I ever need to. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of the locks and windows being controlled by an electrical power source.

Although it's still an option for the LE, anti-lock brakes are really the only reason I'd consider an LE over a CE.

Since you are new to California and probably to the United States, you probably are not aware of lost leader ads.

If you flip open the newspaper on a friday, saturday, or sunday, you'll see big, huge, colorful dealership ads with rock bottom prices on new vehicles. They'll say "1 at this price" or "2 at this price."

The problem with those deals is that you have to get to the dealership on Friday morning right when they open. If you get there later in the day or the next day, they will tell you they've all been sold.

I've been there done that twice with lost leader ads. That is, I've successfully purchased vehicles listed in those ads on two separate occasions, so they're definitely real.

Let me know if you're interested in swinging that. I'll give you a more detailed run-down on how not to get raped by the dealership.

sponger · 05-12-2007, 11:52 AM

for some reason the thread did not bump when I last posted to it.

jackwithcorona · 05-12-2007, 10:18 PM

i like the rims, but they dont go with the car... but mine look almost the same haha

velli · 05-13-2007, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackwithcorona

i like the rims, but they dont go with the car... but mine look almost the same haha

don't get me wrong, if i would have the choice to select some rims, i most likely would have not chosen those. they do indeed look a bit odd, but the car really doesn't look badly and that is all that counts.

A corolla isn't a bmw and i know that so in my mind the rims just make it interesting and i like interesting.

Sponger thanks again for your comments. I have been in and out of the US over the past 10 years, I just recently made the move to live here and am shopping for a car. I know how the car dealers work and am also glad that this is a family owned sales place. A friend of mine bought a car there last year and liked the overall experience. Over the phone she did mention to me that they will provide a 1month/1000 mile warranty. So I am sure that they cover their butts. My first goal is to have a friend at a dealer give the car a thorough check for all the major things you would like a car to have no issues with the next few years.

I also have read those ads in the paper and probably would consider it but frankly this needs to be done within the next week. As of now i am driving a pt cruiser for a rental car and am hating it. I will still be looking at other options as well.

Does anyone have any other investigaive advice regarding the vehicle. My friend says i should check something in the oil cap or chamber, to make sure it all looks clean or something rather. That is the stuff I am unsure about.

What about that start up problem that some people on here are talking about? I posted about it the last post up.

Thanks for the help.

p.s. i will be going to look at it tomorrow.

90 GP · 05-13-2007, 07:16 AM

One thing you could do is take the VIN number to a local Toyota dealer have them enter it on their computer to see what service was performed on it by the previous owners. As it should have a 1ZZ engine it should have a timing chain instead of a belt so you can take that off the list of things to be concerned about.