Apr 4th, 2008
Whatever you do, do not do this
I just got back from Portland last night on business and I learned several things about life and finances that you would not expect to learn from Portland. Its a nice city, lots of trees, too many clouds. Well ok so the lesson really didn’t come from Portland or the business part, but the traveling part.
Whatever you do, do not buy a car that has been used as a rental car. I really don’t care what kind of deal you think you are getting, it is not a deal. I read an article just now in between writing this sentence and the last sentence that said a good way to save money on buying a car is to buy a used rental car. I am going to go ahead and say I disagree 100%.
This weekend my colleagues took our rental car jeeping (it was not a jeep, but rather a charger) and did some road testing. It was all in good fun and didn’t harm the car, but we were mild compared to some of the stories I have heard. Allow me to give some examples of things I have heard:
-car being thrown into park while on the highway going 60
-car being jumped (over a variety of things)
-blatant disregard for speed bumps, humps, traffic calming devices and sometimes curbs. Late braking, hard accelerating, off roading, overloading, and every form of general abuse you’d never inflict on your own vehicle
-driving with parking brake engaged
-use your imagination
Now, you might argue, only a minority of people play around with rentals and an even smaller minority severely abuse them and that may well be true but the truth is even just the normal wear and tear on those cars is unbelievable. 99% of all rental cars lives have been spent purely in stop and go traffic (the worst kind of miles for cars) and many of them at one point have had a user that severely abused them.
The car being under warranty is no promise that it wont be totally hosed 2k miles out of warranty.
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Thats hilarious, I have to admit I have been guilt of rental car abuse myself in the past! Its not a matter of really trying to damage, I think its more things everyone has always wanted to do in a car, but you were afraid to…
My parents had pretty good luck for 10 years with former rental car. Of course, it was a very boring type of car and not really suited to anything but driving.
I will keep this in mind though, when looking at new cars.
I have to second this, when I was 18 I bought a used car through a credit union that had been used as rental. It was fine until 40k miles (5k out of warranty) when it started having trouble shifting. I took it into my friend’s auto shop for him to look at and the transmission was completely wrecked. Buyer beware isn’t a strong enough warning. Buyer don’t is more like it.
thanks for the heads up - i think most people will push a rental harder than their own car
Agree totally. I always thought rentals suffered from some abuse, even if the average driver treats them quite well and they get proper maintenance.
I’d recently read the advice to buy an ex-rental (I think it was in “10 money secrets of the rich” or some similar tome), and couldn’t believe the author had ever actually done it themselves.
I’ve always thought buying a good used car for cash was better than buying new car with finance, but my idea of a good used car is one with a single private owner, low mileage, and a complete maintenance record.
Ex-rentals are great, they:
- Go faster than Porsches
- Climb steeper / higher / bumpier hills than SUV’s
- Drive for miles with the handbrake on
- Have floors shaped like ashtrays
Buy used, just not ex-rental, ex-taxi, ex-emergency vehicle!