Speaking of buying ex rental cars

[pitzel]

Originally Posted by The_Nuke

[

Originally Posted by pitzel

And given that iatrogenic maintenance mistakes are a leading cause of problems these days, particularly in DI engines (ie: changing oil too often), the minimal maintenance applied to rentals actually is a feature.

I don't know exactly what you were trying to say with that sentence, but I don't think you succeeded in saying it. Please clarify and/or restate.

Sure. Excessive oil changes, particularly with improper oil or done by actors which have lots of incentive to minimize expense (ie: dealers, quickie lubes, etc.) are well recognized as contributing to intake contamination. "iatrogenic" means induced by the maintenance or corrective procedure itself. Its a term from medicine, but applies to vehicles as well. Rental cars receive their maintenance per the manufacturer's schedule (or even slightly less frequently), so they don't suffer from damaging over-"maintenance". Unfortunately rental fleets are not immune from the problem of improper maintenance, but at least they're exposed to less of it.

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by pitzel

Sure. Excessive oil changes, particularly with improper oil or done by actors which have lots of incentive to minimize expense (ie: dealers, quickie lubes, etc.) are well recognized as contributing to intake contamination.

"Excessive oil changes...are well recognized as contributing to intake contamination." Well recognized by...??? That's news to me, so I cannot be counted among those who recognize that. In fact, that sounds counter-intuitive to me. Is there a study, a paper, something/anything I can read up on to inform me of how that's possible? And while we're at it, please define what is meant by 'excessive'. Are we talking 3K mile OCIs, 50 mile OCIs, 12 hour OCIs, etc.? Wait, n/m, I'm sure the definition of 'excessive' can be found somewhere in the write-up you're going to link to...you know, the one that will convince me the original assertion is true after reading it.

Originally Posted by pitzel

"iatrogenic" means induced by the maintenance or corrective procedure itself. Its a term from medicine, but applies to vehicles as well.

Okay, this is the first time I have seen it used, but now I know a new word. Thank you for adding it to my vocabulary...although, I'm not sure I will ever be able to use it in a contextually accurate way, but thanks just the same.

Originally Posted by pitzel

Rental cars receive their maintenance per the manufacturer's schedule (or even slightly less frequently), ...

I would like to think that is true, but I have no data to show me one way or another. Can you paste in a link or two to the data source(s) you used to arrive at that conclusion?

Originally Posted by pitzel

...so they don't suffer from damaging over-"maintenance".

I still maintain over-maintenance isn't necessarily damaging, so let's set this aside for now...

Originally Posted by pitzel

Unfortunately rental fleets are not immune from the problem of improper maintenance,

I think you are 100% correct - rental fleets are not immune from improper maintenance. I'll go on record saying it too: Rental cars receive improper maintenance all over the country, regardless of rental company, car manufacturer, or car make/model. Not EVERY rental car, mind you, but at least some definitely do. But it sounds like you are classifying what you refer to as 'excessive oil changes' to be a type of improper maintenance, and I still say that is not yet an agreed-upon fact. So...

Originally Posted by pitzel

but at least they're exposed to less of it.

less than who/what? My car? Your car? What type or group of cars gets more of the excessive/improper/proper/inadequate/adequate maintenance than rental cars? I only ask because my initial feeling is that this is another opinion, unsubstantiated by any data, but I want to make sure I'm clear on what you're saying before I declare it to be such.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by CKN

Useless thread of the day.....................

says the man who hasn't created a post himself in over 6 months

 

[4WD]

Any rental car workers or anyone knowledgeable about this?[/quote] I work for Enterprise and we 100% do not wait until 20k miles to change the oil. We get new cars all the time. And yes the cars do get driven hard at times but like said above many people are afraid to drive hard because its not there car. Modern cars are pretty good at protecting the engine or transmission from abuse.[/quote] Been a while but just got lucky and the Big E walked me over to a brand new Charger. (6 miles) Thought about this thread and I varied the speed (Houston traffic helped the first 40 miles) … and construction … and once I was on the open road I just enjoyed being back in the US … varied speed … all good cruising while catching up on the news. It's a nice car ~ looking forward to driving it a bit more …

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by HowAboutThis

Mildly OT--- I'd never really seriously looked at rental cars for sale, but just checked Enterprise and some of their Carfax reports. Every one I checked showed first reported oil change at 20k+ miles! Is this what they do, or do they change oil "in house" and it just doesn't get linked to the VIN & Carfax? I can't imagine they'd go that long without a change. But, who knows LOL Any rental car workers or anyone knowledgeable about this?

