Hertz to sell 182,000 cars by year end

[loneryder]

I recently perused the Hertz sales site for Pickups. You can get a 2020 Silverado LT crew cab 4wd with tow pkg for $35k with 5-15k miles. The Fords were about $3k more. Same truck at Enterprise was 3k more and no tow pkg. Hertz had a lot of Colorados but they were all 2 wheel drive.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[JTK]

I recently perused the Hertz sales site for Pickups. You can get a 2020 Silverado LT crew cab 4wd with tow pkg for $35k with 5-15k miles. The Fords were about $3k more. Same truck at Enterprise was 3k more and no tow pkg. Hertz had a lot of Colorados but they were all 2 wheel drive.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

I've been watching Hertz and Enterprise pricing for about a year. Those prices are about $3-5K higher than they were back in March. Like I say, the 2019 Ram 1500 I bought 3 weeks ago are now around $3K higher, with double the mileage from the one I purchased.

I keep reading Hertz wants/needs to sell vehicles ASAP, but the prices don't reflect that. Having just gone through the process, the price is the price. No haggling.

 

[zzyzzx]

For some reason Scotty Kilmer thinks that Hertz is selling cars cheap:

 

[mrsilv04]

For some reason Scotty Kilmer thinks that Hertz is selling cars cheap:

For some reason, I'm inclined to believe the exact opposite of anything that Scotty claims.... on everything.

 

[c502cid]

Meh...don't see a big deal about 30-40K on a car. Last rental I did (Enterprise, minivan) had ~27K on it, as I recall.

Two reasons... and both are the most important to me when renting a car.... tires and wiper blades. When both are worn it makes for a horrid rental experience, especially in the Pacific Northwest, but anywhere you have weather.

 

[ryster]

I got to looking in to the Hertz thing a little more, and I am backing off for now. A couple of things that make it less convenient are:

1. Hertz only provides one key with each car. You do not get two keys like you traditionally do when purchasing at normal retail. Not sure why that is the case, but it kind of bugs me. Where is that 2nd key and why do they not include it?

2. Payment options are either certified cashier's check or wire transfer. No personal checks or bank draft checks are accepted. I get why, but it is quite inconvenient. Normal car dealers take personal checks no problem and seem to be able to make it work.

3. Hertz does not have the title to the vehicles at the store. It can take up to 6 weeks for the title to be sent to you after you take delivery and pay for the car. This is a small detail, but still kind of bothersome.

4. Some vehicles have rental theft recovery equipment mounted in them. Hertz "removes" that prior to delivery. Not sure how invasive the installation of that equipment is, but not sure I like the idea that some sort of tracking equipment will have been installed and removed. Is it spliced in to the electrical system...could it cause further issues down the road if not properly disconnected, etc.? Probably a non-issue, but just makes me wonder.

 

[JustinH]

I didn't see anything on the Hertz sales website that I would consider a deal.

They are basically normally priced used cars. I think that rental cars should be a bit cheaper but Hertz is marketing them at the same price as I could go to a Toyota Dealer and get a Certified Used car for.

 

[mrsilv04]

The other thing that can be an issue with "rental spec" cars.... you can end up with some really odd option combinations.

I rented a 2020 Charger in January. It was a base SXT V6 model in white with 17" wheels. But it had heated power leather seats, and a heated steering wheel. But that was it.

If you or I want leather in an SXT Charger, we'd have to buy the $2900 "SXT Plus" package, which would include 20" wheels, an Alpine sound system, automatic HVAC, power tilt and tele wheel, a rear spoiler and more. This car had none of that. This one was a base V6 model with upgraded seats.

However, it did work very well in getting slow-pokes out of the left lane, as I spent most of my time in this car in Indiana... and the state police over there run Chargers.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Two reasons... and both are the most important to me when renting a car.... tires and wiper blades. When both are worn it makes for a horrid rental experience, especially in the Pacific Northwest, but anywhere you have weather.

I rented a car with ~38K miles a couple years ago...it had what looked like new tires, about 3/4 tread.

 

[Rmay635703]

Prices on used vehicles are higher now than ever before

There are really no deals to be had on anything made in the last 10 years.

Im told it’s because of Covid supply constraints, what’s worse is the difference between wholesale costs and retail sales price is larger than ever before meaning your getting raked over the coals

 

[92saturnsl2]

My brother and I just had a conversation about this— he’s the finance manager for a Subaru dealership in VT. He said used vehicles are selling at a huge premium on the wholesale market or at auction. They end up having to pay the inflated prices in order to keep used inventory on the lot. He says the higher prices haven’t trickled down to the customer quite yet, most dealers are operating at a reduced margin as they know if they increase used car prices too much too quickly, you lose sales. Says this is a direct result of Covid / new vehicle supply. This was pretty much my experience buying a newer used car recently, I’ve been looking at prices for the last couple years, and I didn’t pay a higher price despite being in the middle of Covid. I expect used prices to ratchet up slowly over time.

