Ex rental prefix registrations
Discussion
Jimboka said:
My old Skoda was KUxx , Milton Keynes, ex head office car
In hindsight i’d avoid any ex company/HO/Rental car, as it’s drivers abuse them
My RS3 is KMxx as is an ex Audi UK director's car. I'm not sure if you can make such a blanket statement, its more dependent on the car. In hindsight i’d avoid any ex company/HO/Rental car, as it’s drivers abuse them
legless said:
Something to bear in mind for those of you concerned about abuse of the drivetrain.
I used to work in powertrain development for one of the major OEMs, and the test procedures for prototype engines were eye opening to say the least.
They'd be subjected to the very worst abuse you could imagine, including multiple cycles of being chilled down to -50°C, then started and immediately held at the redline under load for hours on end, repeatedly being overrevved by a couple of thousand RPM, being switched off while being worked so hard the manifolds were glowing - you get the idea.
After the equivalent of 150k of being totally thrashed and abused, the engine was disassembled and inspected. Any parts that weren't within the original manufacturing tolerances were deemed to have failed the test and then redesigned until they passed.
The point here being that if you have the odd rental user who gives it a bit of a caning for a few days, it's not really going to make any measurable difference to the overall health of the car.
When I was in the Cops we would get new vehicles issued all the time. I used to work in powertrain development for one of the major OEMs, and the test procedures for prototype engines were eye opening to say the least.
They'd be subjected to the very worst abuse you could imagine, including multiple cycles of being chilled down to -50°C, then started and immediately held at the redline under load for hours on end, repeatedly being overrevved by a couple of thousand RPM, being switched off while being worked so hard the manifolds were glowing - you get the idea.
After the equivalent of 150k of being totally thrashed and abused, the engine was disassembled and inspected. Any parts that weren't within the original manufacturing tolerances were deemed to have failed the test and then redesigned until they passed.
The point here being that if you have the odd rental user who gives it a bit of a caning for a few days, it's not really going to make any measurable difference to the overall health of the car.
You’d take the old one in and do a direct swop into its replacement.
From the moment you got the keys from the workshop it was fully operational and quite often would go out the workshops on blue lights with 10 miles on the clock
They would then be thrashed daily for 24 hours a day for a number of years
It didn’t seem to do them any harm whether it was a Fiesta or a 330d/X5
Many years ago I picked up a brand new Omega MV6 and as we came back from the workshops we got involved in a pursuit of a stolen following an armed robbery
It went back to the workshops an hour later with 46 miles on the clock on the back of a low loader after some tactical contact .. it was fixed and proceeded to rack up over 150k in service before it went for disposal
tril said:
My RS3 is KMxx as is an ex Audi UK director's car. I'm not sure if you can make such a blanket statement, its more dependent on the car.
Lots of staff who work for the car manufacturers get company cars on very preferential deals .. they run them for 3-6 months and then rinse/repeat On the BMW System there’s a sales code which would denote whether it was retail/fleet/rental or internal sales to staff/press etc or to Mini/RR
My Z4 shows internal sale staff car at Bracknell whilst my X3 shows British forces Germany
myvision said:
I'd happily buy an ex rental what's the chances of it being flogged to hell and back?
Most rentals get someone from A to B and that's it.
My company car goes back in June 2016 A6 50k looks like it came out the showroom still so as it gas a lease company name in it people would not buy it?
Daily rental cars and long term lease cars are entirely different.Most rentals get someone from A to B and that's it.
My company car goes back in June 2016 A6 50k looks like it came out the showroom still so as it gas a lease company name in it people would not buy it?
vikingaero said:
tril said:
My RS3 is KMxx as is an ex Audi UK director's car. I'm not sure if you can make such a blanket statement, its more dependent on the car.
Directors car, Management car....That's sales bull.
VW Group UK staff cars all have K-prefix registrations, and RS models generally aren't available to anyone below a senior management level.
Does the car care about the pay grade or level of responsibility of the person who is (ab)using it?
Clutching at details about the previous owner, whether it was a director of the manufacturing company, a rental company, or doctor, vicar, lord, lady or other title, particularly nice sounding address or apparently rough area and then trying to paint a mental picture of how the car might have been driven or looked after because of that, is worthy of Hyacinth Bouquet
Clutching at details about the previous owner, whether it was a director of the manufacturing company, a rental company, or doctor, vicar, lord, lady or other title, particularly nice sounding address or apparently rough area and then trying to paint a mental picture of how the car might have been driven or looked after because of that, is worthy of Hyacinth Bouquet
Unless you buy new your recent one owner car will in most cases be ex rental. It won’t matter. The days of little old ladies driving to church are over if ever they existed, like” rear seat never sat on”. The euphemisms for these ex-rentals are really creative - management/ex-demo/dealer principal’s own car/13,999 miles - oops, never had a service/ end of line reduction..... Again, the silly notion that a doctor, director, priest et al will automatically, per se, be a caring owner strains credulity. Have to agree with poster who suggested that multiple use matters little now, unlike- say - in 1970.
