Would you ever buy a rental car?

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I bought a 2010 Impala LT with the luxury and convenience packages in December of 2010 with 14,500 miles on it that came out of the rental fleet. I was concerned about buying a rental car, but my concerns were unfounded. It has been an excellent car and for $16,500 it was a very good deal.
 
Call me weird, but I drive my rental cars same as personal cars because I know this will be someone else's car one day-and they probably can just barely afford it
 
Due to the large number of jerks who beat on them "because it's not my car", AND the issues I have had with both former vehicles that were ex-rentals....never buying one again.

Too much of a risk down the road for me.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
Who was the rental company?

I've had good luck from Hertz. They sell their cars with a 1 year warranty that you can take it to the stealership for them to fix your car if it has an isssue.

I bought a 2002 Ford Taurus in 2004 with a bad alternator. you could hear that it had a bad bearing, the stealership fixed it for free the day after I bought it.
I bought it in 2004 with 25,000 miles, it currently is in my driveway with 190,000 miles.

My Grandmother had several cars my Uncle bought from Enterprise. They were really driven into the ground.

The problem is that due to the economy and the value of used cars. Used cars have skyrocketed in value over the past 4 years.
There are multiple brake-even points for when a rental company can sell a used car and make money on the deal. Due to the increased value of used cars rental companies are keeping vehicles longer.
Instead of 25,000 miles, you will see 50,000 and even up to 100,000 miles on a used car from a rental company.


Look at enterprise' used car web site. They are selling the used cars for nearly what they cost new!


They have a '12 Versa with 40k for $12,9 - they didn't cost much more than that with 0 miles on them.

They have a '11 Aveo with 50K miles for 11K - again, about what it was new.



I looked at their website before I bought my '12 Accord new.

They had a '10 Accord LX-P with over 40K for 16.9K. The kicker was 0% financing (they were running some kind of deal through Penfed) on the car.

Bought a new '12 Accord LX-P for 19.3 with .9 financing. No brainer in my mind, go new.

However back to the original question, I would if the price was right.
 
I believe my current Mazda3i was a rental. I am OK with it in this case for 2 reasons:
1) It is a CPO car with a 100k warranty.
2) I bought the car with under 15k miles on it. Even if the oil was never changed, there isn't much harm that can happen in that time frame.

This is my first time with this so we'll see if my opinion changes in the future. I never thought I would consider a used car until this purchase.
 
It depends on the type of car. If you are talking about a Mustang or something I wouldn't do it. Also, if you are the type of person who keeps a car this is a great deal...otherwise you would take a hit when you try and sell the car.

I purchased a 2000 Outback with less than 12K on it from Hertz and still have the car today with 186K on it with no problems. Best part is I saved a ton of money and got the remainder of the warranty. My parents purchased an Escape from Enterprise low milage, warranty etc. and now have 134k on the car with no problem.

I would just get it checked out like any used car, and plan on keeping the car.
 
Just because its sold by a rent-a-car company doesn't mean its an off rental car. They buy used cars wholesale like any other used car dealer and resell.

In principle I don't have a problem with a rental car. At least you know its been consistently maintained. I haven't been impressed by their prices lately.
 
I dogged my Dad when he bought a 1986 Lincoln Town Car Executive....Loaded with everything. He said....just who in the #ell you think rents these things? Older generations. Guess he was right, he drove that car into the ground and put about 120K trouble free miles on it. It depends on the car.
 
I worked in a car rental place in my youth...National...and there isn't a chance I would buy one.

I would say they use the term "consistently maintained" very loosely when it comes to rentals.
 
My outlander was a rental, not sure who though. Picked it up at 30k miles / 2yrs old and immediately did an oil change to make sure. UOA tests a few changes later show the engine working great and a recent oil pan re-seal and spark plug replacement (intake comes off) show a clean engine. Maybe I got lucky.
 
I wouldn't buy a sports car or anything, but I would be fine buying a rental sedan or van...even something like a uhaul truck.
 
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