I know a lot of comedians make jokes about buying a used rental car. Jeff Foxworthy said buying a used rental car is like choosing a wife at a house of ill-repute, you don’t want something that’s been driven that hard by that many people. I’m not so sure that’s an accurate assessment though. If you think about it, most people rent a car because they’ve flown in from out of town. Do you really want to drive like a maniac in a strange city where you don’t know the lay of the land or where the cops hide or how strictly the traffic laws are enforced? Do you really want to have an accident or get a ticket in a strange city and ruin your vacation or business trip? Plus nowadays the rental car companies probably have those tracking chips on the cars and could potentially penalize you for abusing the car.
When I have a rental car, I treat it as if I owned it. Most of my colleagues do the same. When we are on a business trip, we represent our company and sponsor. Treating a rental as if we own it is a professional responsibility. Vacation car rentals mean driving the family around, and I am an even more responsible driver. I have worked with one or two people that abused their rental cars, but considering the hundreds of people I’ve worked with on business trips, that’s is a very small number.
jtsanders: I do the same. But I do remember the last car I rented, a small Ford of some sort. The transmission would slip badly on startup, don’t remember the exact details.
But the point is, when I turned the car in, I made a point to report this problem, but the rental employee just ignored it.
I also noted a strange warning light on the dash. I had to do an internet search to find out it had to do with a hill stop function and could be ignored.
I suspect the odd transmission behavior of the rental Ford had nothing to do with damage. Ford has had frequent complaints about their dual clutch automatic transmissions, especially jerky starts, more so a few years ago before they revised the programming, but some to this day. Ford uses them in many of their models, so odds are good that’s what the rental had. Other makes have struggled with the same problem, especially VW, which adopted the design first. Porsche has been praised for the excellence of their designs, so it does appear possible to make them smooth, just tricky.
Here is my observation. Rental car or private owner, some people drive their cars hard and some easy. The big difference is that rental cars get regular maintenance whereas private owners don’t always follow regular maintenance schedules. In either case you should do a pre-purchase inspection but I would trust a rental car over a private purchase unless the private owner can produce all maintenance records. All of my friends who have purchased rental fleet vehicles have been quite happy with their purchases over time.
Buying a used car is always a crap shoot, regardless of where you get it from. If you are truly worried about how a vehicle has been driven then your only choice is to take the dagger to the heart (on resale value) and buy a new vehicle. Buying new ensures that the car is driven right but, unless you keep your cars until they are dust (as I do), kills you financially.
My biggest knock on rental car sales is that most of the rental car fleet is pretty vanilla in terms of vehicles and options. If price is king then they are good deals if style is of no concern. But if you are looking to load up on options or drive something more interesting than a plain vanilla sedan your choices at a rental car sales lot may be quite limited.
Now since everybody states that rental cars get regular maintenance, this is my question.
Let say the rental car is due for an oil change at 5K miles and now the ODO is at 4500. The next costumer rents it for one week, drives for 3K miles, so how is that “regular maintenance by the book”.
@galant
"Let say the rental car is due for an oil change at 5K miles and now the ODO is at 4500. The next costumer rents it for one week, drives for 3K miles, so how is that ‘regular maintenance by the book’."
That is a legitimate concern. Since I’m one who buys former “rental” cars and since I’ve rented cars, let me comment.
"Shot by my own gun."
I rented a current model (in 2011) Malibu for a week and proceeded to go on a 2,500 hundred mile vacation. On my way back toward the starting location the OLM indicated an oil change was due. Since I was within a few hundred miles I just waited and mentioned it to the rental agency.
I rationalize it this way… I figure that OLMs have a little fudge factor built in. I also figure that modern motor oils are resilient. I got to thinking this way because the one time I sent an oil sample in from a 5,000 mile change (and OLM was near 0%) on one of our cars, Blackstone Labs informed me that the oil would have gone much longer.
I guess, in retrospect that I should have inquired about this situation by making a phone call, and I will ask next time I rent a car.
My thinking is that probably not every customer is going to run past an oil change and the few who do probably won’t go very far beyond. Rentals are ordinarily a short-term arrangement. Repeatedly going overdue on oil changes is not a good thing.
I try and buy former rental cars that are low-miles and that have factory warranty remaining, but I have given thought to this concern, previously. I just don’t worry too much about it. So far, I’ve never bought a bad rental car.
CSA
@galant - Are you worried that the oil will stop lubricating at 5,000 miles? Do you think private owners wouldn’t do the same thing? My point was simply that rental car agencies follow, as closely as possible, a regular maintenance schedule. Private owners are not always so diligent.
You have to remember its math and statistics. If you looked at the average number of miles driven by a rental in a week I’m sure it would be under 500. That’s why they are confident in unlimited mileage deals. They know most people are not going to drive a couple thousand miles. So sure, you would have the extremes like me that went 100 miles in a week and also me that went 3000 miles in a week, but on the average they are pretty safe.
As far as the option packages, I guess I just haven’t noticed that they are any more plain Jane than the cars on the dealer lots. I remember way back our fleet manager used to order cars without air, or white walls, etc. as cheap as possible. Then we got a new manager and they had air, and power windows, and white walls. So I asked him about it and he said “resale value”. No one wants to buy a car with no options so they make it all back and then some by having cars with attractive options. My $40,000 Acura does not have some options like remote start, but my $12,000 G6 rental return does. It was just part of the standard package.
