Saturn Rental, No Oil Change

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And people ask regularly on this forum...

"Is there any risk in buying a former rental car?"

No... IF it has been properly maintained. And try to prove that one HAS BEEN properly maintained...
 
This is weird. I was in an accident on the 13th. I had a rental Kia Spectra from Enterprise. On Wednesday, they called me and asked me to switch because the car was due for an oil change. So now I'm in a Chevy Cobalt.

Maybe this is what prompted that?

All I know is, I'll be happy to get back in my Accord as soon as possible.
 
I had a friend who claimed that oil changes were just an oil industry ploy to sell more oil. He never changed his oil in his NEW cars and actually managed to get about 60,000 miles out of his cars on factory fill oil!
This was back in the late 80's or early 90's and he did check his oil/sludge level with regularity.
 
Enterprise pulled the same stunt on me in Atlanta. From the airport, I got halfway to my destination in Cumming (60+ miles away) when I got a all from the girl that rented me the Camry that I needed to bring the car back because it is due for service. I glanced down at the odometer and it read 2300 miles. I asked her how it was possible that they needed to change the oil so soon. She had no answer other than "it's due". I told her she could send someone to come get it.

She ended the call, and called me back a few minutes later to tell me that she was talking about another Camry that was still sitting on the lot and to just disregard.

They really have their acts together. NOT.
 
Originally Posted By: bigdreama
I had a friend who claimed that oil changes were just an oil industry ploy to sell more oil. He never changed his oil in his NEW cars and actually managed to get about 60,000 miles out of his cars on factory fill oil!
This was back in the late 80's or early 90's and he did check his oil/sludge level with regularity.


Stories like this make me cringe. Back in '91 we had a '90 full size Bronco in our shop for engine noise. 30K on the odometer, still had the original oil filter on it. The shop manager gave him a replacement engine/short block (can't remember exactly which one now) but still, the shop manager fixed it for free.

Who owned this truck? A Ford employee at the local plant.

The true "fix" for this is to not fix it at all and tell him he needs to change his oil. Dope.
 
My salesman at the local Chevy/Cad dealer told me a story about one of his regular customers.

He buys a new Caddy every year on his birthday.

Problem is, he never once lifts the hood during that year, never rotates the tires or checks the inflation, nothing. Gas only.

Drives it 12 months, and trades it off.

And the next owner is always thrilled because they're getting a one year old, one owner, locally owned Caddy.

Sometimes a CarFax report isn't enough.
 
A classicly dumb girl I went to high school with treated herself to a 1990 Grand Am for her 20th birthday and proceeded to drive it 22,000 miles without an oil change or top-up. It was towed into the Pontiac shop I worked at one cold winter morning because it wouldn't stay running.

After checking the dipstick and finding charred bits of sludge stuck to it, they dropped the pan and found oil with the texture of chocolate ice cream. They scooped it out with a spoon in huge globs. It was the first cold night of winter and the 'oil' that had been in the pan all that time finally congealed.

What did Pontiac do? Warrantied it. I nearly dropped dead.
 
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
A classicly dumb girl I went to high school with treated herself to a 1990 Grand Am for her 20th birthday and proceeded to drive it 22,000 miles without an oil change or top-up. It was towed into the Pontiac shop I worked at one cold winter morning because it wouldn't stay running.

After checking the dipstick and finding charred bits of sludge stuck to it, they dropped the pan and found oil with the texture of chocolate ice cream. They scooped it out with a spoon in huge globs. It was the first cold night of winter and the 'oil' that had been in the pan all that time finally congealed.



Does she have a twin Sister missing at birth? If so, I found her.
LOL.gif
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
And people ask regularly on this forum...

"Is there any risk in buying a former rental car?"

No... IF it has been properly maintained. And try to prove that one HAS BEEN properly maintained...


Exactly. It is really a roll of the dice.

As I've mentioned before - I worked for a large rental company back in the 80's. One car came back because according to the customer "it was making a funny knocking noise". The dispatcher started it up (the engine knocking very loudly) stomped on the gas pedal and drove it across the lot to the mechanics garage.
They put 4 quarts of oil in it, and it was back on the lot to be rented 20 minutes later.

This car was sold about 2 months later. Your guess is as good as mine as to how long this engine lasted - but I think it's a safe bet it didn't make 100k miles!
 