Edited by Lester H on Sunday 19th January 21:07
Edited by Lester H on Sunday 19th January 21:08
av185 said:
An ex daily rental Corsa from Enterprise having had 300 different drivers in 12 months is far more likely to have been badly abused than a 'premium' vehicle rented out on longer term hire say to an insurance company claimant.
I'm not sure you can generalise like that.If you say that 5% of drivers abuse their car, then a daily-rental will have been abused 5% of the time.
If it was a private car, there's a 5% chance it was abused 100% of the time.
If it's a long term rental - then somewhere in the middle.
Are those odds better? I'm not sure.
eltax91 said:
Hi folks
Wifey has a 2.0 qashqai that’s she’s had for 7 years. It’s being hugely reliable until very recently when it’s thrown us a few issues that have totalled up to 4 figure spend and now it’s thrown An engine light and is running rough she’s decided the time has come for a new one.
She’s quite taken by the Hyundai i30 and we viewed one earlier today, a 1.4T petrol, which she liked.
When I was rooting through the glove box I found an enterprise rent a car ice scraper and when they presented us the paperwork they told us it was ex rental too. This doesn’t bother me but it puts wife off. In this case what bothered me more was the 4 mismatched ditch finders.
Anyway the sales lady told us that all EN and EO prefix cars are likely to be enterprise registered. Is this the case? To be fair they had priced it accordingly.
To aid me with my shortlisting, does anyone know any other preix’s I should watch out for, for other rentals?
I had a Honda Civic company car (owned outright by the company but maintained by same group as Enterprise). Implies an EN prefix does not necessarily mean its an ex hire car. Enterprise move cars on at very low mileage - I don't see an ex enterprise car being an automatic avoid.Wifey has a 2.0 qashqai that’s she’s had for 7 years. It’s being hugely reliable until very recently when it’s thrown us a few issues that have totalled up to 4 figure spend and now it’s thrown An engine light and is running rough she’s decided the time has come for a new one.
She’s quite taken by the Hyundai i30 and we viewed one earlier today, a 1.4T petrol, which she liked.
When I was rooting through the glove box I found an enterprise rent a car ice scraper and when they presented us the paperwork they told us it was ex rental too. This doesn’t bother me but it puts wife off. In this case what bothered me more was the 4 mismatched ditch finders.
Anyway the sales lady told us that all EN and EO prefix cars are likely to be enterprise registered. Is this the case? To be fair they had priced it accordingly.
To aid me with my shortlisting, does anyone know any other preix’s I should watch out for, for other rentals?
Admittedly it's 10 years since I was last in the trade, but 18 years of sales management - including Hyundai, coincidentally - allowed me much experience of selling ex-daily rental, management and fleet cars.
I don't ever recall any problems with them, in fact in many cases they were better prepared on delivery than part exchanges because most reconditioning costs could be charged back to the leasing / hire company rather than borne by the dealer.
From memory we also had to show prices inclusive of VAT, which at the time was quite a decent giveaway that a car was ex-hire etc.
I don't ever recall any problems with them, in fact in many cases they were better prepared on delivery than part exchanges because most reconditioning costs could be charged back to the leasing / hire company rather than borne by the dealer.
From memory we also had to show prices inclusive of VAT, which at the time was quite a decent giveaway that a car was ex-hire etc.
surely the chances of finding a nearly new, privately owned car for sale at a main dealer is pretty unlikely?
The majority of them are going to be :
1)Ex hire cars - Thrashed and unloved
2)Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
3)Ex Company cars - If they are anything like the cars at my company, see 2
4)Ex lease cars
I think the days of the little old couple buying a new car and then trading it in every 2 or 3 years are long gone.
Years ago I went to the Toyota on track day (remember them) at brands hatch and was encouraged to bounce a brand new corolla T sport off the rev limiter and when I put the brakes on the pedal was long due to the heat in the brakes. I asked the instructor what happened to the cars afterwards and he told me they were sold through the dealer network. Low mileage, but every one of them on the limiter.
The majority of them are going to be :
1)Ex hire cars - Thrashed and unloved
2)Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
3)Ex Company cars - If they are anything like the cars at my company, see 2
4)Ex lease cars
I think the days of the little old couple buying a new car and then trading it in every 2 or 3 years are long gone.
Years ago I went to the Toyota on track day (remember them) at brands hatch and was encouraged to bounce a brand new corolla T sport off the rev limiter and when I put the brakes on the pedal was long due to the heat in the brakes. I asked the instructor what happened to the cars afterwards and he told me they were sold through the dealer network. Low mileage, but every one of them on the limiter.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 20th January 11:43
Joey Deacon said:
surely the chances of finding a nearly new, privately owned car for sale at a main dealer is pretty unlikely?
