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buying a car from Hertz (or any rental co.)

I wouldn't, and here's why. When a car has been through one owner, and has been abused it's whole life, it's obvious. When a rental agency owns it, they aren't going g to let it back out if it's jacked up. People won't speak up about repairs that may be needed, and unless it's going to affect the safety, they aren't going to pull it off the line and loose money with it while it gets repaired.

Most are probably fine. But unless they include a warranty with it, I'd steer clear.

I used to repair a few rentals here and there when I worked at dealerships. They refuse all maintenance, and just do the bare minimum to keep the vehicle safe.
 
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msethhunter said:
I wouldn't, and here's why. When a car has been through one owner, and has been abused it's whole life, it's obvious. When a rental agency owns it, they aren't going g to let it back out if it's jacked up. People won't speak up about repairs that may be needed, and unless it's going to affect the safety, they aren't going to pull it off the line and loose money with it while it gets repaired.

Most are probably fine. But unless they include a warranty with it, I'd steer clear.

I used to repair a few rentals here and there when I worked at dealerships. They refuse all maintenance, and just do the bare minimum to keep the vehicle safe.
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I believe Hertz maintains their own vehicles. Maybe not F1 level techs but better than nothing.
 
msethhunter said:
I used to repair a few rentals here and there when I worked at dealerships. They refuse all maintenance, and just do the bare minimum to keep the vehicle safe.
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Thats what I always suspected. Do profit margins allow maintaining a car as if you want it to last 200K when you're actually planning to unload it at 20K.
 
I just bought one from Avis a couple of weeks ago. Obviously too early to tell if it was the right move but the selling points were:

- Way below market price
- Can test drive it for 2 hours without a salesman for free. Can keep it for up to 3 days if you're not sure (pay the rental fee if you don't keep it)
- 3 years of warranty left on it

Plenty of time to get a feel for the car and see what I like or didn't like. On top of it, the transaction was easy enough, all done over the phone or email.


Downsides:
- Avis won't do a trade in. Though Hertz will
- Car didn't get a full detail, just a wash and vaccum


What drove me to buy a rental is that a family member has bought 4 cars from hertz now and swears by it
 
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wazzuFreddo said:
Which is pretty much what the average knucklehead owner does these days too :laughing
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I don't necessarily disagree. But would you rather buy a one owner car, or a car that's had 200 different drivers?
 
aminalmutha said:
Your average person treats their own car like crap, so a rental probably won't be much different. And the really thrashed ones I don't think make it to their lots.

For a used car, you could do worse.
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Not sure what their criteria is before they take vehicles out of service. My used car manager constantly is buying ex rentals from the auctions. And they're actually pretty decent. Only a year or two old with maybe 20k miles on it, no collision damage, clean interiors...pretty good. Still had plenty of life left, but for whatever reason the rental car company pulled it out of service and sold it.

Yet why is it that the last 3-4 cars I've rented had evidence of major collision repair and 40-50k hard miles? The 2014 Grand Cherokee we had for a week in Maui a few months ago was so fucked up I would've traded the sumbitch for something else if it hadn't taken over an hour in line to get even that.


To answer the OP, yes there is a stigma with rentals that they get absolutely beat on. And yeah. Some do. They get wrecked, fixed poorly, and put back into service. But then again, so do individually owned vehicles. So I think you should treat it like any other used car. Check it out thoroughly. And I don't mean just run a car fax on it. Because, believe me, they miss tons of shit. If you don't know what you're looking at, have a pre purchase inspection done by a mechanic you trust that they know what they're looking at...how to spot collision repair, if was regularly maintained with OEM parts, and so on.

I would never buy a former rental though. But I'm a bit of a weirdo. Personally, I am far too much of a control freak to drive something that someone, or in this case, a whole shitload of other people, drove before me. I like to know how a vehicle was treated from the very beginning. I'm that guy who realllllly hates handing the keys to a valet out of fear of what they'll do to it when the car is out of my sight. Hell, if it was possible, I'd like to even build the damn thing from the start of the assembly line too. A rental? *shudder* Just thinking of how many people farted into that seat already? Ugh.
 
