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Actually, in earlier days 20k used to be about the high end; it was unusual to see a rental with that many miles. These days it's somewhat more common, true, but I still don't think it would be too unusual to see a low mileage rental be turned back or whatever. It depends upon a variety of factors. There are various ways that the rental companies acquire cars, and they may have changed along the way too. There was a time when it was clear to say that Enterprise for example bought all theirs, and they resell them directly. And most of the others, they used to be done through some kind of manufacturing program, and if Hertz or whatever was selling it directly, THEN you suspected a problem because it didn't meet the turnback requirements or something. I don't really think you can make these blanket assumptions anymore though.
It's a tough call. There are any number of other reasons why an ex-rental might have lower mileage. If it was owned by a local franchisee for example, it may well not have been taken on too many long trips, and they got rid of it by an age requirement rather than miles, and potentially other different rules as well. Or, maybe it is indeed what you worry, that there were some nagging problems with it. No way to really know, although presumably with only 13k you get the balance of factory warranty? Or not, because it's a rental? That would be a good thing to find out.
Five years ago, you would see rental cars turned in with as few as 15k miles. In recent years, I have had cars with 37k miles from Hertz, Avis, and Alamo.
In general, the rental cars agencies who sell their own vehicles will allow you an EXTENDED test drive and allow you to take the car to YOUR mechanic. Many of them have a return policy similar to Carmax's. Sometimes the prices are good, sometimes not.
The ONLY rental car that I ever purchased was two tears old with 32k miles and sold eight years later with 194k miles so I cannot complain too much.
All I can tell you is how I and everyone of the people I know treat rental cars. While I'm sure there are people that drive them like they would their own car, I am not one of those people.
I can honestyl say that the only cars I have every had all 4 wheels off the ground in at the same time was rentals. I use to love renting these and running down the hilly back roads. In fact there's a stretch of RT503 in OH just off I70 that I've has a rental airborne on three consecutive hills. I can tell you this. 2005-06 Impalas fly nice and level.
Look... You can take the chance and buy a rental or you can buy a Lease return or find a car from a private seller that wants to get out of his purchase. There are tons of 2 yr old cars out there from private sellers being sold for 70% of their original cost.
You need to have one tear up and then be charged thousands to fix it. It might break you from that behavior. It's amazing how little disrespect some people have for other peoples property, as a landlord I see it all the time.
As for my own ex-rental car, it drives just as nice and tight as a brand new one.
Same with mine. I purchased at Hertz with 44k mile and it has over 70k now. I saved about $4000 vs a comparable non rental. It came with a 30 day warranty on top of the remaining manufacturers warranty and a 3 day no questions return policy.
How much should you ask off a cars price if the carfax shows a previous rental? Trying to figure how much % a previous rental loses, since a previously wrecked car loses about 20-30% of its value.
How much should you ask off a cars price if the carfax shows a previous rental? Trying to figure how much % a previous rental loses, since a previously wrecked car loses about 20-30% of its value.
Whats the price of the car? and whats the price of a comparable car at another dealership?
I've purchased 3 off lease vehicles that were low mileage, maintained well as required by the rental company, have the records to go with it, and saved thousands below equivalent dealer cars. Never had a problem with them. AAA has some good deals on off lease vehicles and they sell fast. Vehicles that you would consider beaters they send to the auction houses.
How much should you ask off a cars price if the carfax shows a previous rental? Trying to figure how much % a previous rental loses, since a previously wrecked car loses about 20-30% of its value.
Since the majority of 1-2 year old cars at dealerships are ex-rentals or ex-lease vehicles, I don't think there's room for much negotiating, at least no more than normal.
I am one of those "know nothings" - that ABUSED every rental car I ever rented. Not mine. I drive them like hell. "well taken care of" is a stretchy statement. You may have routine maintenance done, but no one really goes deeper into drive trains. Why do you think they sell them at such "low" mileage? Because REAL repairs are looming on horizon?
Agree.....reverse/drive slammed power shifts. Hitting speed bumps at the shopping center plaza at high speed. Drag racing and jack rabbit starts....you name it.
X2... what has four wheels and goes where a HUMMVEE cant?
A rental car of course...
Its amazing how much abuse a car can take with no visible damage.
On a normal weekend our company rents about a dozen autos. Half of them will be victims of off roading, curb jumping, neutral drops, huge smokey burnouts, and enough racetrack laps where most tires will be chunked and worn from the outer edge up to the middle of the tire. Half of those will be victims of pranks by coworkers, like racers tape or condiments hidden on the back of any control or handle you can touch, countless washers and other hardware stuck in between wheels and hubcaps, zip ties around axles for that lil extra annoying noise for the ride back to the airport, throttle body zip tied to WFO. Theres a bunch more that happens to them during those 3 or 4 days, but you get the picture.. the rest of em... we really beat the hell out of them.
I heard that brother.....everything you said. These people are very lost in the dark.
I'll also add hauling drunks around that puke in the back and smoke dope while being taken home or going somewhere. It's NOT theirs....what do they care.
I'd really be interested to know just how you "abused" the cars to that extent...Most folks that I know don't "baby" their rental car, but not babying a car does equate to abuse...you can only drive so fast here, you can only brake so hard, unless your revving the engine up and dropping it from Neutral into Drive, taking it off road, or draining the coolant and oil just to see how long the engine will run before it seizes up, i doubt you really do anything that's going to destroy the car.
The break-in period of the car is the most important for its longevity. While you're supposed to vary the RPM, you're also not supposed to red-line it, or even go above ~4k, etc. If I'm buying a car, I want it to last and abusing a car at break-in is not exactly beneficial. It may not ever fail, but if I have the choice, I'm not taking that chance.
Those who buy high-performance machines 2nd-hand like a used M3/M5 better be sure their 1st owners were very careful and are the type to baby their car. I don't care if it's $50k or $15k, it's still hard-earned money and I would rather pay a bit more for new and have that peace of mind.
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