My friends disagree about buying an older 'company car'. I contend they are well taken care of since the company can afford to keep it running, whereas a private owner might skimp on maintenance depending on their budget...opinions please!
P.S. I'm seeing a local newspaper agency with a fleet of Ford vans, natural gas models ....and the usual early model sedans from the Coca Cola/Frito Lay salespeople...
The corporate fleet vehicles we service receive the best maintenance. Vehicles are one of the TOOLS of a corporate business, they need them to WORK.
mike hunt
JD wrote:
I replied to a general question. We do the service for large corporate and government fleets in six eastern states and they do the maintenance, other small fleets may not. I know rentals companies do not provide the best service since they only generally retain vehicles for one year. Same as with private owners I suppose, some do some don't. Naturally when one buys a used vehicle they can never know for sure what use of abused it was subjected too, or what type of service it did or did not receive. Have the vehicle thoroughly check by someone that knows automobiles, as always buyer beware.
mike hunt
Mike Levy wrote:
I have no first hand experience with company cars. Some companies take care of their cars, others don't. A friend bought one from a company his brother in law worked for. It was the brother in laws company car so he knows how the car was driven for the first 50,000 miles. Its a 1992 Buick Century. My friend has had good luck with it but has replaced the normal wear items and just last month had the transmission rebuilt & radiator replaced.
The car has 155,000 miles on it now.
========= Harryface =========
1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~260,000 miles_~_~~_
It depends highly on the nature of the business and the use of the cars -- I'd hesitate to buy a car from a fleet which was used by a random employee each day or which hauled food or chemicals (such as a pizza delivery car, exterminator, etc).
Many companies that used to provide "company cars" as a benefit now just give a lease allowance to eligible employees. I can see no reason these would be any better or worse than other lease returns with similar mileage.
JGM
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