Avoiding buying a used rental car

[kermit116]

I'm in the market for a new car (now also looking at newer used versions of the same car - low mileage model year 2012 or 2013).

DH and I had a good experience with Carmax a few years ago with a hard to find car, so we've started our search there.

I know that some rental car companies (like Hertz) reselling their former rental cars. My first reaction was I would never wan to buy a rental car based on the fact that people often treat them badly.

Recently I heard that the cars that Hertz decides are not up to par to be resold by them are sold to Carmax and then sold as "used - one owner" vehicles by Carmax. This has me a little concerned that I may end up with a former rental car if I buy from Carmax.

Along those lines, I have a few questions:

1. Since it's been a while since I looked at a Carfax report, do these reports state who the former owner was? If it was owned by a rental company, I'm hoping that info would be on the Carfax report?

2. Am I going overboard being so concerned about buying a former rental car? If they pass a quality inspection, drive well, and appear to be in good condition, am I just overreacting?

 

[andysomma1]

I'm in the market for a new car (now also looking at newer used versions of the same car - low mileage model year 2012 or 2013).

DH and I had a good experience with Carmax a few years ago with a hard to find car, so we've started our search there.

I know that some rental car companies (like Hertz) reselling their former rental cars. My first reaction was I would never wan to buy a rental car based on the fact that people often treat them badly.

Recently I heard that the cars that Hertz decides are not up to par to be resold by them are sold to Carmax and then sold as "used - one owner" vehicles by Carmax. This has me a little concerned that I may end up with a former rental car if I buy from Carmax.

Along those lines, I have a few questions:

1. Since it's been a while since I looked at a Carfax report, do these reports state who the former owner was? If it was owned by a rental company, I'm hoping that info would be on the Carfax report?

2. Am I going overboard being so concerned about buying a former rental car? If they pass a quality inspection, drive well, and appear to be in good condition, am I just overreacting?

I also just bought a used car. Carfax will not tell you who the former owner was but will tell you if it was a rental or fleet vehicle. As far as buying a former rental, I probably feel the same as you do.

 

[taymaesmom]

We actually did buy a former rental car, it was listed on the Carfax report that the dealer gave to us. Our car was listed as originally being used as a rental in Hawaii and then brought stateside and sold to a local who kept it a few years, the Carfax showed everything the previous owner had done to the car. It was so well taken care of that we jumped on it even though it had been a rental. We've had it 2 years now with no issues and love it!

 

[mrodgers]

1. Since it's been a while since I looked at a Carfax report, do these reports state who the former owner was? If it was owned by a rental company, I'm hoping that info would be on the Carfax report?

I don't think Carfax shows the owner at all. It just shows the location it was registered in. Might be different when it's rental though as it does show the dealership it was purchased.

That's about the only thing Carfax is useful for, the location of registration.

 

[wiigirl]

I also just bought a used car. Carfax will not tell you who the former owner was but will tell you if it was a rental or fleet vehicle. As far as buying a former rental, I probably feel the same as you do.

Me too. I just don't have a good feeling about rentals.

My first car (1995) was a formal rental from Enterprise. When my brother got it when I went to college he backed into a pole and found out it didn't have a back bumper! Some renter had a wreck and just put the Styrofoam and plastic bumper back on.

 

[powellrj]

We love buying fleet cars. I use to drive one and part of our employee contract said we had to maintain our cars with all the required maintenance.

We have also bought former rental cars and always found them to be really good buys. We never had any issues with them and we tend to drive our cars to death.

 

[jdh008]

I can't speak to the Carfax part of the question, but my wife and I do have some experience with used rental cars.

We bought a year-old Ford Escape from Enterprise back in late 2010. When we got it, it had less than 20,000 miles on it, so we felt pretty good about the purchase.

But it gave us nothing but problems. We finally unloaded it in October of this year. In the three years we owned it, we had an issue with false "check engine" warnings, an electrical malfunction that would decelerate the vehicle without warning, and a backseat window that fell off its track. All told, we ended up having to take the thing in for unscheduled maintenance at least a half dozen times and we hadn't even hit 60,000 miles yet.

Granted, this is just my experience and I'm sure there are others that have had great experiences buying used rentals. Some if the issues were undoubtedly Ford issues and not the fact that it was a used rental, but in any event, it was irritating. I don't think we'd do it again.

 

[Disneychick75]

My husband and I bought a few rental cars in the past. They were fine. We never had any problems.

 

[dawnhaze]

The first two cars I had as a young adult were former rental cars - my father knew a guy who owned a rental car franchise.

