# Would you buy a used rental car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597 "2007-01-03T21:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/21 "2007-01-04T05:19:45Z")
My current car is an ex-rental, and it hasn’t given me any mechanical problems. I’ve owned it and driven it for longer than it was a rental, so I hope anything would have shown up by now, and regular maintenance hasn’t said anything. The dashboard clock is a little funny, though. Sometimes it tells me that it’s 18:88 (am AND pm), and that the CD player is on (there’s no CD player). I like to think that it’s been to the Bermuda Triangle and lived to tell the tale. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/22 "2007-01-04T05:34:41Z")
I agree with **Doug Bowe**. I bought a 2003 Toyota Camry from Enterprise in the summer of 2004. It had 31,000 miles. It came with a 12 month guarantee, in addition to the remaining Toyota warranty. They start that car out on their used car lot at $15,995. At the end of a month, they lower it to $14,995. It doesn’t drop below that price. At the end of the next month, they shift it to another Enterprise lot. The employees are on salary and make nothing extra by selling you a car. I had nothing to use as a down payment, but have very good credit. I got, through them, a 5 1/2% used car loan. This was below what I could get anywhere else. I HATE shopping for a car, and bargaining for a good price. The lady who sold me the car explained up front that “that’s the price.” Yes, probably a slight bit more than you could purchase on from a private party, but you don’t know how that private party drove/maintained their vehicle. I agree with others that the rental car saw regular maintenence. I’ve got 83,000 on it as of tonight. Never had a problem. But, it’s a Toyota. I was told, and don’t vouch for, that Enterprise sells it’s “problem” vehicles through auctions. They ain’t gonna give a 12 month guarantee on a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/23 "2007-01-04T09:04:31Z")
Some years ago I was told, don’t buy a used rental car with low lileage as it will be a lemon they are off loading. If it is a year old car with normal mileag (which depends on where you live) it could be a good buy. Never bought one but it could be true. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/24 "2007-01-04T09:59:37Z")
My dad has bought 3 fleet (not rental car) Tauruses over the past 15 years. His last one that he bought, maybe 10 years ago, which is a 1994 Taurus, is still in use by my aunt. It’s not the best car in town but my cousin’s a mechanic and takes care of it for her. He would recommend them to anyone. He has new cars now just because he’s old and crotchety and wants new cars. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/25 "2007-01-04T10:02:42Z")
I own one-and-a-half Toyota Yaris. The first one, I bought new and it’s co-owned with my brother (he’s the one who actually uses it). The second one, I bought from Toyota but it had previously been leased to a rental agency. My only complaint about this second one is that it’s got less ponypower than the first and it shows, specially trying to go uphill with the AC on… ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/26 "2007-01-04T13:49:22Z")
I’ve done this 3 times now and been very satisfied every time. Average mileage was probably 20 to 30K and cost was well below NADA. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/27 "2007-01-04T14:00:50Z")
My uncle used to do this. About every second year, he’d buy a car from Hertz for himself, my aunt or one of his kids. Over the years, he must have bought ten or a dozen cars from them. Without exception, he was happy with the purchase. He said the cars were usually no more than 18 months old and were very well-maintained. Hertz sold them for less than a used car dealer would charge. In fact, I believe that used car dealers often buy rental agency cars for resale. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/28 "2007-01-04T14:21:42Z")
Rental places don’t seem to have any cars with manual xmission, and I’d only buy an automatic as a last resort. One of the rental clerks told me that they stopped buying manuals because people would use them to teach their kids how to use a stick, and ruin the clutch in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/29 "2007-01-04T15:25:35Z")
This is all very interesting. Thanks to everyone who’s chimed in with information and personal experience. I thought it seemed a little, I don’t know, iffy, but now it sounds like something vey much worth considering. (BTW, as I live in a town laid over extremely lumpy terrain, the automatic transmission is not only not a concern, it’s a bit of a bonus.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/30 "2007-01-04T15:39:34Z")
I believe the salient quote comes from P J O’Rourke : “There’s a lot of debate on this subject - about what kind of car handles best. Some say a a front-engined car, some say a rear-engined car. I say a rented car. Nothing handles better than a rented car. You can go faster, turn corners sharper, and put the transmission into reverse while going forward at a higher rate of speed in a rented car than in any other kind.” which IIRC is from “How To Drive Fast While Getting Your Yin Yang Stroked” from a 1970s \*National Lampoon \* piece. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597/31 "2007-01-04T16:51:38Z")
My current car is. Bought about 2.5 years ago at a used car dealership, my '03 Chevy Malibu with somewhere around 35,000km on the clock was apparently a rental in a previous life. Other than a slightly scraped aluminum rim, a crack in one of the plastic wheel well guards, and a missing manual they took their time replacing for me, it was about mint, and cost near blue-book. The rotors needed turning (which they did for free), and it needed the pads replacing a year later, but other than a few minor things covered under the 60,000km warranty, it’s been trouble free. The worst thing that happened to it was me, as I briefly forgot cars needed oil, and have managed to scratch up the trunk with my bike pedals, and the front fender with my garage door. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-buy-a-used-rental-car/386597.md?page=1)