I am looking for a used car and came upon a 2004 Corolla LE, with 154256 miles. Its automatic and has a few dents to the body, nothing major though. The auto sales place is asking $4999. Do you think it is worth the price?
If it's at a used car dealer that's a big red flag right off the bat. (Maybe a BHPH lot?) Such outfits generally buy cars with unknown histories at auction, shine them up, hide as many faults as they can, and flip them for triple what they paid.
If you decide to proceed you must be cautious. Don't believe anything the sales droid tells you. Don't trust Carfax or similar services for an accurate account of the car's history. Have a good mechanic give it a thorough examination and take it on a good test run including highway speed. If the dealer won't let you do that - run away.
Here's the kind of thing you can expect to roll off of all too many used car lots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxv588ZAP3c
