Reputable rental agencies change the oil on a regular basis. That’s a huge advantage in my book.
I have bought many used vehicles. When they don’t have maintenance records, which is most of the time, the “regular oil change” issue is always a gamble.
One issue not exactly mentioned yet is that rental cars tend to be close to strippers. It’ll have the basic interior, the small engine, the least fancy radio/nav system, the basic wheels, small tires, etc.
That might be just fine for the OP’s cousin. But you might find you can get something nicer from e.g. CarMax for a similar price.
Big outfits like e.g. CarMax also have decent pre-sales inspections, and reasonable short-term warrantees included. Which pretty well stops the worry of buying a hidden lemon. Their longer-term warrantees aren’t free, but are also not rip-offs. For someone on a budget, the cash outlay for the warrantee may be better than running the risk of an expensive cash surprise later.
I haven’t rented a car much recently for obvious reasons, but I did a LOT when my Mom was dying, and this was far from the truth. I mostly rented from Enterprise and was pleasantly surprised by the cars being high trim levels with all the bells and whistles. I was reading a story recently (but can’t find it, Jalopnik probably) about someone who got an upgrade at Dollar and drove a BMW 740i for a week!
I mean, I’d probably drive carefully around them, but some guys might like that.
When I was a fleet manager, buying cars at between 10% and 20% discounts, I was told that the big rental companies (Hertz, Enterprise etc) expected enough of a discount to be able to sell the cars on at 12 months old, for the same or better price that they paid. All that car would cost them would be tax, insurance, valeting and one service.
That may very well be true as a general statement, but it can be misleading for a couple of reasons. Reason #1 is that some cars may have a lot of nice features as standard equipment, and reason #2 is that, at least in my anecdotal experience, rental companies will sometimes buy upgraded models that have extra features included.
For example, the last time I needed to rent a car for a couple of days, I just asked for anything they had that was cheap and had four wheels. What I got was a VW Jetta that was really a lovely car, and had more electronics on board than you could shake a stick at – like a big LCD screen with a bazillion functions that I never even came close to figuring out. Presumably all standard equipment, at least on that model.
Another example, again just looking for basic transportation, I ended up with a Chrysler Town & Country minivan. The Town & Country is a very much tarted-up version of the Dodge Caravan. Why they chose to buy a Town & Country I have no idea, but there it was.
So yes, rental companies are not generally inclined to specifically order expensive options, but that doesn’t mean that they may not have some pretty nice cars because of the way options are packaged, or because sometimes nice things are even standard.
When I was a teen my dad bought a couple Tauruses from a fleet. They were good cars, never had any problems.
The car that was stolen was a 2001 Honda CRV. 4x4 of course. Great run about car for a city that has snow and generally bad parking. Very maneuverable and easy to park and works in snow.
Works good for hauling her dog around too.
She asked for a small AWD, a cross over or something.
Insurance and rental company set her up with a rental until this is sorted out. A 4 door RWD Dodge Charger. Ummm. 
Last visit to Pittsburgh my Wife had reserved a mid sized SUV. We where going to be hauling people around and stuff. Just your basic 4 door small SUV
Ended up with a BMW X7. Nice car but took us a while to figure it out. Bemers are kinda weird.
They are having problems relocating cars I think.
I’ve owned a couple. Got a 2016 Soul right now.
Well-maintained.
Quite right on both counts. Expanding a bit. …
What counts as a “stripper” in 2022 was the equivalent of the super deluxe gussied-up model in 2015. But it’s still the case that if one is comparing a 2022 lower-tier rental car with the same car on the manufacturer’s website, you’ll see a bunch of potential accessories were left off.
And as well, you’re right that rental agencies now carry more tiers of cars than just the basic econo-sedan Ford or Nissan.
I’ve rented Mercedes, BMWs, & Lexuses from mainstream national chain agencies in the last 2 years. Each were midrange cars in their respective model lineups, C-series Mercs, 4- or 5-series BMWs, etc. Which means they’re damned nice cars. But still less than fully gussied up for their model. Heck, my last rental was a BMW 640i with <3K miles on it. Got lots of complimentary comments from valets. Many were surprised when I told them it was a rental. @enipla’s wife’s X7 just above is a similar story. Damned nice car even in the basic-most trim level.
I have also noticed, and this might just be my recent luck, but the services tend to advertise ultra-econobox cars for very low rates but they rarely have any in stock. So you can often reserve a “Yugo” and end up with a Nissan Altima or Toyota Camry. Which are pretty much mainstream middle-class cars. Best of all you can often keep the “Yugo” rate while driving the e.g. Camry.
Exactly the car we have. Bought it from Hertz at a reasonable price, and it’s held up very well. Our other car is a 2010 Toyota Sienna ex-rental which we bought after renting a Sienna for a vacation road trip, still going strong with 150K on it.
Another option for low milage maintained vehicles are GSA auctions. I just turned in a 2013 F 150 that only had 31,000 miles on it. If I needed a truck, I would have followed up on that one and bid on it when it was auctioned. One thing about such a vehicle is that it would have had far fewer drivers than a rental, and at least at my agency we don’t abuse our vehicles.
Buyers at rental firms have different priorities from private buyers. Given that they don’t pay for fuel and maintenance is pretty minimal, the biggest cost of ownership to them is depreciation. Private buyers are far more concerned with appearance, fuel economy and performance.
That said, they will buy makes and models that hold their value and will sell easily. This even applies to heavy trucks. You might expect that a cost-conscious fleet manager would buy the basic models, but in practice, they tend to go for mid-range. After five years, they want the best return possible and they are selling into small fleets and owner drivers, who don’t want a stripped-down truck.
Thanks for all the ideas everyone. There are a lot of balls in the air right now. I’ve shared the information with my cousin, and agree that looking into buying from a rental company is definitely an option to look into.
I trust you folks, and wanted to check to see if it was a trap (could still be I suppose, buy anything can be a mine field). My cousin will do due diligence.
I think rental comp’s often buy cars with “undesireable” features at a big discount … stuff like 25 chocolate brown w/ beige interior Nissan XWZ’s that nobody bought in 8 months …
Budget, Hertz et al couldn’t care less about the crappy color if the price is right - so that might get you a “fully loaded” car by chance, at a price below a basic model
While my cousin is conscious of aesthetics. I’m sure she could not care less what color the car is.
Moves? Good. Not a disaster on wheels? Good. Can do what I want it to? Good. How much?