Hertz is selling off a portion of its Tesla fleet... cheap.

[Owen Lucas]

I don't think you realize how people damage rental cars. I spent 11 years in the industry. The dumbest stuff gets broken and cars that are harder to get parts for make it exponentially worse. If you want to see the worst in people, work in the rental industry. Everyone sucks.

I dealt with a lot of rental customers at the body shop and worked with the in-house Enterprise employees. One renter left a diaper in the spare tire well and another one tried to top off the gas tank with water.

80-90K miles on them? Yikes. As much as I had great luck with all the ex-rentals I bought over the years, even I have my limits. LOL

These prices should be an additional 30% lower. Might be appealing to car buyers who don't know what they are getting into but for a BITOG, waaay over priced. I'd pay $10k for a 92k mile Tesla Model 3 no problem but I doubt Hertz will negotiate that low or if at all.

 

[Rmay635703]

[QUOTE="I $20k ain’t bad
[/QUOTE]
If it had 50,000 miles, I haven’t found one under 100,000 miles

 

[alarmguy]

If it had 50,000 miles, I haven’t found one under 100,000 miles

I agree, even though near me you can find between 80,000 + in the near 20k price range that is way to expensive. I THINK as time goes on Hertz knows some of the public will pay those prices, then after a time period there will be the next significant reduction for the remaining..

 

[loneryder]

I have no problem with a low mileage rental, once you confirm as best you can it wasnt repainted anyplace. Bought a low mileage Mazda at the time still under factory warranty, 2012, now 95,000 miles, never needed a repair, car still runs great and got it crazy cheap, book value is still within a conservative $7000 of the purchase price.
Years back, daughter out of college, student loans etc. Bought a Ford Fiesta 2013 or 2014 maybe 2 years old at the time, low mileage again Enterprise, daughter is doing very well financially but still drives the car, I wish she would get a new one *LOL* same drill, never a repair.
Way back bought a 2008 Durango, same deal, year old during the financial meltdown of 2008/09 it was a dealer and cant be sure where it came from. Never a repair.

All three vehicles were under factory warranty when we bought, I think my daughter even got an extra year from Enterprise as my wife too or something like that.
I dont disagree that some rental cars are abused but since owning those cars above I have a theory that makes me more than comfortable buying a rental, if the right price. Not everyone drives and abuses rental cars, not even close, so I look at it this way. If you are buying a used car from one person how do you know they or a family member didnt constantly abuse the car during the entire time they owned it? You dont

Now buying a rental IF the terms, price and factory warranty are right for this simple reason. With multiple drivers of a rental car no one person is diving it, it's a whole mix of people. I would prefer this over one private driver and his family who abused the family owned car for the duration that he owned it or even a car dealer re-sale. No hard and fast rules but my thoughts, I look at everything when it's time and take it from there. I just feel now that we did it, I rather have a low mileage still under factory warranty rental knowing there wasnt one person or one family driving the vehicle the entire time, like you, I dont really know family people that tear up rental cars any more than private owners.

I have no problem with a low mileage rental, once you confirm as best you can it wasnt repainted anyplace. Bought a low mileage Mazda at the time still under factory warranty, 2012, now 95,000 miles, never needed a repair, car still runs great and got it crazy cheap, book value is still within a conservative $7000 of the purchase price.
Years back, daughter out of college, student loans etc. Bought a Ford Fiesta 2013 or 2014 maybe 2 years old at the time, low mileage again Enterprise, daughter is doing very well financially but still drives the car, I wish she would get a new one *LOL* same drill, never a repair.
Way back bought a 2008 Durango, same deal, year old during the financial meltdown of 2008/09 it was a dealer and cant be sure where it came from. Never a repair.

All three vehicles were under factory warranty when we bought, I think my daughter even got an extra year from Enterprise as my wife too or something like that.
I dont disagree that some rental cars are abused but since owning those cars above I have a theory that makes me more than comfortable buying a rental, if the right price. Not everyone drives and abuses rental cars, not even close, so I look at it this way. If you are buying a used car from one person how do you know they or a family member didnt constantly abuse the car during the entire time they owned it? You dont

Now buying a rental IF the terms, price and factory warranty are right for this simple reason. With multiple drivers of a rental car no one person is diving it, it's a whole mix of people. I would prefer this over one private driver and his family who abused the family owned car for the duration that he owned it or even a car dealer re-sale. No hard and fast rules but my thoughts, I look at everything when it's time and take it from there. I just feel now that we did it, I rather have a low mileage still under factory warranty rental knowing there wasnt one person or one family driving the vehicle the entire time, like you, I dont really know family people that tear up rental cars any more than private owners.

I've bought several Hertz and Enterprise rentals over the years. Out of warranty and never any problems. Today I wouldn't hesitate to but from Enterprise as they have strict maintenance rules.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I called Hertz earlier today to see if they negotiate the prices on the Teslas. Was connected to 2 people that did not have a good control of the English language and ironically did not understand much about Teslas lol.

