Anyone ever buy an "Ex-rental" car?

Ive only drove one rental car and it was so boring i felt no need to beat on it. My in laws had an ex rental 08 malibu for 5 years with no issues outside of normal things.

The Millenium Escort, my 2002 Ford Escort Sedan, was purchased from Enterprise in flawless condition with 26,000 miles on the clock and still had it's New Car Smell. It remained flawless for the next 156,000 until the inevitable #4 intake valve seat drop occured at 182K (this is a known flaw with the Ford CVH series if engines, caused by the OEM method for machining the seat pockets and they way the seats were installed. There are two general types of Ford CVH factory stock cylinder heads: those which have dropped in intake valve seat, and those which are going to). Naturally, since I had to rebuild the engine anyway, this is when I did the blueprint and balance, ported and flowbenched the entire top end from the throttlebody to the header, and had Scheider custom grind a cam for it

I wouldn't buy a little car from a rental place. Something really cheap. Nope. Upper level car, mid size or family truckster ect, no problem.

Toyman01 wrote:

stuart in mn wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: When I pick up my car, I drive it to my hotel, out to dinner, to the client meeting and back to the airport. It's a mid-sized sedan, what am I going to do with it?

Pretty much how I use a rental as well. I've never figured out why people would purposely abuse them.

This. I don't treat them any worse than I would treat my own vehicles.

Not sure which side of the arguement you are on with this statement....

I was just talking with the guys at my local Enterprise about that the other day. Their take was that for the most part, they're starting to save the "good ones" for their own sales dept and the lesser ones wind up going to the general market.

But in general I know that they tend to take good care of the cars with maintenance and getting things fixed right away when they break. But it is also a branch-to-branch thing, so not every branch is as conscientious.

wae wrote: I was just talking with the guys at my local Enterprise about that the other day. Their take was that for the most part, they're starting to save the "good ones" for their own sales dept and the lesser ones wind up going to the general market. But in general I know that they tend to take good care of the cars with maintenance and getting things fixed right away when they break. But it is also a branch-to-branch thing, so not every branch is as conscientious.

This is exactly right. Each Enterprise branch is responsible for maintenance of the cars. There is a schedule that they're supposed to follow. From what I've been told by several Enterprise folks are that most branch managers are pretty good in following the maintenance schedule. Enterprise already knows that it can be a tough sell convincing people that a former rental car is a good buy, so they maintain them well to try to help with the sale. I've never bought one, but if I had a reason to, I wouldn't be afraid of it.

I'm a Hertz "President's Circle" member (my biggest accomplishment.) Some great points made in this thread. Ex-rental cars from the "full size" class any above are probably a lot better off than whatever E36 M3box insurance provides for idiots that have already wrecked at least 1 car. Insurance cars are rented for longer periods while people wait on their cars to be replaced/repaired. A ghetto stint for a weekend -- car will probably recover. A ghetto stint for a month -- cigarette burns, roaches in the console, seatbelts that smell like cheap perfume/cologne.

At the full-size boundary and above, somebody made a conscientious effort to rent the car.

petegossett wrote: My '14 T&C is an ex-Enterprise van. Enterprise seems to take pretty good care of their fleet, and I figured if it survived 58k of the worst driving imagined, it should hold up ok for me.

Same here, '14 T&C. 45k. It's a used van like any other.

My second car, a 1996 Cutlass Supreme Coupe, was an ex-rental car. I bought it with something like 65k miles on it and drove it for another 120k. I had the trans rebuilt at 145k miles after the planetary gear self destructed, guy at the transmission shop said it was the longest he'd seen a 4T60E last. Car was pretty mint and had one of the best factory sound systems ever. I also really dug the color, Sunset Orange Metallic.

I bought our '97 Camry with about 20K on it from the Toyota dealer in '98. I think it was a Hertz rental. I need to change the oil, didn't get to it last weekend. It has about 235K on it now.

I've driven some perfectly normal rental cars that didn't appear to get purposely beaten on, and then I've gotten into some of them that are under a year old that are so roughed up in the interior plastics, etc. that I think "holy E36 M3 this is an almost new car?"

The stigma in my mind is there are people who are terrible car owners to begin with and neglect maintenance, abuse their car, etc. and with a rental car you are buying something that MANY bad car owners may have driven. If the cost savings was enough to buy an extended warranty and still come out on top I'd consider it, but that would probably be the only way I would do it.