Even as far back as the early 1950s, rental car companies didn’t buy the lowest trimline. Back then, the lowest trimlines of the “Big 3” didn’t even have a right hand sunvisor. The 1952 Chevrolet Standard didn’t even have an ashtray. It had rubber instead of chrome stone shields, no chrome trim around the windshield or rear window and very low grade upholstery. I have seen such vehicles in use by utility companies, but never in a.rental fleet. The Fords in these fleets were the Customline, not the low level Mainline.
@Tridaq I agree. Rentals are neither top nor bottom line but have what most people would want in a car. They usually have the base power plant. For enthusiasts they’re Casper Milquetoast, but are popular for most.
The only real exception, I recall, was when in the 70s Hertz at O’Hara Airport in Chicago had Shelby Mustangs. These cars were unwieldy; the one I rented idled at 30 mph!!! Renters caused so many accidents that they were soon discontinued.
The last 2 rentals we had were lack of maintenance nightmares. One we had to trade in on day 2 of our trip due to brake failure and other problems. The last one was a rental pickup that had to be towed due to brake malfunction. 2 different rental companies. I fail to believe any of them are maintained. Wouldn’t own it if they gave it to me.
My Former Rental (Alamo) Bonneville Has Leather Chairs, Leather Steering Wheel And A Spoiler. It Was A Fleet Buy, I’m Sure.
It still smells like a catcher’s mitt, though. A quite, smooth, comfortable, trouble-free automobile. :neutral:
CSA
Let say the rental car is due for an oil change at 5K miles and now the ODO is at 4500. The next costumer rents it for one week, drives for 3K miles, so how is that “regular maintenance by the book”.
Many years ago I made a rental reservation for a Lincoln Town Car. The morning I went to pick it up the desk clerk informed me that while my car was there, the previous renter had accumulated enough miles in a few days that the car was no longer available, since it was within 250 miles of needing service. They were happy to substitute a Grand Caravan, Grand Marquis, or an SUV for the same price.
I informed her that none of those was acceptable and that I was not leaving without a Town Car. It took her supervisor and a call to his manager to be able to release the car to me.
Just one example, but if Hertz wouldn’t rent out a car close to service maybe other companies do that too.
@bloody_knuckles
If you look at my previous posts, I am not against buying rental cars (or even off lease cars for that matter). I was just posing a hypothetical situation for the perfectionists.
I myself look at all the car purchases over my lifetime of car ownership and buying used is still the way to go, even if a bit of risk is involved.
The average car owner is always worried that the car will magically stop running if the oil was not changed and they like the comfort of the warranty. So they do make regular stops at the dealership.
With today’s cars, there is really not much needed to be done in the 1st 20-30K miles other than maybe a few oil changes and even if you asked the Europeans, we are too OCD about that too.
Right now I am shopping for a compact CUV; The used Rav4’s are overpriced and a new one, even the base model seems to cost me around 26K after tax and fees. I can get a 2015 ex-rental Hyundai Tucson with the CPO warranty, with 20-30K miles on it, for around 17K with fees. Even though the Hyundai might not be as reliable as the Toyota and I can also get a poorly maintained used car, I still think the 9K saved is worth all the risk.
You know, @galant , I think that Tucson will do you just fine. My experience is in the aftermarket and I don’t have anything to back me up, but I find that late model Hyundais are just as reliable and perhaps even easier to maintain than Toyotas or Hondas. I don’t think I have a single customer who bought a Hyundai and isn’t happy with it.
Well, everyone’s carping about “oil changes, oil changes” but I’m betting that an extra 500 - 1000 miles one way or the other is not going to make much difference. In my experience, its everything CONNECTED to the engine that wears out, rusts out, and falls off. My '93 has 202k and burns no oil, valves don’t tap, I’d bet the motor itself would easily go another 100 or 200k. Its all those components connected to the engine that are worn out, not to mention the body rusting / paint peeling off. . .
In my limited experience, the problem with used cars nowadays is they want almost as much money as a new car. For another $3,000 or so, may as well get a new one. Unless you want a used car that’s over 100k miles / 10 years old.
Let say the rental car is due for an oil change at 5K miles and now the ODO is at 4500. The next costumer rents it for one week, drives for 3K miles, so how is that "regular maintenance by the book".
I think that’s extremely rare. I rent cars 4-5 times a year for work…and rarely put on 200 miles. 3000 miles is an extreme case.
I bought a 1980 Toyota Tercel hatchback with 15,000 miles from a rental agency. It was wonderful! Smaller than a Corolla, the 5sp. manual was an OK shifter, steady & stable on the road & felt like it belonged there. Many times on mountain logging roads for hikes, Tercel also felt it belonged there & we were going to have a 200,000 mile affair. However, on a quick snowfall on a mountain highway, a vehicle out-weighing Tercel by 30%, in the oncoming lane, went broadside & slid into our lane. Unable to maneuver, I & my friend T-boned the other car at 30-35mph, both cars slamming to a stop, AND still touching. The powerful crash broke my friend’s ribs, as the seatbelts held us both from impacting the console & steering wheel. The Tercel’s front was destroyed & even the instrument panel was broken. A faster crash & the engine would have intruded into the passenger compartment. But the rental agency solid Tercel saved us to recover fully.
A car due for an oil change at 5000 and taken out on the highway for 3000 at 4500, based on my Blackstone data, would not worry me at all. That highway driving would not be a problem at all.
Unless it were one of those known for sludge, maybe.