They were both great - the only reason I got rid of the first one was because I was rear-ended at a stop light and it was pretty badly damaged.

 

[jojosam]

I had my new-to-me rental car for 12 years and ultimately gave it to a friend's son as a starter car. With regular maintenance, I put very little else into this car and it got wonderful mileage. The only concern we had was that it's oil had never been changed until I bought it, but in the end that caused no problems.

 

[Julia M]

Carfax does let you know if it was a rental. I'm also someone who purchased a former rental car. We bought in 2010 and its still going great.

 

[littleelf]

My first real car was a former rental. 1 year old when I got it, about 24K miles on it. I drove it for the next 7 years until it had 100K and then sold it. Never had any problems. It was a 1997 Ford Escort. I would worry more about the type of car than whether it was a rental, and have a mechanic you trust take a look at it.

 

[tvguy]

Bought my kids used Hertz Rental Cars. A 2006 in 2007 with 25,000 miles, and a 2007 in 2008 with 29,000. 2006 has 100,000 miles on it now, and the 2007 has 62,000 miles. No repairs yet on the 2006, the original factory warranty replaced a bad fuel pump on the 2007 for free.

Hertz keeps the best of their used cars to sell themselves. Carmax had the Hertz rejects, the cars with 40-50,000 miles on them and were in tip top shape otherwise, and I might add they wanted $2,000 more for them. Not sure if this is true everywhere, but Carmax on their website does clearly state when a car is a rental or fleet car, which is about half their inventory here.

I would not hesitate buying a rental car again, but only if I was buying it directly from the rental car company, not something they wholesaled off to other dealers.

 

[kymom99]

I bought a 2012 Altima almost 2 years ago. It was a rental car but had 7700 miles on it when I got it. I bought it from a Nissan dealer. they had a whole row of these cars. I now have 38000 miles on it and have not had one ounce of trouble out of it. I received the remainder of the factory warranty and since it was a certified used car, I got the 100,000 mile warranty that comes along with those.

To the PP with the Ford Escape: these are sisters to the Mazda Tribute. I bought one used and had nothing but trouble with it. It was not a rental in its previous life. I have heard several others just on these boards with similar problems.

 

[mitchwebb]

MY DD20 is driving my DH 2001 Honda Accord that we bought when it was two years old. It hit 150,000 this year. We did put a rebuilt $1,800 tran in when we gave it her two years ago. It was from Hertz

 

[Lucky4me]

I've been driving my nine year old Town and COuntry mini van for eight years with zero issues. It was a year old with 10,000 miles on it when I bought it from a fleet.
Would not hesitate to do it again.

 

[Jedimom]

Sometimes you can tell from the title itself whether a vehicle was a rental car. Ask the salesperson to show you a copy of the title (front and back). If you see "Enterprise" or any of the others listed as previous owner, you'll know it was a rental. Also some have state's titles have a "vehicle purpose" field listed on the title -- but beware leased could mean rental car or private owner lease.

In some states, it's a legal requirement for them to show the previous owner title to you when doing the closing paperwork, so it shouldn't be an issue for them to do so.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Carfax will indicate if it was a rental vehicle. I purchased my 2006, 7 years ago with 25,000 miles on it. Great thing was it was still under warranty! The warranty was transferable and lasted until 50,000 miles. I had 3 warranty repairs before it ran out.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another rental car. People that rent cars may be more inclined to ding the door or spill a soda but those are things you can see and if it is clean and free of body damage then I would say its a good deal.

 

[tallygirl]

We bought a 2011 Camry from a Toyota dealer in Dec 2011, had been a rental. It was a certified used car, came with a warranty. We've driven it for 2 years now, no problems at all.

 

[JanaDee]

I can't speak to the Carfax part of the question, but my wife and I do have some experience with used rental cars.

We bought a year-old Ford Escape from Enterprise back in late 2010. When we got it, it had less than 20,000 miles on it, so we felt pretty good about the purchase.

But it gave us nothing but problems. We finally unloaded it in October of this year. In the three years we owned it, we had an issue with false "check engine" warnings, an electrical malfunction that would decelerate the vehicle without warning, and a backseat window that fell off its track. All told, we ended up having to take the thing in for unscheduled maintenance at least a half dozen times and we hadn't even hit 60,000 miles yet.

Granted, this is just my experience and I'm sure there are others that have had great experiences buying used rentals. Some if the issues were undoubtedly Ford issues and not the fact that it was a used rental, but in any event, it was irritating. I don't think we'd do it again.

That was a Ford Escape issue. Being a previous rental had nothing to do with the issues you had with the vehicle.