I worked for a Chevrolet dealer who regularly bought a trailer load of rental Cavalier sedans. They sold like hot cakes. We never had any problems.

Fanfoy has a Mazda 5 he wants rid of. Maybe you two could find some mutually beneficial middle ground?

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/using-an-enthusiasts-car-to-get-rid-of-an-upside-down-car-payment-anyone-done-it/110930/page1/

Flight Service wrote: I wouldn't buy a little car from a rental place. Something really cheap. Nope. Upper level car, mid size or family truckster ect, no problem.

Agreed. My wife's Rendezvous was an ex-rental. It has been reliable and seems to have been maintained well and not abused, but it is decontented: no ABS, no trac control, no side airbags, and I suspect there's less sound deadening b/c it's louder than other Rendezvouseseses I've ridden in.

A Mazda 5 is probably safe. Just make sure it has all the safety equipment that a non-rental-spec model has.

My parents had an ex-rental Caravan that was fairly trouble free.

I just bought a 2012 Chrysler T&C last week that was a rental. By all external appearances it seems like a brand new car. I just took it on a 500 mile trip over the weekend and it drives very nicely. Hopefully it wasn't beat on too bad. Thankfully Chrysler warranties the powertrain up to 100,000 miles and the crack prone rear cylinder head is warrantied till 10yrs/150k miles.

My parents bought a Crown Vic that was a rental. Dad said if he knew it was going to be as reliable as it was he would have stepped up to a Lincoln Continental instead of the Crown Vic. They drove it for years and mom sold it after dad passed to get a new car. It had well over 100k on it and it is still driving around town as a low rider now.

SWMBO & I bought a Elantra that was a fleet rental. Drove it for a year or so and handed it down to daughter who tried to kill it (she didn't like a 4-door mom-mobile). Went about 10k in-between an oil change once, it came out in clumps. She traded it in on a new Tiburon GT w/over 150k and still running great.

The only ones I beat on are those with the utterly soul-less CVT transmissions - like Corollas or Versas. My contest with myself is to see how far around the tachometer I can get the needle Mind you, the one I had last time went decidedly better by the time I handed it back; I think the prior 40,000km or so of un-hurried driving also takes a toll.

Mrs. TJ's Jetta is an ex-rental. No major issues.

My 98 Explorer was an ex-rental. I owned for 10 years after I purchased it. Best vehicle I have ever owned.

I would agree with the earlier comments about sticking with higher-end vehicles from rental companies.

We bought a 2009 Mazda3 hatchback from Hertz in 2010. Car had 27k on it when we got it and had lived it's life up to that point at Orlando International Airport. It was like new when we got it with the exception of 1 ding in the roof. We bought it for $5000 less than an identical (even the color) car that was at the local mazda dealer.

We're just about to hit 100k miles and the car has been flawless. It did get struck by lightning once resulting in $7000 in damage and a month in the shop, but that had nothing to do with it being a former rental. Insurance paid for repairs. Mazda has provided us oustranding service with recalls.

I would definitely consider another Hertz rent to buy car.

My Mazda MPV was an ex Hertz rental. We've had it for 9 years- no issue at all.

I kind of doubt the kind of people who want to abuse rental cars are going to go out of their way to rent a mini van.

In reply to SVreX:

The cars I see thrashed the most in public are single-occupant minivans. Call it dad rage.

iceracer wrote: I worked for a Chevrolet dealer who regularly bought a trailer load of rental Cavalier sedans. They sold like hot cakes. We never had any problems.

The Buick/Pontiac/GMC dealer I worked at did something similar with Buick Centurys. They bought them by the truckload one summer (2001ish?) and had what they advertised as "THE SALE OF THE CENTURY!". They had a row set up and you could have your pick for $9999. They all had between 25-30k miles and basically got tires and front brakes before being sold.

I forgot to mention, I rented a van once to rescue a family of five from being stranded in their purchased-new Honda Odyssey about six hours from our town. Chrysler to the rescue! Anyway, it was the same color and year as the van which we own now, Carmax had it and it was a former Enterprise rental. It might have been the same one.

My mom's last Taurus was an ex rental. 1 year old '07(only sold to fleets that year) with 30k. It was just fine until it was hit when parked.