I am getting ready to start looking for a car. Not getting new as I don't want the immediate drop in return. I would rather do as @Ancalagon suggests and buy a rental car, but what rental company would be better to buy from? Which to avoid? This way I know it will have had regular oil changes and cleanings. Unless you can tell me what you did to a rental that was worse than not doing regular maintenance, don't tell you wouldn't buy it based on it being a rental with no reason.
I didn't even realize you could buy directly from a rental place ... I always just assumed they traded their fleet cars back to a dealer. But apparently Enterprise has an entire sales division... No idea what company would be best, but it sounds like a good idea, and one I never thought of before. And the "cons" listed in this Autotrader "pro and con" article seem a little suspect. (I know some driving habits are harder on cars than others, but how would changing habits be a problem in and of itself? It's not like it's a person. And I'm usually more careful and/or paranoid in a rental, because I know if I get even a small ding on the car I'll have to pay for it, whereas if I get a purely cosmetic ding or scrape on my own car, I won't even bother fixing it.)
I bought a Toyota from Hertz for my daughter recently. Car is in good shape (55K) 2014 Yaris. Price was lower than market. They wouldn't haggle, but they did throw in a few extras when asked (new floor mats). I'd deal with them again, just do your research before going in (as with any car dealer). They have two programs, one where you buy a car that's been prepped off their lot. And another where you reserve a car, rent it for a few days while you decide to buy. We rented one and turned it back in because it was in rough shape, and wound up getting a similar model off the lot for about $1,000 more, but still less than KBB market price. She's had the car for 6 months. No issues. It was a good deal. website
Enterprise has a whole sales division (full disclosure - I work for their Corporate Fleet division). I've heard good things about them nonetheless. My In-laws bought a used car from them several years ago (before I started there), and were generally pleased with it. I also happen to know that cars only stay on the Enterprise Sales lots for 2-3 weeks, and after that if not sold, they are sold off to wholesalers at auction. So the stock rotates on an almost-constant basis...you won't find any cars sitting on their lots long-term unsold. My current car (2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid) was purchased used from a dealership that bought it at auction from Hertz. It had like 32K miles on it when I got it...a bit high mileage for it's age then, but it was in very good condition and I've been very pleased with its performance and reliability. And I got it for a very nice price.
I did some quick checking around, and also had looked at cars online a few weeks ago. My mom is looking to replace her car. I found several cars of the make and model she was looking to get on dealer's inventories. The price the dealer's had for off lease or private owners (checked by using the CarFax reports available on the dealer's sites) were less for the most part, some right around the same price as rental fleets sales. I'd rather buy an off lease vehicle, since they too require regular maintenance usually performed by the dealer as part of the lease, and lease holder also take better care of the vehicle since they are responsible for damage or overage on the mileage. Also, the cars that were less or about the same price had a lot less miles 12-20K vs 20-32+K. I even found a few that had less than 5K miles for less than a rental sale.
I'd get a monthly subscription to consumer reports and read up on cars before deciding on a make/model.
I'd honestly suggest purchasing a Certified Pre-owned previous loaner from the respective dealership. Most of those are current- or last year model with lower mileage than Hertz or Enterprise cars and extended warranty. Most still have some factory maintainance plan. It's worth looking into.
Before we were married my wife had a used "rental" car with no problems. About twenty years ago we (wife & myself) leased a rental car with option to buy of course. I loved that car, but could not buy it when the leasing contract was up because Georgia/Alabama could not get the registration ironed out. No sense having a car you can't drive. Here's the problem, and a GREAT example of buerocracy FAIL. Let's say my name is John Alvin Smith. Well the car was purchased in Georgia under John A. Smith. But my registration/license in Alabama was John Alvin Smith. I could not prove that the middle initial "A" stood for Alvin. Could this be handled by responsible adults? One would think. So I got an "extension" but when the extension was up the DMV/license office with several documents proving that the A in my name stood for Alvin and that I was indeed whom I claimed to be, still hadn't resolved it. I filed for a second extension and still (despite a trip or two down to the office) Georgia & Alabama could not/would not figure it out. Of course I had to pound sand and buy a car from a local dealership & turn this car back in. Fuck government - fuck government in the ass sideways with a nuclear dildo.
Was going to get a four year old Buick Enclave, then the dealership screwed it up. The salesman called the next day and I got to tell him how the floor manager fucked up his sale as I had been going to buy that night. After they fucked up, we went and looked at a Jeep Cherokee it's about a year old 24k miles, more new features, less the leather interior and third row of the other which I liked. So feeling good about it. All In all
That was the grand Cherokee not the Cherokee...yeah I know it's stupid but Jeep has something like 25 styles of mid-size "suv". This does not have the gear shift that springs back to the middle it's a normal shifter so you know by feel when you've "put it in gear". I quote that as its all electronic and you aren't really putting it in gear.
Or go to your local library and read up on their research there, saving on the subscription fee. Most libraries in my experience tend to have CR in their periodicals section.
Depends on the car. I know quite a few of happy Jeep owners. And like there's this jeep Cherokee will not be used all the time. I plan on running my Corolla into the ground on miles and this will be to use when we have the kids with us, or want a nice vehicle to go out in.
For what it's worth, other than a short period where she drove a Chevy Malibu (new and crappy, not old and cool), my little sister has owned Jeep Grand Cherokees for more than 20 years and hasn't had a complaint. And she puts a lot of miles on her vehicles.
Yeah I looked at that before we bought it three weeks ago. We were spot on, for blue book. I'm a farmer's daughter, farmer's wife, and I have a brother that can fix anything (If I decide I can/want to talk to him ). So thanks for your mechanics advice.
Really rental cars are not bad? I always thought people beat those things up. Might have to remember that one.
Rental car and certified preowned loaners from the dealership are two different things. Even still, a rental car isn't likely to be sold if there's a bad Carfax attached with it (at least in California, where they have to disclose that ) and if you're got a brand like a Honda with a little higher than average mileage, you can still save quite a bit of money if you intend to kero it till the wheels fall off. The few brands I'd steer clear from is VM....diesalgate aside, I got far too many people that were upset at their Golfs and TDIs conking out at 50,000 miles. Don't buy BMW used. As much as I love the brand, that includes most MINIs prior to 2009. DEFINITELY don't buy a used Benz. The way they design those cars to fuck over their customers for unnecessary maintainance should be criminal. Not that I think the 'Flows were considering those anyway, but for any naive young kids who may stubble across here, beware.
I'm still waiting on someone to tell me what they did to a rental car, that a dealership was able to cover up...
Yea we get a carfax here. I'm not sure if it's manadatory or not, but they all seem to offer it before signing a contract. All of the rental cars I looked through were under <25k in miles. To me that means just enough to off set the initial dip in price of driving the car off the lot. But I would go with one of the big rental companies as they "should" have done regular maintenance. Although Avis seemed more than a little sketch, but that probably varies by region.