Anyone ever buy a rental car?

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
The tire shop I worked at maintained Enterprise's cars. They were "on to us" and got the free tire rotation (if and only if you knew to ask for it) and coupon special bulk oil.

They had some pretty nice cars, chrysler 300s etc.

There was an intermediate owner of a couple of my cars between myself and the rental people. Chevy corsica, olds ciera. They both had a special RPO code that basically said "rental special". Ciera had the V6 and AC but was otherwise a stripper, 3 speed automatic and whatnot. The cars were fine, no problems going back to rental issue.


GM still makes special rental-only cars. Off-rental Cruzes are showing up now lacking some retail features like OnStar and satellite radio, IIRC. The RPO code is 1FL.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Originally Posted By: eljefino
The tire shop I worked at maintained Enterprise's cars. They were "on to us" and got the free tire rotation (if and only if you knew to ask for it) and coupon special bulk oil.

They had some pretty nice cars, chrysler 300s etc.

There was an intermediate owner of a couple of my cars between myself and the rental people. Chevy corsica, olds ciera. They both had a special RPO code that basically said "rental special". Ciera had the V6 and AC but was otherwise a stripper, 3 speed automatic and whatnot. The cars were fine, no problems going back to rental issue.


GM still makes special rental-only cars. Off-rental Cruzes are showing up now lacking some retail features like OnStar and satellite radio, IIRC. The RPO code is 1FL.


Jeez...I would willingly pay MORE to get a car like that! Too bad they're all slushpumps.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: sciphi

GM still makes special rental-only cars. Off-rental Cruzes are showing up now lacking some retail features like OnStar and satellite radio, IIRC. The RPO code is 1FL.


Jeez...I would willingly pay MORE to get a car like that! Too bad they're all slushpumps.


They also got caught a few years back special ordering cars without side impact air bags.

This became an issue when a fleet special wound up at a used car lot then someone bought it, wrecked, and sued everyone because they thought "standard" meant "standard" and didn't believe in the "credit option".

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: eljefino
The tire shop I worked at maintained Enterprise's cars. They were "on to us" and got the free tire rotation (if and only if you knew to ask for it) and coupon special bulk oil.

They had some pretty nice cars, chrysler 300s etc.


How often did they come in for service?


I didn't stick around to see the same one twice. Not that I'd have noticed: one 20k car looks like another. My attention only perks up around real junk heaps.

The cars appeared overnight and would sit around all day, then a different car would be there the next time.

 

[stephen9666]

The 1987 Toyota Camry I used to own was a former rental car. It made it to about 250k miles before I junked it because it was super rusty.

 

[nra1ifer]

I have had two vans that were previously rental vehicles. Both of them were good and I was pleased with both. The issues I had with the 2nd one were inherent problems on that particular make/model. Otherwise, I agree with the previous observation that the rental fleets are maintained better than a lot of lease-return vehicles.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
I'd rather have a used rental than an off lease car. The rental company is going to maintain it ... people who lease cars generally don't.


This x2. I've seen some pretty beat rentals, but most do have the service records. I know a girl whos parents leased a brand new BMW SUV for her for three years. About two years later she said to me "I only have the lease for another year, why would I change the oil? I'm just going to give it back."

The car looked nice on the outside, but the alignment was WAY off from her hitting curbs pretty hard. She floored it everywhere, the brakes were awful, and she ran it out of gas regularly. I don't know much about BMW SUVs, but that one certainly drove worse than it did new after she was done with it.

 

[NHHEMI]

One time( sort of ). I helped my Parents get a great deal through the Ford dealer I worked at on an 89 Taurus. The vehicle was a dealer rental for one year and had 9K on it when we got it. I knew the vehicle was properly cared for plus I knew if anything did go wrong it would be taken care of as I worked in parts and service.

The vehicle was a very good buy for my parents. They had it 6 years and put over 110K on it. Only problem was the trans failed but it was covered under warranty. Lots of issues with the Taurus transmissions then.

I would not however buy a rental from a place like Hertz, Enterprize, Alamo, etc... They get abused by the customers and they are not maintained as well as they should be by the rental companies.

 

[PandaBear]

01 Taurus, bought at 1 year and 13k miles for $13k. Not bad of a deal and so far so good, all problem were manufacturing related and not rental related.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
01 Taurus, bought at 1 year and 13k miles for $13k. Not bad of a deal and so far so good, all problem were manufacturing related and not rental related.


Back when the 00-07 Tauruses were new, they were GIVING THEM AWAY.

You could find one with
We got my 01 in 2004 for $8900 with 15k miles! Nuts! Too bad it rotted in half.

 

[Spector]

Had two of them in the past, no issues. hard to kill a modern engine in 50,000 miles or so.

 

[meep]

well--

bought a 1yr old pathfinder, had been a rental in HI. It had a tear in the carpet and besides that was fine.

bought a 1yr old minivan. it was a lease. never had problems with it, but discovered when I tried to sell it that it had been in a front-end collision. The front clip, both quarter panels, lighting assemblies had been replaced/painted. Back then I didn't know what to look for. none of it showed up on carfax.

buying either so new--- not enough negligent miles had racked up to be of any concern... both cars had about or under 21k on them when I purchased. but someone was able to hide the collision on the leased vehicle.