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And speaking of used cars, I can remember walking away from a car at a reputable GM dealership in town. The car had a dead battery (not unusual) so they brought out a start cart and hooked it up to the battery, the kid who was a tech from the back hopped in the car (05' GTO) and cranked it up...he had his foot MASHED onto the accelerator, and bounced the engine off the redline at least 4 or 5 times, even though the engine was ice cold...I was quick to tell the sales manager about the behavior, and mentioned I wouldn't even consider purchasing a vehicle from their company if this guy represented the types of employees they had...
I don't have any data to prove anything, just my own knowledge and experience in the industry where "avoid buying a former rental car" is considered common knowledge. Of course the safest bet is buying a new car. However, there is nothing wrong with good used cars where you have some idea of the provenance. An off private lease Lexus ES350 with complete maintenance records is a pretty safe bet. In general, when people are on the hook for fixing their own screw ups, they try not to screw up.
My car came with maintenance records, Carfax report, a 30 day warranty from Hertz, remaining manufacturer’s warranty (16k miles), and I had three days to return it for any reason. I could have spent a couple grand more to get a car with mileage in the mid teens. I still would have saved around a coupe grand and had around 45k miles left on the manufacturer’s warranty.
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Originally Posted by LRPct
If practiced for decades is pretty easy do jump almost anything without severe damage.. just the kind that shows up miles and months/years later.. all a rental has to is make it to the returns line or to the next customer. After that, theres no telling when any damage happened, especially with the subpar maintance done by MOST rental locations.
And no. A compact 4 cyl will not burn out they way you think. Going back n gear just a chirp each time. She did run warm, but not overheat, even in rather hot Sebring. 4 speeds is plenty fr speed differentials to pick from.. slipping back n forth from neutral while moving helps. The lil 4 cyl doesnt attract much attention no matter what rpm she is at, and the few cops around there did not notice especially with windows up and ac blasting. On the way back to the airport she certainly was a lil weaker, but nothing "blew up".
Certainly not average use but its not that hard to do "right" if you know what you are doing. Dicey for an average driver? Certainly. But people that drive almost 100k miles on public roads a year and OVER 100 k miles on "closed courses" a year are not average drivers.
Well I've owned several 4 bangers and have never had an issue doing a burn out and no I didn't use the e brake. Like I said I have jumped cars up to about 3' and at that height the impact was hard enough to hurt my back a little. Seeing how cars tend to nose dive I don't see how you can jump cars several times a week and never pop the air bags especially at 6' or at least damage part of the bumper cover. I agree that technique improves your odds, but still you only get luck so long.
Late I know, but what about a rental that's certified used and comes with the warranty? Every certified used car I've seen, is a previous rental.
And no one I know whose had a rental has "abused" their car any more than they would their own. They aren't going out of their way to take some, base model Chrysler 200 like I've got right now from enterprise off roading. I just drive it. It's a commuter car.
As long as we are talking odds, even a brand new car is delivered with a few miles on it if only to the gas pump and back. Who's to say the kid who gassed it up didn't "jump" something along the way. Anyone who would do that to a rental car is sick as in mental and they are supposed to be only 20% of the general population.
You should see how cars are treated when they are pulled off the railway cars....,
The whole rental cars are abused is a little exaggerated; this is proven when someone says "most people abuse...". Many simply rent theme for business use, or other reasons. I'm currently renting a car, because my old one is being totaled.
I'm currently car shopping, and I'm willing to buy an ex-rental car. However, one of theme scares me, its a 2012 (not unusual) auctioned off car, dealer purchased it - nothing unusual here and in fact common. The thing that is bothering me is:
13,158 miles... I feel like that is too low of mileage, maybe the car had some issues and they auctioned it off? Does anyone have any insight. The dealership was closed so I couldn't test drive it (Sunday), but visual the car looks brand new. No unusual body gaps, doors/hood/trunk line up properly. Both carfax and autocheck reports are clean (yes, I know they are only as good as the information that is reported to theme). I don't know, I'm thinking I may pass up on it because its too low of mileage, don't they usually run theme 20,000 - 40,000 miles?
They usually keep them around 30k miles from what I've seen, but mine was sold at 18k miles because it had a couple of dents and dings in the rear quarter panel. A pdr guy was able to fix the dents and it drives like a brand new car.
I wouldn't read too much into the mileage, unless there is an obvious red flag on one of the (sorta reliable) history reports, or some sign of repaired damage.
13,158 miles... I feel like that is too low of mileage, maybe the car had some issues and they auctioned it off? Does anyone have any insight. The dealership was closed so I couldn't test drive it (Sunday), but visual the car looks brand new. No unusual body gaps, doors/hood/trunk line up properly. Both carfax and autocheck reports are clean (yes, I know they are only as good as the information that is reported to theme). I don't know, I'm thinking I may pass up on it because its too low of mileage, don't they usually run theme 20,000 - 40,000 miles?
Actually, in earlier days 20k used to be about the high end; it was unusual to see a rental with that many miles. These days it's somewhat more common, true, but I still don't think it would be too unusual to see a low mileage rental be turned back or whatever. It depends upon a variety of factors. There are various ways that the rental companies acquire cars, and they may have changed along the way too. There was a time when it was clear to say that Enterprise for example bought all theirs, and they resell them directly. And most of the others, they used to be done through some kind of manufacturing program, and if Hertz or whatever was selling it directly, THEN you suspected a problem because it didn't meet the turnback requirements or something. I don't really think you can make these blanket assumptions anymore though.
It's a tough call. There are any number of other reasons why an ex-rental might have lower mileage. If it was owned by a local franchisee for example, it may well not have been taken on too many long trips, and they got rid of it by an age requirement rather than miles, and potentially other different rules as well. Or, maybe it is indeed what you worry, that there were some nagging problems with it. No way to really know, although presumably with only 13k you get the balance of factory warranty? Or not, because it's a rental? That would be a good thing to find out.
when we were looking for a used 2011-12 Mustang convertible, I found only a couple across the state that were actual one owner trades, the high % of them were originally rental cars, many from FL from auctions (so area dealers could have another convert on the lot). This included most of the Ford certified ones. Frankly if it wasnt for a "carmax" report or a buyer's inquiries, they would just be another car on the lot for sale.
While the one we ended up with was not a rental, the couple we looked at that were originally rentals were in the same good overall condition. And who's to say that "one owner" couldnt pound or mistreat a car any more or less then what a rental could go thru.......
I like you used to work for one of the majors and I know the cars are well cared for. This is my vote to go ahead and buy one because you will hear from plenty of know nothings who will claim the rental cars are abused and you shouldn't buy one. My last purchase was a Mustang convertible that had one owner.... Hertz. I have had it for 5 years and continue to maintain it correctly and have had no problems.
All I can tell you is how I and everyone of the people I know treat rental cars. While I'm sure there are people that drive them like they would their own car, I am not one of those people.
I can honestyl say that the only cars I have every had all 4 wheels off the ground in at the same time was rentals. I use to love renting these and running down the hilly back roads. In fact there's a stretch of RT503 in OH just off I70 that I've has a rental airborne on three consecutive hills. I can tell you this. 2005-06 Impalas fly nice and level.
Look... You can take the chance and buy a rental or you can buy a Lease return or find a car from a private seller that wants to get out of his purchase. There are tons of 2 yr old cars out there from private sellers being sold for 70% of their original cost.
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