Overall, prices are not negotiable, but might be further discounted if there are no buyers. It is possible to get an autocheck report for the vehicle and more details about the battery but you need to speak to the dealer where the vehicle is at, I presume some staging or actual sales location with Hertz.

 

[spasm3]

Hertz wants the cars gone , before any need batteries.

 

[Torrid]

Hertz wants the cars gone , before any need batteries.

I'm surprised some are seeing 80k mile cars from them. I should look myself. They never kept cars that long before and was part of why they started acquiring other rental brands. They'd pass the higher mileage ones down to the cheaper brands. They didn't even keep those ones to 80k miles though either. Warranty is 120k miles on the battery for Long Range and 100k for the RWD.

I've just never seen a more frazzled looking interior than a high mileage rental car. It disgusts me and I'm sure these will be no difference. There's a weird matting and thinning that happens to the carpet that no amount of shampooing can fix because the fibers start falling out. The amount of scratches on dashes and interior door panels is usually terrible too.

 

[Oillover]

An electric is something you really want inspected before buying. Underside damage and battery statistics like degradation and how much it was fast charged is something i have to know before buying. Hertz did say they were upset about the fragileness of these and the high costs, it being a rental you'll likely end up with the bill.

This is exactly why EV's are considered by many as "throwaway" vehicles.
Once you are done with them, there's little demand in the used market for one.

In a world that's supposedly concerned with the environment, you couldn't have a more wasteful proposition.

 

[Torrid]

This is exactly why EV's are considered by many as "throwaway" vehicles.
Once you are done with them, there's little demand in the used market for one.

In a world that's supposedly concerned with the environment, you couldn't have a more wasteful proposition.

There's many that treat cars as throwaway vehicles. It makes it hard to buy a good used car. I just don't bother with used cars anymore. People do screwed up things to cars and there's never been a less cared for car than a rental. A beat rental EV has to be the worst bet anyone could make. Luckily there's almost no scheduled maintenance for them. You should see the amount of cars that get the oil light reset 3 times over before they get oil changes. I remember seeing an Altima that went 18k miles before its first oil change.

 

[PandaBear]

I had 3 former rental cars in my family: Ford Taurus, Mazda 5, and Mazda 2. They were all fine other than the cars weren't build to the best quality to begin with (Ford especially, I don't think a leaking roof or broken plastic trim being a rental thing more than them being build to the cheapest fleet standard for the price).

Buying instead of leasing an EV is always a concern. Early Nissan owners had that problem when the battery deteriorate way too much and they are stuck with a car that's only 80% charge range. In a lease car it might happen often but in an airport rental it definitely get abused way too often (people won't stay to pamper the battery for a rental car). Employees will definitely try to churn the cars more often and fast charge almost all the time. I don't know if today's EV has any sort of metric for people to see how much battery has deteriorated so they can decide whether a car is still good or not. Odometer for example is one such metric for gas car, operation timer is another for equipment not moving but operating, Nissan Leaf has those battery bar in addition to state of charge, but those aren't always trusted.

Tesla repair cost is almost another dimension of problem. I just came back from a collision repair place locally and they have a specific price for Tesla because of parts availability, and complexity, on its list. The labor rate for everyone else is $130 and Tesla is $160. I've also had friends who got into accident and their cars are waiting on parts for 2 months when other brands would have just been 1 week to 1 month max (this is before pandemic induced part shortage on a 2 month old car).

So yeah, the above problems combined would pretty much be a perfect storm for an airport rental. A local rental "might" for another Tesla in accident needing a rental car (imagine you got a gas car in the shop but you are given a Tesla, not everyone can charge it) but how many of these businesses are you getting? Most Tesla owners I know have Tesla insurance (probably subsidized by their own cheap parts as they only cover Tesla at a lower cost), and they would likely not need a 3rd party rental company to supply their own rental cars while waiting for repair.

EV for corp fleet is probably ok, if they aren't driven and churn like rental. For airport rental they make their money off the churn and EV needing slower charge to preserve battery life is the worst kind of vehicle for them at the moment, until every parking spot has a plug and a kiosk for charging.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I called Hertz earlier today to see if they negotiate the prices on the Teslas. Was connected to 2 people that did not have a good control of the English language and ironically did not understand much about Teslas lol.

Overall, prices are not negotiable, but might be further discounted if there are no buyers. It is possible to get an autocheck report for the vehicle and more details about the battery but you need to speak to the dealer where the vehicle is at, I presume some staging or actual sales location with Hertz.

At least around here, Hertz cars sales does not negotiate prices. I'm sure they will drop prices of any unsold vehicles regardless of make.

 

[alarmguy]

.... It is possible to get an autocheck report for the vehicle and more details about the battery but you need to speak to the dealer where the vehicle is at, I presume some staging or actual sales location with Hertz.