Years ago they did oil changes and maintenance on their vehicles in house. There were two mechanics on day shift and one on 3pm-11pm for my area. That's how it was with Budget Rental Cars back around 1991 when I worked there. It's surely not this way today. I shuttled vehicles, checked fluids, cleaned/inspected/prepped returns and of course made time with the babes at the counter at the airport. Such great memories and fun times when you're 20.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by pitzel

Rentals are great as used cars. Most people are afraid to death of causing any problem with them, so they get driven easy. There is little to no substance to the claim that rentals are abused. And given that iatrogenic maintenance mistakes are a leading cause of problems these days, particularly in DI engines (ie: changing oil too often), the minimal maintenance applied to rentals actually is a feature.

Everyone has a story in regards to a rental being beaten. There's of course videos online, etc. Like you, I feel the vast majority of them are driven reasonably. People just want to get from point A to B. With E-throttles, E-parking brakes and all the other "protective" equipment on vehicles these days, it's pretty tough to perform major vehicular shenanigans. Things are either going to catastrophically break or not and be fine. I know we romped on the cars shuttling them about when I worked for Budget many years ago, but IMO, that's hardly destroying things.

 

[ad244]

Originally Posted by pitzel

Rentals are great as used cars. Most people are afraid to death of causing any problem with them, so they get driven easy. There is little to no substance to the claim that rentals are abused. And given that iatrogenic maintenance mistakes are a leading cause of problems these days, particularly in DI engines (ie: changing oil too often), the minimal maintenance applied to rentals actually is a feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1FGTGarmlQ

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by JTK

There's of course videos online, etc. Like you, I feel the vast majority of them are driven reasonably. People just want to get from point A to B. With E-throttles, E-parking brakes and all the other "protective" equipment on vehicles these days, it's pretty tough to perform major vehicular shenanigans. Things are either going to catastrophically break or not and be fine.

I agree with this. It's really rare that someone really tries to gank a rental car. **Most** people just want to get from point A to B

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by ad244

Originally Posted by pitzel

Rentals are great as used cars. Most people are afraid to death of causing any problem with them, so they get driven easy. There is little to no substance to the claim that rentals are abused. And given that iatrogenic maintenance mistakes are a leading cause of problems these days, particularly in DI engines (ie: changing oil too often), the minimal maintenance applied to rentals actually is a feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1FGTGarmlQ

Wait, I couldn't hear the gentleman very well, how much can I rent that MF-er for??

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by atikovi

Originally Posted by CKN

Useless thread of the day.....................

says the man who hasn't created a post himself in over 6 months

Well...I too could come up with something totally useless.....I guess.

 

[Bailes1992]

My Volvo is ex-rental. I purchased it 6 months old with 8,500 miles on the clock for £16,500. I thought it was a total bargain considering new it was north of £32,000.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by CKN

Originally Posted by atikovi

Originally Posted by CKN

Useless thread of the day.....................

says the man who hasn't created a post himself in over 6 months

Well...I too could come up with something totally useless.....I guess.

But then it wouldn't go 3 pages...

 

[tahoe_hybrid]

Originally Posted by pitzel

Rentals are great as used cars. Most people are afraid to death of causing any problem with them, so they get driven easy. There is little to no substance to the claim that rentals are abused. And given that iatrogenic maintenance mistakes are a leading cause of problems these days, particularly in DI engines (ie: changing oil too often), the minimal maintenance applied to rentals actually is a feature.

I drove a rental 110MPH it barely had 4k miles on it I drove it like i stole it... it was a dodge caravan so it was garbage to began with.. I asked for a Ford transit or a Chevy suburban or express I ended it up with that garbage... transporting cargo i did not want a uhaul since it was a 900 miles trip and needed unlimited miles... they tried claiming i was late on the return and tried to charge for another day but I told them I had to gas it up and get it washed and vacuumed (it was really dirty inside when i got it)... which I told them in advance (called up ) that is what i was doing it was only 30mim late..... i averaged 24MPG @100-110mph not too bad for a 4 banger// I put the cheapest garbage gas i could find I do not put garbage gas in my personal car btw I use mobil or chevron Top tier fuel ONLY

 

[atikovi]

That reminds of the Chrysler Neon rental in Europe over 20 years ago. Had that thing up to 200 on the autobahn going down hill and cruised at 180. Or the Audi a few years later I drove on the Nurburgring.