Buying a rental vehicle?

Whether it is a good deal depends on the condition, price and miles. Remember that rental cars usually have a custom mix of features, so you probably won't get cruise control although you will probably get the basic trip/engine/compass digital display and a decent interior. Rentals get a lot of stop and go driving so expect that the interior will show a bit of wear. Chances are the basic maintenance has been kept up to manufacturers standards but don't expect anything more.

Ask about mechanical and body repair history. If the price is right go for it, but don't get into a bidding war at the auction.

Are the off-rentals sold directly to the public or sent to auction. I've seen ex-rentals on dealer lots.

It depends a lot on the rental place. Some take care of cars. Others change the oil without changing the filter to save a couple bucks. None of them will properly break-in engines, though.

--scott

Depends on the rental agency that owned the vehicle. The big chains usually take good care of their cars. Ask to see service records before you buy and inspect the car carefully.

------------ Alex

Both. Some rental car companies (e.g. Hertz) offer at least some of their used rental cars directly to the public. But plenty of ex-rental cars are found as "late model low mileage" used cars on dealer lots. Some dealers indicate prominently in newspaper ads that they are ex-rentals, as if it were a good thing (why would it be a good thing if it were an ex-rental car that the rental car company itself did not feel confident to offer to the public on its own lot?).

My wife used to work at the GM plant in Fremont, CA - this was in the early 1990s. We got an employee's discount on cars because of this. We went to a local dealer and picked out a 6 month old 1994 Chevy Corsica w/ 3L V6 that was a return from Alamo rental. It had about 12k on it, was squeaky clean and was a very god deal so we bought it. These cars aren't Chevy's flagship or anything, but they're not bad cars and the engines are reliable. It's basically a Baretta with 4 doors.

This car was traded off for our Mitsubishi after 4 years w/ less than

100k on it. It burned oil like nobody's business despite us changing the oil every 3000 miles w/ a new filter every time like clockwork. The electric windows were troublesome and it was developing an electrical 'personality'.

I assume this is because it was never broken in. Rental agencies get brand new cars, tear the plastic off the seats and send them out with the next customer in line. At trade-in that car was worth less because the title is forever branded as a 'rental car'. If you drive your cars into the ground, that doesn't matter much, but I bet you won't likely get as much as you want out of it before that happens.

I don't think you'd be much worse off buying a former taxi - and that's not good unless you really like working on drivelines.

Good luck, - JJ

I've bought several cars from Hertz...three Mazda Proteges and a Taurus. Except for the Protege that my daughter totalled, they have all been trouble-free (and it was fine too for as long as we had it). They were all about a year old with around 25K miles on them. They looked and drove like new cars. They come with the balance of the factory warranty which Hertz extends for a year after purchase...I guess in case you run over the 36K miles...and of course they offer extended warrantees. All the service records are available and they seem to have been well taken care of. The sales guys are not on commission and it's all very low pressure. The prices are usually less than wholesale...the 2004 Taurus was about $9000 plus the usual tax, etc, the Mazdas were around $8K, IIRC. The 99 Protege is on its third teenage driver and is still going strong at close to 100K miles. Only thing other than usual maintenance was a window regulator. The others have also been dead reliable. All their cars have about the same option package (auto/air/cruise/CD/small or midsized engine) and the colors are limited but for the money, I think they're a great deal. As always, YMMV...

Personally I would not be interested because I know such cars can accumulate a lot of wear and I expect my cars to run correctly. For some the low price could be enticing.

I would much prefer to buy a 'program' car to a rental.

Program cars, IIUC, are like leases to corporate accounts, and are more likely to be treated well. You can get good prices, and often, a reasonable warranty period.

I wouldn't buy one personally.

I agree with Jeff Foxworthy, "Anything that has been driven that hard, by that many people... I don't wanna stick my key in it." FWIW

Do you expect non-rental cars to be treated differently?

Sure, there will be the occasional car babied by an anal retentive enthusiast, but I would expect most 1st owners to just get the the car and drive. Even among enthusiasts, there is radical disagreement on what proper break-in procedure is. At least rental cars should have good maintenance records. I wouldn't buy one that didn't.

Perhaps rentals are the McDonalds of used cars. They may not be the best there is but you know what you are getting.

That's pretty much the way I look at it. If you're careful you can get a pretty decent vehicle at a decent price. And if I can't have a shiny new M5, I may as well drive something cheap...

I manage a Firestone and we maintain a fleet of enterprise vehicles from the local branch. 3-4 per day. Almost all fleet companies will not do any maintenance unless it fixes a specific drivablilty issue. I realize that not all the maintenance is done at my location but on average we see the a car twice before its shipped off to auction. In one instance we had a car come in at 19,000 miles for an oil change and the oil came out like sludge. A bit concerned I called the fleet manager and found out that this was the cars second oil change. (The guy almost crapped his pants.) This may have been an isolated incidence, however, unless you can get the maintence records, it will be a gamble whether you get on that is in good shape or not.

Do yourself a favor and buy a Toyota if you do decide to go that route.

Chris

You will never, never find an ex-rental vehicle with a manual transmission. That strikes them out for me right there.

--scott

If you look into a rental you should have it checked thoroughly. I have a couple of friends that bought the rentals and haven't had any problems. I also think it "obviously" depends on who drove it previously.

LOL! Anal retentive Enthusiasts don't buy boring cars like Chevy Corsicas. The Corsica was made for rental agencies. Cheap, simple and on the low side of midsized. Visibility out all the windows like nobody's business and a low hood front so you can see the ground almost right in front of you. Supposedly reliable too if taken halfway decent care of. Chevys are sometimes boring cars but they're usually known for reliability if nothing else.

I'm just basing my opinion about rental returns not on mechanical theory, but on my personal experience buying 'new' cars vs. a returned rental with very low miles (about 12k) that looked for all in the world like it was in fantastic shape on the dealer's lot. Any modern V6 engine that's taken care of should last well past 100k before it noticably burns oil. Heck make that over 200k, we're not talking about 50s Ford Flatties.

The following cars were bought new, driven & regularly serviced by the same person (my wife):

1979 Ford Mustang 4cyl Cobra Turbo - went over 240k w/ no problems, traded in for ... 1986 Ford Escort 2.4L (IIRC) 4cyl - almost 300k before throwing a rod, never did burn oil... Sold for parts. 1994 Chevy Corsica 3L V6 (rental return w/12k on it) - burned oil @ more than 1 qt/1200 miles with only 92k on it. Traded in on ... 1999 Mitsubishi Galant 3L V6 - Currently @ 165k, runs fine no oil burning.

My current driver is a 92 Chevy Astro V6 with 170k on it (bought it used), burning no oil & going strong so the Corsica's oil use isn't 'a Chevy thing'. I've never had a Chevy that burned as much oil as the rental car so soon in it's life. I've had probably 50 cars or more in the last 32 years of driving and since I'm primarily a professional musician I usually log about 100k~150k/year on cars. I've bought both new & used, driven the crap outta them and have only seen one newish one fart out on me so fast - and that was the rental return.

Granted, I'm not an ASE certified mechanic, but I know a little about the mechanicals in cars:

You know what some renters say: " A rent car can do anything "