Just food for thought I had a friend who used to rent cars to take to autocross events and just spend the day beating on those poor things. After the event it was fun with e-brake and j turn time.
I have to admit if My rental car on a buisness trips was particularly bad I would be a bit harsh on it. I recall driving around Phoenix with a poor caliber constantly floored (it was not quick even at full throttle). There was also a cobalt that had some fun on speed humps.
My old parts manager said he rented a Caliber. According to him, the thing wouldn’t get out of its own way 
Yeah but the good news is most of us don’t treat rental cars like that. We treat them like our own. I had a guy at work that bragged about driving through creeks and mud etc. with a rental but that was one out of a thousand. If you look at the folks picking up rentals, especially at vacation spots, they are pretty much ordinary people and families.
I still contend that there are people who do take vehicles on long trips…it’s still very rare. Probably less then 1%.
That begs the follow on question- why not?
I cannot imagine myself letting that comment go without inquiring about his reasons…did you?
It’s not the rental place I’m concerned about taking care of the car, it’s the renters!
Especially if the car has been rented in a cold climate in winter.
Don’t know about you, but when I’m on business and renting a car, I could care less about starting the car in subzero temps and immediately hammering it to get to the customer/airport/next destination on time. A body ding costs me money. Engine abuse short of failure costs me nothing…
“Don’t know about you, but when I’m on business and renting a car, I could care less about starting the car in subzero temps and immediately hammering it to get to the customer/airport/next destination on time. A body ding costs me money. Engine abuse short of failure costs me nothing…”
I would think that people who knowing think they are abusing a rental car and do it anyhow are the exception. I have rented cars and I just couldn’t have that attitude. I was brought up to treat others’ property the same way I would treat my own, carefully.
Also, I know that after the cars are put out to pasture that somebody else may be depending on them.
That said, I don’t think occasional hard acceleration on a cold car (although never advised) would necessarily cause any significant damage. Car companies warrant cars to owners who do this regular for thousands of starts.
CSA
I’ve never heard this about car rental but Uhaul had (has) a bad reputation for pushing off repairs to the next location. Eg we could change the oil now or let the next location deal with it a 1000mi later then the next location doing the same.
“I’ve never heard this about car rental but Uhaul had (has) a bad reputation for pushing off repairs to the next location.”
I’m guessing that U-Haul has a much higher percentage of rentals moving to different locations than rental car lots do. I would think most rental cars are returned to where they were rented (airports, in particular).
CSA
You’re absolutely right about Uhaul
There have been countless investigations and newspaper articles about the downright dangerous condition of uhaul equipment. Apparently several people have been hurt and killed when their POS equipment catastrophically failed
I wonder if Penske and Ryder are any better. I suspect Roger Penske wouldn’t want to tarnish his name and reputation.
People are creatures of habit. I’ll bet MOST people drive the rental car they drive their own car…just habitual. I really don’t think too many people get in the rental…and say “gee…it’s a rental…let’s abuse it”.
CSA- you might like to think that the majority of renters share your high regard for the car and the company but after 35+ years of business travel, my experience is- that is fantasy. A lot of people I personally know, myself included, are very concerned about taking care of borrowed property from friends, family etc but do not translate that to the rental car company. Sorry to burst that bubble. I actually could care less about keeping the car pristine for whoever buys it down the road…I am far more concerned about not missing a plane for example…
I used to have to travel a section of gravel road on my daily commute. It was often washboarded to the point it would rattle hardware loose if you went faster than 10 mph. Quite a few cars would go fast regardless. One time, I happened to follow one particularly careless driver into the gas station. Curious to understand their motivation, I mentioned the gravel section and how damaging it was. That’s one of the reasons why I lease! the other driver said with some glee…
Personally I would never buy a rental or lease vehicle for these reasons…
@Hankscorpio, what did your auto crossing friend rent? I have a hard time picturing a family sedan in an auto cross event.
From the responses I’d say we have about 20% that abuse rentals and 80% that don’t. That must be pretty close to what you’d expect with any used car lot I suppose.
I know people who have had both good and bad luck with buying a rental car. Some go for 200,000 miles without issues before being sold. A couple others weren’t so lucky. One guy had transmission issues from the time the car was purchased and the dealer always got out of doing anything about it but would always change the fluid when it was brought it. It didn’t matter how many miles were on it but the fluid was always black and burned smelling.
Another guy who bought a Ford Explorer several years back had it drop a valve just driving down the road normally. He was on the main drag just 1/2 mile from the Ford dealer where this was purchased so he drove it there with the engine clattering like it was coming apart. It wouldn’t restart when they went out to look at it and it had to be towed into the garage. The vehicle was only 1/5 to 2 years old and they gave him a new engine. This turned out pretty good for him but you have to wonder how bad this vehicle was abused for it to do something like this.
Another guy I know bought a used manual transmission Camry about 10-15 years (or more) ago. I never knew any rental companies had manual transmission cars, especially something like a Camry. I would expect a sports car to be available like that but not a family car. He got it really cheap with a squealing throwout bearing. He replaced the clutch set and never had another issue.
Rental companies are worse than the NSA though. With their software and tracking devices installed, they know if you exceeded the speed limit, and know if you went out of state, and I’m pretty sure they know if you’ve abused the car. When you return the car, all they have to do is wand it and they have all the particulars on their hand-held. It’s not like the old days. What they do with the abused cars though I can’t say but I’m sure the fleet buyers have access to the information and buy only the best. The rest I think go for auction. So I think not knowing what kind of history the car had is not a factor anymore but I guess the question would be where best to buy one, from the rental company or a car dealer. In my view I think the dealer might be a better bet since they already would have screened them.