Opinions on used rentals plz

[haly0]

I tend to be rough on my past rental cars. I had a 2010 chevy impala inbetween my old subaru and this new one i have. I was doing 90 on the freeway, had to brake. And the car shook like being in one of those earthquake simulators at 6.0 magnitude. It was a scary experience that made me respect rental cars to the point of just, drive them like i would my own car. I would never buy a rental car. That is asking for trouble in the future $$$ spending wise

[rasterman]

Also worth pointing out that some rental cars never were the same as what was sold in the showroom.

I recently posted a thread about a car I rented. I discovered that the car was a weird model made exclusively for rental & municipal fleets. The build quality was terrible- a trim part on the passenger door wasn't even attached all the way.

One of the big rental companies got into a big lawsuit a few years ago when they agreed to take a few hundred of some sedan that were different from all the supposedly identical ones sold in dealerships. Namely, they only had 2 airbags instead of the more common 6 or 8 surround bags. When those cars went to resale, somebody found out the hard way and there was a big legal mess and a bunch of people needed to replace their cars.

In other words, the automakers know exactly which cars they'll be dumping on the rental market. They plan in advance and they take advantage of it.

[avk]

When looking to buy, I checked listings offered by Enterprise, and didn't see any price advantage over dealers. Ended up buying privately this time.

[statueim]

Originally Posted by rasterman

Also worth pointing out that some rental cars never were the same as what was sold in the showroom.

...

In other words, the automakers know exactly which cars they'll be dumping on the rental market. They plan in advance and they take advantage of it.

My mom had a white base model 2001 Ford Taurus (new, from a dealership) that stopped just short of lemon law coverage. A shop she had used for years and trusted commented on the volume of white 2001 Ford Tauruses they were seeing with very similar issues. I know plenty of owners of identical cars where the only difference was color and they never had a major issue with their cars. Maybe the other white tauruses were old rental vehicles, but I can't help but think that maybe they aren't so clear on which cars go to dealerships and which cars go to rentals. "Eh, these white ones are probably just fleet cars anyways."

True or not, I'll never buy a base model car in a typical fleet color.

[Kriszilla]

Ex-Hertz employee here. We used to have an inside joke:

What's the difference between a Humvee and a rental car?

There's just some places you won't take a Humvee.

[Subyblue]

Originally Posted by statueim

My mom had a white base model 2001 Ford Taurus (new, from a dealership) that stopped just short of lemon law coverage. A shop she had used for years and trusted commented on the volume of white 2001 Ford Tauruses they were seeing with very similar issues. I know plenty of owners of identical cars where the only difference was color and they never had a major issue with their cars. Maybe the other white tauruses were old rental vehicles, but I can't help but think that maybe they aren't so clear on which cars go to dealerships and which cars go to rentals. "Eh, these white ones are probably just fleet cars anyways."

True or not, I'll never buy a base model car in a typical fleet color.

Yep, the manufacturers are going to sacrifice whatever quality perception they have by building substandard fleet vehicles, and not count on any possible sales by good experiences with a rental vehicle. "Today, lets lower our quality for this run, they're just rental/fleet cars."