Keep in mind with "auto check" if it shows accident free it does not mean it wasnt in an accident and why I suggest check the paint intensely for possible repairs as hard as that is. The words "No reported accidents" are typically used because if it isnt reported to an insurance company or lacking any public record of the accident you will not know.
Rental care companies are self insured. So a car can be damaged and repaired without a public record I believe (or something like that) by the rental company.

 

[demarpaint]

At least around here, Hertz cars sales does not negotiate prices. I'm sure they will drop prices of any unsold vehicles regardless of make.

If they're smart, like any good high volume car dealership is they keep track of how long vehicles for sale are in their inventory. Then drop the price based on how long they have the vehicle sitting in their inventory. A vehicle a month old is going to be higher priced than a load sitting in inventory for six months. That applies to ICE as well as EVs. I saw more than one sales manager get the boot for having cars in inventory for 6 months or more.

 

[demarpaint]

Keep in mind with "auto check" if it shows accident free it does not mean it wasnt in an accident and why I suggest check the paint intensely for possible repairs as hard as that is. The words "No reported accidents" are typically used because if it isnt reported to an insurance company or lacking any public record of the accident you will not know.
Rental care companies are self insured. So a car can be damaged and repaired without a public record I believe (or something like that) by the rental company.

Good info, and don't rely on Carfax to be accurate either. I had a van totaled, I bought it back from the insurance company fixed it, and about three years later sold it. I ran a Carfax prior to selling it which came back clean. Dealers can make fake Carfax reports, never trust a dealer handing you a Carfax report, do your homework!!!!!

 

[Owen Lucas]

Keep in mind with "auto check" if it shows accident free it does not mean it wasnt in an accident and why I suggest check the paint intensely for possible repairs as hard as that is. The words "No reported accidents" are typically used because if it isnt reported to an insurance company or lacking any public record of the accident you will not know.
Rental care companies are self insured. So a car can be damaged and repaired without a public record I believe (or something like that) by the rental company.

I agree, no one will know without a professional inspection. I've been to many body shops that land the local Enterprise body repair contract and I can tell you they are not the highest quality shops. Not the lowest quality either, but on the lower end of mid range shops that focus on volume contracts.

If a vehicle was rear ended and the absorber was cracked along with read body damage, would Enterprise know that panels weren't repaired completely, do they even care? Maybe the panel should have been replaced when instead just banged out because ERAC expects a low estimate and the car back on the road ASAP.

 

[JeffKeryk]

If someone wanted a deal on a Model 3, I would look into any new 2023 leftovers now that the Highland is available. I believe they start at $35K around here.

 

[Rmay635703]

I agree, even though near me you can find between 80,000 + in the near 20k price range that is way to expensive. I THINK as time goes on Hertz knows some of the public will pay those prices, then after a time period there will be the next significant reduction for the remaining..

I’ve been checking everyday and tons of their “extremely high miles” Hertz teslas are no longer listed for sale, somebody (elsewhere) said that ride shares are buying all of Hertz inventory (I swore there were around 100 Hertz Teslas with 100,000 to 200,000 miles a couple days ago, I specifically noted a couple up to 192,000 miles but can’t find any of the cars I was watching up for sale today)

If someone wanted a deal on a Model 3, I would look into any new 2023 leftovers now that the Highland is available. I believe they start at $35K around here.

If you got the tax credit I would agree but $13,000 for a used LR Tesla (in certain regions after tax credit). Is a few miles away from $35,000

 

[JeffKeryk]

If you got the tax credit I would agree but $13,000 for a used LR Tesla (in certain regions after tax credit). Is a few miles away from $35,000

Tax credit is over for the Model 3 Std Range RWD and Dual Motor versions. I think a left over Performance model still qualifies.
Personally I would be real skeptical of a $13K Model 3. It has to be beat and probably fixed wrong.

 

[Rmay635703]

Tax credit is over for the Model 3 Std Range RWD and Dual Motor versions. I think a left over Performance model still qualifies.
Personally I would be real skeptical of a $13K Model 3. It has to be beat and probably fixed wrong.

I agree but my point is that the type of buyer looking for what becomes a $13,000 after credit ex rental car is a world apart from someone buying a $35,000 car, nobody is cross shopping the two.

Also it appears all the high mile Hertz teslas have sold so a bunch of somebodies might have yard ornament beater 192,000 mile Teslas in their flower gardens in a few years

 

[proveitwithdata]

I assume these will qualify for the used tax credit point of sale?

21 model 3 sr 90k miles
$17k.


These are priced to sell as least the model 3s. y have no credit applied since they start at 33, which at that point wait for a new one.

The big what if, is what kind of bag would i be holding with these vehicles?

Accident damage,
shape of the powertrain
shape of the battery pack


Sad day for model 3 mmr values though. I assume they are gonna tank