Buying an ex rental
Discussion
My daughter at 22 thinks she knows all about everything and has decided to possibly buy a one-year-old ex-rental Vauxhall Adam. Fully speced up with 20,000 miles on it service history and still a manufacturers warranty. My older cynical brain tells her not to be so stupid and mentioned all the pitfalls etc. Constantly thrashed from cold parked anywhere not to care for anything on it and general ex rental abuse.
Am I being a bit ott or are they better these days. Please advise
Am I being a bit ott or are they better these days. Please advise
I just returned a BMW X1 from Avis that I picked up with 11km on the clock. I returned it with just under a 1000km a week later.
Most people who rent cars can't be bothered ragging them. I used it to get from A to B. I certainly didn't want any scuffs or scrapes, as I didn't want to pay for any damage, so I parked it like I park my own car.
I don't think there's any harm getting an ex-rental, especially if it's priced competitively. Even more so if you are going to pass it on by the time that the manufacturers warranty expires.
Most people who rent cars can't be bothered ragging them. I used it to get from A to B. I certainly didn't want any scuffs or scrapes, as I didn't want to pay for any damage, so I parked it like I park my own car.
I don't think there's any harm getting an ex-rental, especially if it's priced competitively. Even more so if you are going to pass it on by the time that the manufacturers warranty expires.
From my own experience of renting cars, the hire companies are so strict about any minor chips etc that the car will likely have been driven and parked carefully by most drivers, the only slight concern would be as you mention about hooning around on cold engines, but lets face it, with things like rev limiters, modern cars are pretty bullet proof.
Looks ok. A few paint chips randomly over it odd ? It’s very nice inside and clean and the wheels look like they’ve been refurbed so no kerbing. My concerns really with ex-rental are the general mechanical abuse from day one can these cars really stand up to it or doesn’t it matter as much these days.
Mr lestat said:
Looks ok. A few paint chips randomly over it odd ? It’s very nice inside and clean and the wheels look like they’ve been refurbed so no kerbing. My concerns really with ex-rental are the general mechanical abuse from day one can these cars really stand up to it or doesn’t it matter as much these days.
If you've ever seen how cars get treated in the logistics chain between the factory and the dealer (particularly at the ports), you'll realise that pretty much every car on the road was abused from.day one. loskie said:
seems high miles for an ex rental maybe a lease?
Not overly high for a year old ex rental, we sell 9m old rentals with 16k on them. OP; generally rentals aren't ragged to death, people drive them the same way as they would drive their own car and each time they are returned, they are cleaned and lights, levels and tyres are checked so you could say they are looked after better than a privately owned car in that respect.
Who's to say a privately owned Adam with 22k on the clock hasn't been ragged from cold?
We sell hundreds of ex rentals a year and have no more problems with them as we do with privately owned from new cars.
If it looks good the history stacks up and it's priced well then you have nothing to worry about.
A rental car, recently https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ40aNRNOXY
i had an ex Avis 407 2.0 HDi 12 m old and 15k miles at a really good price.
Fine for many years and finally died with a DMF on its way out after about 80k. Did need a new turbo at about 70k
It was a great car and most of the faults seemed to be peugot problems rather than being an ex rental.
Fine for many years and finally died with a DMF on its way out after about 80k. Did need a new turbo at about 70k
It was a great car and most of the faults seemed to be peugot problems rather than being an ex rental.
Mr lestat said:
My concerns really with ex-rental are the general mechanical abuse from day one can these cars really stand up to it or doesn’t it matter as much these days.
Just like any other second hand car then. Buy on condition rather than price and she'll have just as good a car as any other.parabolica said:
Mr lestat said:
My concerns really with ex-rental are the general mechanical abuse from day one can these cars really stand up to it or doesn’t it matter as much these days.
Just like any other second hand car then. Buy on condition rather than price and she'll have just as good a car as any other.Treat every car as an individual. Take some one along who knows bodywork.
I often visit a local dealer who sells mostly ex rental cars, mostly because I take people there to help choose a car, this dealer often sells cars at just a fraction over what I can buy them at auction when you take the high fees into account nowadays.
Now many of the cars I see there have shocking body repairs, some smart repairs, others have piss poor panel gaps.
A bit like many of the motability cars I used to see at the actions.
But many of the cars are fine.
I also pop my head underneath to see if it's had new front suspension components fitted, been caught a couple of times in the past with cars that had repairs and scrubbed tyres.
But ex rental wouldn't put me off, just do the same checks you'd do with all cars.
Gary C said:
i had an ex Avis 407 2.0 HDi 12 m old and 15k miles at a really good price.
Fine for many years and finally died with a DMF on its way out after about 80k. Did need a new turbo at about 70k
It was a great car and most of the faults seemed to be peugot problems rather than being an ex rental.
Can't believe it only made it to 80k!Fine for many years and finally died with a DMF on its way out after about 80k. Did need a new turbo at about 70k
It was a great car and most of the faults seemed to be peugot problems rather than being an ex rental.
My parents Rover 75 just clicked over 215k miles and it drives very very well for a 15 year old car. Likewise our hack daily MK5. 400,000km and original clutch, box, engine, turbo. Drives every bit as good as my Eos with 100k...
Trevor555 said:
parabolica said:
Mr lestat said:
My concerns really with ex-rental are the general mechanical abuse from day one can these cars really stand up to it or doesn’t it matter as much these days.
Just like any other second hand car then. Buy on condition rather than price and she'll have just as good a car as any other.Treat every car as an individual. Take some one along who knows bodywork.
I often visit a local dealer who sells mostly ex rental cars, mostly because I take people there to help choose a car, this dealer often sells cars at just a fraction over what I can buy them at auction when you take the high fees into account nowadays.
Now many of the cars I see there have shocking body repairs, some smart repairs, others have piss poor panel gaps.
A bit like many of the motability cars I used to see at the actions.
But many of the cars are fine.
I also pop my head underneath to see if it's had new front suspension components fitted, been caught a couple of times in the past with cars that had repairs and scrubbed tyres.
But ex rental wouldn't put me off, just do the same checks you'd do with all cars.
Does the rental company do a deal like Hertz do, where you can rent the car for 5 days before you buy it? Plenty of time to find any faults if they do.
With 80% of the buying public choosing to lease or pcp cars these days it could be argued that there aren't many cars available that have been cared for in the old fashioned way.
There's presumably a lack of attachment to a car that is leased and therefore whether it's been 'owned' privately or commercially makes little difference.
As said above - if it looks and drives ok then it probably is.
There's presumably a lack of attachment to a car that is leased and therefore whether it's been 'owned' privately or commercially makes little difference.
As said above - if it looks and drives ok then it probably is.
Bought an ex rental Volvo a few years ago, had one issue during my ownership which was covered under warranty, though it did take a number of weeks. Had a new XC90 during the time my own car was off the road so it wasn’t an issue.
Sold it for slightly more than i paid for it after 2 years. Would certainly buy another.
Sold it for slightly more than i paid for it after 2 years. Would certainly buy another.
I disagree with most people who have commented. I wouldn’t buy an ex rental car. I worked for a high performance rental company before and they used to get taken to track days, different drivers all the time wear things out quicker. You can tell when someone first gets in a car the high revs trying to find the bite on the clutch horrible sound. Now in super cars that wears clutches out in a quarter of the time they should last. Now take a small lower powered car it’s even worse. I have had many rentals for work and I am not very sympathetic to them the rental drivers are even worse. Wheel spins handbrake turns you name it it gets done.
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