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Just wondering what the pros and cons of buying a low KM former rental car. This car still has the balance of the factory warranty on it but was used by Budget etc for daily rental. Should I consider it or run the other direction? Any experience with these?

no way

Hi

This was asked on auto shop on Sunday Night. They said if your saving 5 or 6 K go for it but if it's like a 1000 to 1500 no way.

Personally I'd be afraid to considering how people treat rentals.

We had a discussion on this topic about a year ago. Definitely try to avoid if you can. You just don't want to deal with future hassles. I unknowingly bought a used car that served as a rental mule years ago. It ran well under my car, but burned a lot of oil in its mid-life due to early-life wear.

Most people beat the living daylights out of them, including the rental agency employees when they use the cars to pick up coffee, food, doughnuts, and customers.

I had to rent a car last week and the agent picking me up revved the car to 4500 rpm pulling out of the mechanic's shop to the office with the engine still ice-cold, lol.

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What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

That was what I was trying to consider. Do people really treat rentals worse than their own cars? After all you have to be careful not to ding them up lest you incur some damage costs. I know when I have rented a car in Europe and the UK I have been very careful and not driven recklessly. However do people really drive the piss out of a rental? Thats what I was trying to figure out.

The fear of the unknown would probably cause me not to consider buying a past rental.
Although to your point, I am usually extra careful with rentals since they always want to ding people for anything that possibly goes wrong while in your hands. But thats only speaking for myself. My wife and I both used rental cars for a 6 week period as we both had some really bad luck and both our cars got smashed up within a 2 week window (not our fault). We were both pretty paranoid driving around in a car that we didn't own.

I don't beat on rentals because of Karma (i.e. if I left my car with a body shop or mechanic, I expect them not to beat on it to go get coffee, or throw the car into Drive from Reverse when backing up and the car is still rolling, which most mechanics unfortunately do), and also for fuel economy reasons since we still have to pay for gasolone, but most people beat on them for fun knowing it's not theirs.

I think it's more important to be careful when parking or storing a rental, and less so when accelerating hard.

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What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

I've known otherwise decent people who treat their rentals and lease cars like craps, not changing the oil in a timely manner and just driving them like they could care less. It's like they know they will only have them for a week (rental) or three years (lease) so who gives a crap. Amazing how many people justify that in their mind where as I would just feel too guilty as hell.

I drive every rental like I'm in the 24 Heures du Mans series.
Would never buy a rental casue of guys like me.

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Phase 96c, Lot 3224

So therefore if a lot of people are like you (and a few have stated that they are), what kind of Non cosmetic damage can result that can affect the car longterm? If you are driving the car hard and speeding then you could expect brakes and shocks damage. How much damage could there be to other components? Could the engine be damaged? How?

I worked for a rental car company for a long period. I would avoid them if there is not massive savings. Not even for the fact that customers drive the piss out of them, but employees generally don't care and may not beat them but are not gentle on them. As well oil changes are done at every 10,000km not 4,000k to 8,000. Another big thing to look at is the break in period, there is no consitency in the break in period so it never gets properly broken in. As well they are rarely all highway km's usually general all purpose km's.

It would not be cosmetic damage that I would be worried about. It would be the redline rush in cold starting conditions, wear on tires from drifting (joking) and all the other mechanical components that take the abuse from driving it hard.

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Phase 96c, Lot 3224

I bought one in 2003(Ford) and drove it til last year without any problems. Personally I'd buy another with low miles if the price is right. Any late model used car from a dealer could have had the same life as a rental, besides these newer cars are pretty well built. Chances are it will rust out before the engine/driveline fails. If u buy one, they legally have to disclose that it was a former rental.

I would never buy a rental or advise anyone to buy a rental. I have rented many times and treat the car like hell. I have friends who work at rental places so we don't really care about the car or how it is treated. We have rented a car for 2 weeks for road trip, drove almost 20k km and just filled up the oil once. Done 10k in a week, i've even done 1 day trips to quebec where it is driven almost for 20 hours stopping only for gas and washroom.