I've had good luck buying 2 prior rentals. I don't believe the stigma that everyone trashes rentals - its been no worse (and probably better) than cars I have bought from private parties. My current daily driver is a 2006 Chevy Suburban (from Avis) with 165k miles. I've had her for 4+ years, put on 80k miles, and she shows no signs of quitting. All she asks for is oil changes every 8k miles and a full tank of gas every 450 miles. Even if it died today - it was a great value. That being said, get every used car checked out at a trusted mechanic.
 
Best rental evar... Lisbon, Portugal bout 6 years ago.
At the desk 'Ah Mr dmaxAl, we have your car'..'EEts a Subaru'. urgh I say 'WRX with the six speed.' he continues..
I tried to keep a straight face saying 'yes, that's acceptable'.. Then the guy grabs a red sharpie and outlines a forest area NW of Lisbon.. 'You need to go here with this car, is very fun'... :cool
 
TheRobSJ said:
Not sure what their criteria is before they take vehicles out of service. My used car manager constantly is buying ex rentals from the auctions. And they're actually pretty decent. Only a year or two old with maybe 20k miles on it, no collision damage, clean interiors...pretty good. Still had plenty of life left, but for whatever reason the rental car company pulled it out of service and sold it.

Yet why is it that the last 3-4 cars I've rented had evidence of major collision repair and 40-50k hard miles? The 2014 Grand Cherokee we had for a week in Maui a few months ago was so fucked up I would've traded the sumbitch for something else if it hadn't taken over an hour in line to get even that.


To answer the OP, yes there is a stigma with rentals that they get absolutely beat on. And yeah. Some do. They get wrecked, fixed poorly, and put back into service. But then again, so do individually owned vehicles. So I think you should treat it like any other used car. Check it out thoroughly. And I don't mean just run a car fax on it. Because, believe me, they miss tons of shit. If you don't know what you're looking at, have a pre purchase inspection done by a mechanic you trust that they know what they're looking at...how to spot collision repair, if was regularly maintained with OEM parts, and so on.

I would never buy a former rental though. But I'm a bit of a weirdo. Personally, I am far too much of a control freak to drive something that someone, or in this case, a whole shitload of other people, drove before me. I like to know how a vehicle was treated from the very beginning. I'm that guy who realllllly hates handing the keys to a valet out of fear of what they'll do to it when the car is out of my sight. Hell, if it was possible, I'd like to even build the damn thing from the start of the assembly line too. A rental? *shudder* Just thinking of how many people farted into that seat already? Ugh.
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Zerox said:
Farted? People do more than fart in those rentals, nudge nudge wink wink
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Farted on the seat? Remember when Top Gear did the analyzation of what was on the seat, steering wheels and dashes of cars? Cocaine residue, boogers and spooge. Sounds about right.
 
In high school, near oakland, some of the kids I knew would have their parents rent them a car. They would proceed to drive them as RIDICULOUSLY as possible, without breaking them or showing evidence of abuse.

Ever heard of "GAS BRAKE DIP"? Rinse repeat x100

However, my step mom did buy a Toyota Celica from them that treated her well for many years.

net-net - Stay away from the "ghetto type cars"
 
Ducky_Fresh said:
Did you buy your last car from a rental car company?
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My Escalade was a Corporate Lease Return. Model year, 2008, bought it in 2010 with 20,000 miles, original retail price was $68,000, I paid $30,000. More than 50% depreciation in 2 years? I'll take it. It's been trouble free (other than a headlight filling up with water).
 
corndog67 said:
My Escalade was a Corporate Lease Return... It's been trouble free (other than a headlight filling up with water).
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That's blinker fluid. You're supposed to top it off.
 
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