When I worked at Pepboys, we had an Enterprise down the street that would bring in rentals with 10-15k miles on them with the original filter. The local Enterprise stores are always short on cars and they really push the branches to keep them out, even 30 min in the shop for an oil change is a struggle.

This poor maintenance, coupled with the abuse they take from the many drivers prevents me from ever buying one.

We also replaced more than a few oil pans and tranny pans from the cars being jumped.
 
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
A classicly dumb girl I went to high school with treated herself to a 1990 Grand Am for her 20th birthday and proceeded to drive it 22,000 miles without an oil change or top-up. It was towed into the Pontiac shop I worked at one cold winter morning because it wouldn't stay running.

After checking the dipstick and finding charred bits of sludge stuck to it, they dropped the pan and found oil with the texture of chocolate ice cream. They scooped it out with a spoon in huge globs. It was the first cold night of winter and the 'oil' that had been in the pan all that time finally congealed.

What did Pontiac do? Warrantied it. I nearly dropped dead.


Pontiac was smart in this case. Someone ill-informed about cars who talks to others about their experience isn't going to say that it is their fault b/c they didn't change the oil. They will simply relay how their new Pontiac blew up after 22k miles.

Lot cheaper for Pontiac to pop in a new engine, and seem like the 'good guys' than to lose the 5, 10 or more 'potential customers' who may hear about how a new Pontiac blew-up after only 22k miles...
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
A classicly dumb girl I went to high school with treated herself to a 1990 Grand Am for her 20th birthday and proceeded to drive it 22,000 miles without an oil change or top-up. It was towed into the Pontiac shop I worked at one cold winter morning because it wouldn't stay running.

After checking the dipstick and finding charred bits of sludge stuck to it, they dropped the pan and found oil with the texture of chocolate ice cream. They scooped it out with a spoon in huge globs. It was the first cold night of winter and the 'oil' that had been in the pan all that time finally congealed.

What did Pontiac do? Warrantied it. I nearly dropped dead.


Pontiac was smart in this case. Someone ill-informed about cars who talks to others about their experience isn't going to say that it is their fault b/c they didn't change the oil. They will simply relay how their new Pontiac blew up after 22k miles.

Lot cheaper for Pontiac to pop in a new engine, and seem like the 'good guys' than to lose the 5, 10 or more 'potential customers' who may hear about how a new Pontiac blew-up after only 22k miles...

they still lose because someone will say it's junk for NEEDING the new engine.
that's real sad about that rental outlook. that 3.6 is a sweet engine. we test drove an outlook and I was very impressed w/ it.
 
I have had Nissans,Caddys,Oldsmobile's,Isuzu's come into the shop seized.Some on cold start up seize.All with orignal oil/filters and 20k plus miles.I have had several Durangos sold at dealer auctions from rental outfits come in with engine issues under 30k with factory filters still on them.Pretty common out there in the auto repair world.
 
If this is common with rental agency vehicles, how do they stay in business? I cannot imagine it being cheaper to rebuild engines than to change the oil on a regular basis.
 
Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Originally Posted By: ViragoBry
A classicly dumb girl I went to high school with treated herself to a 1990 Grand Am for her 20th birthday and proceeded to drive it 22,000 miles without an oil change or top-up. It was towed into the Pontiac shop I worked at one cold winter morning because it wouldn't stay running.

After checking the dipstick and finding charred bits of sludge stuck to it, they dropped the pan and found oil with the texture of chocolate ice cream. They scooped it out with a spoon in huge globs. It was the first cold night of winter and the 'oil' that had been in the pan all that time finally congealed.

What did Pontiac do? Warrantied it. I nearly dropped dead.


Pontiac was smart in this case. Someone ill-informed about cars who talks to others about their experience isn't going to say that it is their fault b/c they didn't change the oil. They will simply relay how their new Pontiac blew up after 22k miles.

Lot cheaper for Pontiac to pop in a new engine, and seem like the 'good guys' than to lose the 5, 10 or more 'potential customers' who may hear about how a new Pontiac blew-up after only 22k miles...

they still lose because someone will say it's junk for NEEDING the new engine.
that's real sad about that rental outlook. that 3.6 is a sweet engine. we test drove an outlook and I was very impressed w/ it.


Its an Ecotec 4-cylinder that suffered that treatment.

Still a shame, that's a nice engine...
 
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