The majority of them are going to be :
1)Ex hire cars - Thrashed and unloved
2)Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
3)Ex Company cars - If they are anything like the cars at my company, see 2
4)Ex lease cars
I think the days of the little old couple buying a new car and then trading it in every 2 or 3 years are long gone.
Years ago I went to the Toyota on track day (remember them) at brands hatch and was encouraged to bounce a brand new corolla T sport off the rev limiter and when I put the brakes on the pedal was long due to the heat in the brakes. I asked the instructor what happened to the cars afterwards and he told me they were sold through the dealer network. Low mileage, but every one of them on the limiter.
At what point do you stop worrying? Brand new cars are thrashed on and off boats, transporters etc, are you going to collect it from the factory ?The majority of them are going to be :
1)Ex hire cars - Thrashed and unloved
2)Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
3)Ex Company cars - If they are anything like the cars at my company, see 2
4)Ex lease cars
I think the days of the little old couple buying a new car and then trading it in every 2 or 3 years are long gone.
Years ago I went to the Toyota on track day (remember them) at brands hatch and was encouraged to bounce a brand new corolla T sport off the rev limiter and when I put the brakes on the pedal was long due to the heat in the brakes. I asked the instructor what happened to the cars afterwards and he told me they were sold through the dealer network. Low mileage, but every one of them on the limiter.
Edited by Joey Deacon on Monday 20th January 11:43
I work as a mobile service technician with contracts to Avis, Enterprise and Enterprise Flexi rent (amongst other smaller lease/hire companies).
The company I work for probably service a small % of their entire fleet so I can't say all their vehicles are looked after and serviced correctly.
But from my work and experience they are at least serviced when due.
Avis hire cars usually only have an oil service as they tend to not be kept longer than this sort of mileage (10-15k) I believe this is their business set up with the cars then being sold as nearly new at dealers.
Enterprise vehicles I service are usually a long term or contract hire and they more often get over serviced with fuel/air filters being replaced way before a manufacturer schedule!
I found this is due to the fleet management having a blanket 12000 mile limit to then get serviced, alternating between minor (oil/filter) and major (all serviceable filters) regardless of what the actual manufacturer schedules say.
I rarely see any signs of abuse or damage (not including vans).
The company I work for probably service a small % of their entire fleet so I can't say all their vehicles are looked after and serviced correctly.
But from my work and experience they are at least serviced when due.
Avis hire cars usually only have an oil service as they tend to not be kept longer than this sort of mileage (10-15k) I believe this is their business set up with the cars then being sold as nearly new at dealers.
Enterprise vehicles I service are usually a long term or contract hire and they more often get over serviced with fuel/air filters being replaced way before a manufacturer schedule!
I found this is due to the fleet management having a blanket 12000 mile limit to then get serviced, alternating between minor (oil/filter) and major (all serviceable filters) regardless of what the actual manufacturer schedules say.
I rarely see any signs of abuse or damage (not including vans).
Toaster Pilot said:
Do you know what rental company had it when it was new? I’ve never seen BMW rental cars that weren’t registered by BMW UK on Y* registrations
One down in Bournemouth or Brighton or somewhere like that, I seem to remember it wasnt one of the big companies. All the cars were exactly the same, but different colours, all 320d, 19in wheel upgrade and privacy glass. Joey Deacon said:
Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
Disagree.We acquire many ex motability cars from Auction and there are more higher grade (I.e top condition) than lower grade cars.
Also 99% of them have only one driver and are registered to them as opposed to Motability and have full main dealer service history including brake fluid change at 2 years old.
Great used stock and probably the best.
av185 said:
Joey Deacon said:
Ex Motability - (Sweeping generalisation here) treated like absolute rubbish, likely to be in worse condition that a hire car
Disagree.We acquire many ex motability cars from Auction and there are more higher grade (I.e top condition) than lower grade cars.
Also 99% of them have only one driver and are registered to them as opposed to Motability and have full main dealer service history including brake fluid change at 2 years old.
Great used stock and probably the best.
Also the crap goes to auction, the good stuff is sold on through Motability directly to the motor trade, if it turns up and has been mis-described, it can be rejected.
tril said:
My RS3 is KMxx as is an ex Audi UK director's car. I'm not sure if you can make such a blanket statement, its more dependent on the car.
Years ago I went to an Audi driving day , all the cars had less than 500 miles on the clock , all of them were getting thrashed .My son was looking at an S3 not long after , there was an abundance of metallic blue S3 one owner low mileage cars for sale through Audi dealers , which by coincidence was the exact colour of the cars at the Audi driving day.
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