Sorry to be late to the party........... been meaning to throw my two pence in for a while...........
Dont let the hours put you off, there is no lifed component i can think of on the 172 at the moment....
A club aircraft may have several advantages
1, Its not spent 80% of its life sitting on the ground up to its Oleos in long wet grass rotting away, it will have been flown reguraly and had a good airflow through it to prevent the above.
2, It will have been maintained reasonably, a private owner is more likely to baulk at a large prospective bill and cut corners over a school who make a living off it..... Servicability here is the name of their game.
3, Hours, well while 11,000 is a lot compared to others if the 2 above items have been carried out it should not be a problem, GET AN ENGINEER TO GIVE IT THE ONCE OVER......... he will be able to warn you of any pitfalls....... He should know what he is doing and should be aware of any expensive items that you may incur... that is then a bargaining point in the sale, so the cost of an Engineer can save you thousands........ I did a survey of late and found the engine should possibly of had a shockload inspection 600 hrs previous........ that saved the new future owner thousands and he rejected the aircraft...
Where I work and maintain a fleet, we operate 2 Cessna 152's that have between 18,000 and 19,000 hrs on them......... they are fine, have the odd rivet starting to work and a little external corrosion showing externally only that i work through...... but I have seen 4,000 aircraft of the same year riddled with corrosion internally that have sat in fields for years............ mine do about 600 hrs to 800 hrs a year.......... which may seem alot but they used to be a lot busier.........
As said get the avionics assesed at the least........... they cost the earth (after the Eng and Prop)
Oh and happy flying...ask any questions and I will endevour to help
