# Are former rental cars a good buy? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205 "2009-05-08T19:31:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RallyNorth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/rallynorth/32/3096_2.png) [@RallyNorth](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RallyNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/21 "2009-05-10T14:32:38Z")
Forgot to finish my second sentence! “It was a 2008 model that was terrific to drive and a great value.” ---
**Author:** ![Scrabbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Scrabbler](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrabbler)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/22 "2009-05-10T15:38:13Z")
I, too, like the feel and handling of the Mazda6–although like you, I only drive so fast–not only are tickets a possibility, but so is liability (both civil and criminal) if there’s an accident. I’m thinking right now that my next car will either be a Mazda3 or possibly some kind of BMW, depending on my budget ant Full disclosure: This car had one serious problem–a transmission issue. The tranny was replaced at about 49K miles (I bought the car at 19K, now have 51K.) However, it was replaced under factory warranty (no, I don’t know why, since the factory warranty was 36K–once I heard it was free I didn’t ask a lot of questions). BTW, the person at the Mazda dealership said they generally did not have many problems getting work approved from the Enterprise extended warranties, which I have. Other than that, the only issues I’ve had with the car are one dead battery about a year after I got the car and one flat tire. ---
**Author:** ![glengrab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9adbd/32.png) [@glengrab](https://community.cartalk.com/u/glengrab)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/23 "2009-05-11T20:02:04Z")
Here’s a story about a rental car at the “We’ll pick U Up” place - no oil changes in 30,000 miles results in a blown engine with very interesting looking engine internals. > **[Saturn Rental Car Never Gets Oil Change, Engine Carnage Ensues After 30,000...](https://jalopnik.com/5235675/saturn-rental-car-never-gets-oil-change-engine-carnage-ensues-after-30000-miles)** > > Enterprise Rent-A-Car delivered a Saturn Outlook to the dealership shop after the check-engine light appeared and the engine quit running. The problem? Enterprise records showed zero oil changes after 30,000 miles. Brutal results below. NEVER buy any car without a thorough inspection that includes a Compression check. I learned this the hard way - what I spent to replace that engine would have paid for a lot of compression checks. ---
**Author:** ![otterhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otterhere](https://community.cartalk.com/u/otterhere)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/24 "2009-05-11T20:57:12Z")
My former car, the Suzuki Swift hatchback, was a rental car; need I describe how wonderful a car that was? Definitely. BTW, I’m warming slightly to the Yaris. Now that I’ve figured out how to make the useless MP3 auxillary jack work for me as a Sony Walkman tape player, I’m getting around to listening to all my old music cassettes from the 80s as well as catching up on my recorded NPR radio programs… But that Swift; what a car! Mileage was a little high for its age (one year), but got a good price and know it was well-maintained. Also a painless procedure; the people at Thrifty Rental weren’t really your average hard-core used car salesmen… ---
**Author:** ![rockstar07](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@rockstar07](https://community.cartalk.com/u/rockstar07)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/25 "2009-05-11T23:07:32Z")
I bought an Oldsmobile Intrigue that was a rental and had decent luck with it. That being said, I wouldn’t put too much stock into the notion that all rentals are maintained well. I’ve rented cars from that “We’ll Pick You Up” agency, and on numerous occasions it was obvious the cars were not maintained. Anything from bad brakes, oil change stickers showing WAY past due, to one that had less than 10 psi of air in three of the four tires. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/26 "2009-05-11T23:26:04Z")
“Unfortunately, some of the best economy cars, like the Civic and the Camry, have initial sticker prices too high to be rental cars.” I’ve seen several Camrys in the last couple of years and I had a Corolla two weeks ago, all at National. I imagine that the others are similar. Oh, and lots of Siennas. ---
**Author:** ![dougbq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@dougbq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/dougbq)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/27 "2009-08-18T18:55:04Z")
Final outcome. We ended up buying a 2002 Buick LeSabre from the local Toyota dealer. It is in prime shape. Had 111,419 miles and rides and looks new. My mechanic was happy with everything but the tires. Replaced two of them. Total price (with the tires) was $5718. Oh and $5 to transfer the plate off my old clunker that I gave away to the handyman. Took it on a 1500 mile trip two weeks later. Quite comfortable. 29.2 mpg for mostly highway driving. Pretty pleased with that. Made it from St. Louis to my home in Georgia (about 530 miles) on one tank of gas. Happy about that, also. Thanks for all the input. ---
**Author:** ![Ranck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Ranck](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Ranck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/28 "2009-08-18T19:01:35Z")
Well, for $8000 plus a cash 4 clunkers $4500 added by turning in the '91 Crown Vic, you could get a new car. Small, but new and with a warranty. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![bscar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bscar/32/34_2.png) [@bscar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bscar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205/29 "2009-08-18T23:14:42Z")
Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. Hope you’re happy with your Buick for many more years. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/are-former-rental-cars-a-good-buy/30205.md?page=1)