I checked hertz before buying our van, and the deals were tempting. You could get a nice 40k mile 2019 caravan in fleet trim (gt trim which is their fleet version, pretty well optioned but without any modern safety/driver assist features) for about $14.5k. We ultimately decided the Caravan was much too dated and spent $5k more on something more modern and fully loaded. But I think hertz has some pretty good deals.

 

[thastinger]

Perhaps I'm not understanding the full financial picture but I'm gathering that Hertz needs to raise 650mil by selling 180K vehicles...IOW they need to profit an average of 3500 per unit sold, pretty tough to do considering some of those sold will be the econ PT cruisers...which shouldn't cost 3500 new.

 

[CKN]

I recently perused the Hertz sales site for Pickups. You can get a 2020 Silverado LT crew cab 4wd with tow pkg for $35k with 5-15k miles. The Fords were about $3k more. Same truck at Enterprise was 3k more and no tow pkg. Hertz had a lot of Colorados but they were all 2 wheel drive.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

A new one is $43,000.00. So-I guess it depends on your perspective.

 

[NewtonPulsifer]

Used car prices have gone up, not down. There was a lot of uncertainty from the March to end of May timeframe, and also a lot of Uber/Lyft cars were available. Then the stock market got silly and rebate checks went out. The Hyundai Sonata (former Uber car) I picked up in late May went from $2800 to $4500 guesstimated value from then to now on carfax.com.

And people being careful with their money, exactly, but if they need a car they need a car, period. So they buy used instead of new...so used car prices go up. The next three years should be a good time to be a mechanic if you can weather the current downturn.

 

[c502cid]

I rented a car with ~38K miles a couple years ago...it had what looked like new tires, about 3/4 tread.

I rent every week. A car with 38k and 3/4 tires is unobtanium in my experience..

 

[Jarlaxle]

Hyundai Accent, rented from Enterprise in Little Rock. Tires were replacements, I recall Kelly Edge.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Prices on used vehicles are higher now than ever before

There are really no deals to be had on anything made in the last 10 years.

Im told it’s because of Covid supply constraints, what’s worse is the difference between wholesale costs and retail sales price is larger than ever before meaning your getting raked over the coals

I don't think it's a supply thing. I think people are just getting bored and buying vehicles left and right. I was trying to buy a truck for a few months and working with a few different dealers; from what they were saying there's no shortage of vehicles (auctions are still open), but the instant something hits their lot it's sold. Of course, that also drives prices through the roof.

Looks like I'm stuck to renting UHaul trucks for a few years Hopefully there will be some trucks left with no rust or electronic parking brake in a few years!

 

[WagonWheel]

‘92saturn hit the nail on the head there…

Current thinking from analyst reports is new inventory won’t get backto levels that will keep buyers from going to the gently used market until December. At that time you will expect used prices to return to historically ‘normal’ prices. How Hertz changes the supply side of the equation is anyone’s guess right now. Also,the effects of macro economic forces could alter the picture as well.

i myself was in the used car market, but with the work-at-home thing and prices where they are now, I’ll keep the battery tender going and wait for some ‘normalcy’ to return lol.

 

[NYEngineer]

Kid I work with just bough himself a Caddy from Hertz. Certainly seemed like he did ok. I looked online at what they had, as I will be on the market for a new (er) truck next year. I like Suburbans and they certainly had a few. They had a couple of Escalades and one was priced IMO so good I considered grabbing it. Needless to say, I did not.

 

[csandste]

I got to looking in to the Hertz thing a little more, and I am backing off for now. A couple of things that make it less convenient are:

1. Hertz only provides one key with each car. You do not get two keys like you traditionally do when purchasing at normal retail. Not sure why that is the case, but it kind of bugs me. Where is that 2nd key and why do they not include it?

2. Payment options are either certified cashier's check or wire transfer. No personal checks or bank draft checks are accepted. I get why, but it is quite inconvenient. Normal car dealers take personal checks no problem and seem to be able to make it work.

3. Hertz does not have the title to the vehicles at the store. It can take up to 6 weeks for the title to be sent to you after you take delivery and pay for the car. This is a small detail, but still kind of bothersome.

4. Some vehicles have rental theft recovery equipment mounted in them. Hertz "removes" that prior to delivery. Not sure how invasive the installation of that equipment is, but not sure I like the idea that some sort of tracking equipment will have been installed and removed. Is it spliced in to the electrical system...could it cause further issues down the road if not properly disconnected, etc.? Probably a non-issue, but just makes me wonder.

Two keys on two of the three family Hertz cars. Took a week or so to get them after closing. Cashier's check was a major hassle sprung on me with little warning. I had to close quick after an insurance loss that was totaled a couple of days before leaving on a cruise--non refundable rooms on the way down. "Quick sell me this car today!"