The answer to that is “Who knows?” But there has been massive disruption in the global supply chain for petroleum (hence why WTI crude oil prices went negative for the first time in history) and that means that a lot of the investment in expensive-to-produce oil is now not returning any yield. That will almost certainly result in producers shutting down facilities because they have no place to store more product, refineries slowing down, distribution networks being scaled back, et cetera. And once demand for oil starts rising again, it will take time and money to get all of that moving. This may have long lasting impacts on the price of ‘cheap’ gasoline, and it is anyone’s guess how that may shake out. This certainly isn’t a time to buy a big gas guzzling SUV but a hybrid sedan is far more sensible.
I’ve said many times that we should have spent a portion of the ‘peace dividend’ after the end of the Cold War on developing more sustainable alternative fuels, not just because of the ecological damage of drilling for oil but because of the national and economic security issues with petroleum dependence; even if we could manage to produce our own needs domestically, the influence of the global market can be destabilizing. Instead, we doubled down on extracting oil from domestic sources through hydraulic fracturing and fighting wars in the Middle East to assure access to oil from the region, and are now heavily dependent on oil as the fundamental basis for distribution of goods at every level.
Modern cars by and large are built to withstand the abuse heaped upon them by average and sub-average drivers, so history as a rental shouldn’t matter like it maybe did 20 years ago. There are some true idiots out there, however, so it pays to get the car checked by a mechanic. Mainly to find out if the car has been into any accident that had structural consequences.
Many rental cars, as mentioned, have low levels of trim. If that doesn’t matter to you, it can be a great place to get a car.
That said, there is a massive glut building up of used cars coming to market, with the expectation that it will be difficult to sell lease fleets, trade-ins and ex-rentals. This will lower prices on those, and probably affect pricing of new cars as well. It will pay to be patient and do a lot of homework: deals will be out there to be had, if you dig them out.
This may be totally wrong but… I think you have a better chance at a decent car for the money with rental cars. The used car market is stratified from ‘certified preowned’ to trailer dirt lots, and lots of cars filter down by auction. The dealers will pick and chose the cream of the used car crop, and the ‘problem child’ cars are auctioned off to the dirt lots. In buying directly from rental car agency you bypass some of this stratification.
Never done it, but the feedback above reinforces two things I’d expect
The idea that the cars are badly enough abused to seriously affect their future reliability is doubtful. That is, over and above their typically high mileage for age but you can see that and factor it in.
Since it’s typically a streamlined no hassle process, you have to expect you aren’t getting the absolute best price. But this is true generally for any of the more streamlined processes of buying a car. And particularly methods of buying a used car, where you’re going to get the best price aggressively haggling with private sellers and actually going to the trouble of having an expert (if you’re not) mechanically evaluate them. Convenience doesn’t typically come free. But you are also probably reducing downside risk of a particularly bad deal. And different people’s time is worth different amounts to them.
Also related to 1, this population of cars doesn’t exactly overlap the dealer or private inventory. If you see somebody selling a one model year old car privately your antennae probably go up, problem?, but this is a naturally significant part of the rental used car inventory. Likewise dealers have cars coming off lease after 2-3yrs rather than 1-2 yr rental user car inventory. Not to mention the huge inventory of much older cars private and dealer. The rental co option isn’t relevant to people who believe they can minimize transport cost by buying say 5 yr old used cars and keeping them till 20 yrs old, or name your combination.
We purchased a 2014 Mustang for my wife, which had been a fleet vehicle. Very clean and everything checked-out, with low miles. I pondered why such a nice car, which was a fleet vehicle, was still in such good shape (and offered at a decent price). It’s likely that specific model was not much in demand so was not driven as much (or as hard) as some of the others. Specifically, this car is the standard 6-cylinder hard top. I suspect most people who rent a Mustang want the convertible or the higher-powered model, so this one did not see much action during it’s time as a rental. Good for us!
Yes, I would not hesitate to consider a former fleet vehicle for purchase, as long as clean, low miles, and checks-out by your local mechanic.
This is how my dad got cars for 5 kids from teens to college students. He’d go to Hertz, Enterprise, or Budget and buy 2 or three Ford Pintos at a time. Neighbors jokingly said that the street in front of our house looked like a cab stand. I was happy, I had a car that was cheap to fill up and got me where I wanted to go. I’ll certainly consider buying a former rental car when I need one.
My Hyndai Sonata was a rental with 16k miles when I got it. It’s been great. I think rentals make great cars. They are well cared for and the vast majority of people who rent don’t abuse them. The last thing a rental company wants is a car that has trouble when you rent it. So they are well maintained.
Our daughter bought a used rental car from Hertz, and it had tremendous innate problems that weren’t immediately obvious. She swore to never buy another one. Her next car came direct from a dealer.
I used to do contract work for car rental agencies. My job was moving cars from city “a” to city “b”.
I can tell you first hand, we were brutal to those cars. Mainly for two reasons: 1.) The people who do this work tend to be young (and stupid). and 2.) The companies that hire you to do this want cars in city “b” by a certain time. So that means driving fast.
Our first Honda was a 1986 Accord that we bought from a rental company in the fall of 1990 with ~55K miles on it. It was good for another 14 years and nearly 200K additional miles. (Can’t remember exactly when we finally gave up on it, but I remember when the number on the odometer hit 240,000 miles, the mean distance to the moon. It wasn’t too long after that. :))
My first two cars had been rentals. Got a great deal on both through Enterprise. Both had roughly 20K miles. Whoever had them before might’ve been rough on them but their maintenance records were clean as was their detailing.
One was a Honda Civic. The other was a Jeep Liberty. I drove both into the ground.
I would’ve gone the same route with my current car but unfortunately a chain of events prevented me from doing so. Definitely next time, though.
suggested you take the vehicle to a reputable mechanic and/or claims-adjuster for detailed inspection.
the vehicle may have spent considerable time up here in the north … incurring eventual rust issues. another issue might be vehicles that have been stranded because of area flooding … this is bad for most any regions of the car. likely to be overlooked are electrical-harnesses and suspension-components … water seeps between bushings and, prematurely, deteriorates from inside out.
again … these are indicative of not only rental vehicles … but most any previous owner.
This is a good idea for any used vehicle. But I’ve been burned by used cars enough times that I hope I never have to buy one again.
There are many stories here of success with buying a rental, but I just wouldn’t risk it myself.