Anyone ever buy a rental car?

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Just took a 2 1/2 day trip to Vegas in a 2013 Chevy Cruze ,rented from Enterprise.It was a big change from driving my 95 Camry.I think it even made me consider wanting to buy a much later car now.I was thinking maybe buy a rental car if it was a good deal.anyone ever buy one from a rental place?
 
We bought a Saturn SL2 from Enterprise one time. It was a good transaction and the car was great too, for our needs at the time.
Then it got totaled in an accident.
frown.gif


Might wanna post this in "general/automotive" section for more attention/feedback.
 
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Yep. I got one of mine a year old from Hertz with 25k. Now 9 years old.

Got a ridiculous bargain at the time and no major issues. Definitely nothing has gone wrong due to the way it was treated or maintained during the rental.
 
My 85 Crown Vic,88 Town Car,99 Grand Marquis,05 Crown Vic, my sisters 07 Grand Marquis and my moms 05 Crown Vic were all X rentals..All were awesome cars.

I put between 200-300K miles on all of mine..Nothing major done to any of them..All were maintained by the Ford dealer.

All cars had between 7K to 20K miles on them..All were from 6 months to no more then a year old..All came with service records.

The bulk of them came from Hertz..The rest from Enterprise.
 
We sell tons of them with virtually no problems. They tend to have a few more scratches and are usually not heavily optioned. Very late model used cars are hard to find unless they are from rental fleets. Cars off of lease are are little older but are more likely to be very low miles and almost perfect condition.
 
My mom bought a rental Chevy for my brother. It lasted. He bought a new Ford Explorer this year, with all options, and loves it.

I'm surprised it lasted, as he's managed to kill several Plymouth Valiants with slant-6's.
 
Most rentals get sold within 9 months of registration in the UK and as long as the price is right then it is all good.

But an ex rental is not worth the same as an ex VW UK Management Car.

Currently there are lots of coming up for a year old Passat BlueMotions at the big dealers, from memory they are up for about £14k with mileages of between 10-16k miles.

Not a bad price when you consider they are probably £22/23k new.

If you test drive it and it drives ok then go for it.
 
I bought a '95 Aspire that was a former Enterprise rental. Fun little go-kart actually. $700 well spent.
 
My brother's Olds Silhouette minivan was a former rental. It's going on 13 years with all the problems of a 13 year old GM minivan, but it's still piston-slapping away as it slowly succumbs to the salt.
 
This topic has come up over and over here, and the general consensus is pretty good.

Search the various rental companies on the search box.

I havent done it and I wouldnt unless the deal is good, but not too good to be true.
 
I've bought one from Hertz a few year back.

There were no problems with the vehicle at all. Best of all, they had all the maintenance records available so you know at least the oil was changed, etc.

Unlike buying a "pre-owned USED car" from a dealer.
 
I wouldn't, but that's just me.

I'd rather take an "off-lease" unit (one driver), than a rental (who knows how many drivers).

I'd for sure stay away from the rental classes that insurance companies use when they put people in, when their car is in the body shop (usually the mid-size and standard size cars).

Those are always the dirtiest and most beat up units.
 
Ex-rentals are fine. I've sold many of them. Be sure to look at many of them as condition definitely varies.

Be wary of wildly different prices. Late model rentals sell in a narrow price range at auction. No one is getting a good rental unit for dramatically lower prices than other dealers. A super low price might be a clue that a particular car is in bad shape.

Buy a nice one from a reputable seller and you should be fine.
 
From the few cars I've seen/worked on, the average rental car is better maintained and in better condition than most private-party cars.
 
I have always said "Don't buy a used rental car ... they're driven by people like me". Most of the time my car use is just point to point: no abuse but no particular attention either. Occasionally I rent a car that's similar to one that has been in an accident for testing. THOSE cars get beaten on. But, we aren't doing anything that is beyond the design limits of the car. We are just pushing the car to it's limits.
 
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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.
 
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?
 
Many moons ago, I picked up a beater Merc Tracer with about 100k on it that had once been a rental. I got 80k relatively trouble-free miles from it before electric gremlins and major engine failure sent it to the junk yard. Definitely got my money's worth out of it.
 
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