I rent cars from the national chains such as Hertz, Alamo, and National quite frequently. They always give me a car with less than 20,000 miles on it and on several occasions, I have gotten a car that was brand new to drive. However, I realized that I have no idea of what they do with these cars after they have been driven for only a year or so. I have never seen rental cars for sale and I find it hard to believe that they would be desirable because of the abuse that most of them receive. What gives? What do they do with this fleet after they have served their time?
They sell them to the public. Hertz even has a dealership here in Raleigh to sell their cars. I assume they do the same in other places.
Right … you can get a pretty good deal sometimes too. I don’t know about you though, I would be a little leary of buying an ex-rental car myself though. Most people do things to them they would never do to their own cars… not saying I do though 
They are often sold at dealer auctions (to dealers who then sell them on their regular lots as ‘used’ or ‘pre-owned’) or to the public at special ‘tent sales’ (usually in shopping plaza parking lots) on an ‘as is’ basis or with a very limited warranty. In fact, the Tupperware International Headquarters (also down the street from me) has a vehicle sale (sponsored by local dealerships, not Tupperware) at least twice a month in their side lot.
Yup…they’re right. If you’re interested in buying a used rental car, simply ask a person at the counter for info on any cars they’ve got for sale. My gf works for Enterprise, and they get bonuses for selling cars off, and they are pretty good deals. Usually they are very new, but have high miles for their age…just one thing to look out for.
Jman
My parents bought a Ford LTD from the Hertz ex-rentals in the mid ‘80s. It lasted well; our big complaint was the cigarette smoke smell. Lemon laws apply to the big chains’ dealerships, and they don’t want to deliberately antagonize a customer with a bad car and build a bad rep. Consider them as safe as any other used car dealership.
I bought a Ford Contour that used to be a rental. It was less than a year old and had just under 20K miles. I’ve had it for 2 years and have had no problems at all with it (except for one repair that was covered under warranty and didn’t cost me anything). Bought it from a regular Ford dealer who purchased them from the rental company. The slightly higher milage meant I got a better deal on it. Plus–since they had just got a batch in at the dealer’s I could pick whatever color I wanted which isn’t always possible when buying a used car.
Watch out for the convertibles though! If you were renting a car for the weekend, would you bother to put the top down when it looked like rain?
They are usually sold at 20,000 miles.
mavpace, call them & ask, thats why people have ears 
Why 20,000 miles is a mystery but the Enterprise guy told me the car I rented would sell soon for about $5,000 [about $4000 less than new] but I told him I didn’t like the model. They get cars cheaper than us.
You’re going to take your chances no matter what you buy or who you buy from. It’s true about ex-rentals possibly having seen rough use, but any other used car could have, too. On the good side, you get the full maintenance record, and a fixed price deal.
I’ve only bought 1 ex-rental, but the only problems I had with it were clearly manufacturing-related, not rough-use-related.
They go to a big Race Track in the sky, where they are never short of gas or oil, and their dents are miraculously healed. Kind of like “Maximum Overdrive” without the meanness. If they’ve been bad, they are crushed in the Great Car Crusher, like the one in Goldfinger. Then they are restored, only to be crushed over again.
Cars that have never been off the lot go to Limbo, where they wait until the Final Judgment.
singin’
…don’t go to heaven where the angels fly
Go to a lake of fire and fry
See 'em again 'till the Fourth of Julyyyyy
ElvisL1ves, because theyonly have about 20,000 miles on them they have the manufacturers guarantee for along time.
I recently rented a cheap subcompact Mazda from a Hertz office in LA ($129 for 7 days, unlimited milage, not too shabby!) The car had close to 30,000 miles on the odometer. When I turned the car in, I told them they better check the brakes since they seemed mushy and definitely needed repair. They told me that was OK, I was the last person who would ever rent the car, they were selling it.
I hope they fixed the brakes before selling it, because California has a strict law against selling a used car with defective brakes. It is flat-out illegal, even if you tell the buyer the brakes need repairing.
Chas, they probably shipped the car to sell somewhere else anyway.
Know what I like to do with rentals? (Besides shifting into reverse on the highway)
Instead of paying $400 dollars for new tires on your own car, rent a car with similar tires and switch them out yourself. Now you have four new tires for $50!! Spray some ‘New Tire Foam’ on your old tires and they will be nice and shiny. Hertz will not catch it in time… if at all.
I think they’re already on to you, Nenno. We had a flat in our last rental - actually a slow leak that the car told us about (man, I love technology) - and we noticed all four tires were marked with an orange grease pencil.
Nah, I asked and they said they refurbish them at their own shop and sell them through the Hertz used car facility. I saw the place, it was only about 1 mile from where I’d rented it (practically next door, considering this was LA).
Your story reminds me of an incident that happened to me a while ago. My old junker car died, and I rented a cheapo Ford Escort to to car shopping. I went to the local Honda dealer, and parked right in front of the sales office, then shopped a bit and took a car for a test drive. When I returned from the test drive, the car was gone! I thought it was stolen. We searched all over the lot, and found an identical Escort, but it was not my rental car. As I was about to phone the police, my Escort emerged from the repair shop. I asked what they were doing with my car. The mechanic said my car’s tire rotation and wheel alignment was finished, just as I had requested. I told him I hadn’t requested any repairs, this was a rental car (and marked with a rental shop sticker) and how the hell did he manage to drive it anyway, since I had the only key?
After some investigation, it turned out that someone with an identical Escort had dropped their car off for repairs. By coincidence, the ignition key for their car was the same as my rental car. The mechanic saw the nearest Escort, put the key in the ignition, it started right up, so he assumed it was the correct car. I’m lucky they didn’t deliver my car to the other Escort owner. And the mechanic was really pissed that he’d wasted his time fixing the wrong car, and that he’d all that work for nothing, and that now he’d have to hustle and get the OTHER car ready by the time he’d promised.
When I took the rental car back, I told the shopkeeper what had happened. He got a good laugh, mixed with a bit of fear that just anyone could find any old Escort key and drive away with his cars. I told him he should knock a few bucks off the rental since we got him a free wheel alignment and tire rotation. He didn’t.
The cheap bastard!