What do we think of ex-rental cars?

I'm the first person to admit I'm prejudiced against buying an ex-rental car. Back when I was at University, one of my part time gigs was as a driver for a large car rental chain and I saw firsthand how people treated both leased and rented cars.

Let's just say that I still believe the following quip from the UK to be true - "the fastest cars are either company or rented".

Nevertheless, in my quest to find a replacement for my ND - well, more a replacement for the dearly departed 996, but the MX5 is part of the deal - I've hit on a couple of cars that ex-rental. Well, they'd have to be, because they were only ever available as a rental car in that particular spec. They're also performance cars and I expect them to have been treated, well, not quite as gently as a normal rental car.

I'm talking about 2016 Shelby GT-Hs, to be precise. At least those would fulfill one of the suggestions made in my Alfa thread, namely the "buy something that has a dealer in town".

What does GRM think?

My pastor bought a Toyota Corolla- goes and goes.  No issues.  100,000+ miles on the clock.  

Their maintenance is far better than you average joe. If the price is right, I wouldn't hesitate. Most rental users just want to get from A to B and back. Beating on them doesn't regester. 

What do Hertz Shelbys go for?

Our new to us Promaster van came from Uhaul In Arizona. So far a great purchase. 

In reply to Appleseed:

Yeah, but we're not talking about a penalty box here, which is why I'm a little concerned. I have rented a GT-H before sometime around 2006-2007 and that came with a free helping of bald rear tires and a leaky exhaust.

The 2016s are currently being advertised by Hertz at around 38k-ish with 13k-16k miles on them. Admittedly that's still a fair wedge for a car that's mostly an appearance and handling package.

Edit: This is the car I've got my eyes on.

BoxheadTim said:

In reply to Appleseed:

Yeah, but we're not talking about a penalty box here, which is why I'm a little concerned. I have rented a GT-H before sometime around 2006-2007 and that came with a free helping of bald rear tires and a leaky exhaust.

The 2016s are currently being advertised by Hertz at around 38k-ish with 13k-16k miles on them. Admittedly that's still a fair wedge for a car that's mostly an appearance and handling package.

Edit: This is the car I've got my eyes on.

Not GRM approved, it's an auto. 

What's the difference between that GT-H vs a new 2018/2019 GT or CPO 2017/2018 GT? Other than the gold. 

Well, I am looking for an auto thanks to an iffy clutch foot and a wife that can't/doesn't want to drive a manual.

Difference is that it is a genuine Shelby with a different/upgraded interior and some extra bits that are Shelby. Other than that it's more or less the same as a regular one with a Ford Racing exhaust and some sort of upgraded suspension.

Oh, and the gold. Obviously. And IIRC about $5k.

My family friends/neighbors dad was the retired patriarch and had nothing better to do with his time but to enter every single raffle/draw that came along.

They once won a turbo Rover sedan that they intended only to sell for cash.

That thing got rode hard and put away wet in the few hundred brand new miles they had it by their teenage sons before they sold it on.

Something about WOT and e-brake at the same time kinda shenanigans. 

Appleseed said:

Their maintenance is far better than you average joe. If the price is right, I wouldn't hesitate. Most rental users just want to get from A to B and back. Beating on them doesn't regester. 

I've known a few people who have bought them with no issues.  I don't know if the stories about people beating on rental cars are all true, but it never made sense to me...maybe I have too much mechanical sympathy.    In any case, whenever I have a rental car I'm busy using it to get somewhere, and don't have time for shenanigans anyway.

I bought a Camry with 30K rental miles on it.  Drove it to 225K when the squirrels finally got it and I was tired of it.

NO!!

My company loves to buy ex-rental cars in bulk, I don't have time to go into all the crazy issues I have found but lets just say some people channel their inner Duke boy with zero berkeley given. If you really want a rental car, buy a low mileage car and have a body shop inspect  and measure the car. 

Paul B

I'd shy away, especially on a car like that.  It's going to have been beat on hard...

That mustang looks awesome

My T&C is an ex-enterprise. I bought a used car, it’s just like any other used car.

I think they're often a in a little rougher condition, but other than that they're fine. Around here former daily rentals are usually a year or less old when they're sold off. Does it wreck a car to drive it  5-10% faster than normal? No. It might have mattered in the past, but look at champcar, modern cars can survive tremendous abuse.

With computers that preclude stupidity like “neutral dropping” a car into gear at 6,000 rpm, it may not be so badly abused as rental cars from two decades ago. 

How many of these exist? It might be collectible at some point. And it could be a LOT of fun for a long time as well. 

Doesn’t it make sense that people rent an Altima to get from A to B and the fast, more exotic cars get rented by people who want to do stupid (read fun) things to them?

That’s about $10k more than a new base GT can be bought for if shopped around. I didn’t notice - does it have the premium interior or the base cloth?

We looked at a LOT of them when we were shopping for our Mazda5.  My general impressions were as follows: 1. Interior care on rentals is terrible.  Every single one we looked at had significant, deep scratches in the plastics and stains in the seats which likely weren't coming out.  2. Exterior care appeared to have been done by cheap, mechanical cleanings.  Every example we looked at had significant paint damage over the doors from a mechanical car wash.  3. Pricing isn't terrible.  Definitely better than diving into the commercial used car market, but equal to or more than private party sales.  4. We never got around to inspecting any of them mechanically due to issues 1-3.  

We ended up buying a loaded out, low mile example from a private party with a huge pile of receipts and a lot of add-on accessories for slightly less than the clapped out examples we were looking at.

You might be in a difference situation.  I guess if you "must have" a GT-H, ex rental is really your only option.  Don't get me wrong, it looks "the hotness", but I don't doubt you could come up with a better cared for, cleaner, well optioned example with a known service history in the private market.  

I'm OK with 'em.

We bought two ex rental cars.  A Caravan and an Eclipse.  Both had under 20k miles and were a little over a year old. We had good luck with both of them. Having said that, I kind of agree with some of the others that certain cars get beat on a little more. I typically am kind to rentals when I have them, but also usually get boring cars. On the one trip we rented  a Mustang (not a GT or anything cool)  the only way we could get it to spin the tires as was if the road was wet. I think if you get a good PPI report and it looks to be in good cosmetic condition buy it if the price is right. To me every used car is a gamble, sometimes you get lucky. It does look every cool, see what kind of deal you can get.

Our '14 Journey was a "Corporate" car, basically a company car, that we bought less than a year old with 8K miles.

About 60% the price of new and the same warrantee. No issues 4 years and 20K miles later.

How has this not been posted?  Mustang(ish) content...

I read someplace that cars like this have gps tracking as well as data acquisition units in them that keep track of what you are doing with there rental.  

This could be internet myth and legend but if I was renting this type of car I would put it in and look at it after every rental and charge accordingly for violations of the fine print that I am sure is in the rental agreement. It would be very easy to do and not expensive to add to the car. 

Seems like the GT-H is mechanically just a GT with the performance suspension and exhaust. All of the other changes are cosmetic. Unique hood, grilles and side skirts, paint, and a whole mess of Shelby emblems. They only made 140 of them, so they're kind of rare. That will matter to some people and it won't matter at all to others.