Buying ex rental car

weisses

Hi Guys ... Hope this is the right forum

Would it be possible to check if a car was used as a rental before being sold?

And if so would you stay away from these cars ?

jayo26

weisses wrote: »

Hi Guys ... Hope this is the right forum

Would it be possible to check if a car was used as a rental before being sold?

And if so would you stay away from these cars ?

It maybe hard to check but most garages would be honest about it I think. I was a mechanic in an opel garage going back ten year ago and we did alot of leasing to herz who leased all there cars usually on a six month cycle or a yearly cycle when the cars were damaged they were repaired in the main dealers and only proper parts were put back into them now some of them would come back in a right state but because herz were paying for the repairs it was always done top class so id have no concerns buying a ex herz car but I don't know how it works from other companies.
I few things back then to look out for that would be a small telltale as to if it was a rental car would be any stickers that are in multiple languages or stickers saying please drive on left was a sure give away also if it was a herz car it would have the little round sticker on the windscreen and rear window at the top middle these would nearly always be removed but no matter how clean you remove them they were always the slightest little faint outline of the sticker left. Also most cars had a sticker on the drivers side door mirror saying objects in the mirror always seem further away. These stickers were removed too but again if you look really closely you may still se a small outline of the sticker. But as i said most garages would admit they were ex rentals.

weisses

Thanks for the info Jayo ..

jayo26

weisses wrote: »

Thanks for the info Jayo ..

No problem mate could be all different now but I doubt it ha.

Viper_JB

In the words of Jeff Foxworthy...

Buying a used rental car is kind of like going to a house of ill repute looking for a wife. Anything that's been driven that hard by that many people, you really don't want to put your key in it.

landmarkjohn

and there is a saying "Don't be gentle, it's a rental"

That said it wouldn't put me off buying a car if everything else looked right, pay attention to the clutch.

George Dalton

Most ex rentals aren't worth the hassle. A large proportion of them will suffer from the following issues:

Above average mileage
Tired interior
Bad bodywork (or badly repaired bodywork)
Kerbed/buckled wheels
Cheap chinese tyres
No spare key
No service history of any description
No owners manuals

9935452

landmarkjohn wrote: »

and there is a saying "Don't be gentle, it's a rental"

That said it wouldn't put me off buying a car if everything else looked right, pay attention to the clutch.

'Drive it like its stolen ' is the term used around here with hire cars

L-M

George Dalton wrote: »

Most ex rentals aren't worth the hassle. A large proportion of them will suffer from the following issues:

Above average mileage
Tired interior
Bad bodywork (or badly repaired bodywork)
Kerbed/buckled wheels
Cheap chinese tyres
No spare key
No service history of any description
No owners manuals

To be fair, any rental in a 6 months lease isn't going to need a service, nor tyres and the above average mileage should be reflected in the price.

jayo26

Limerick man wrote: »

To be fair, any rental in a 6 months lease isn't going to need a service, nor tyres and the above average mileage should be reflected in the price.

You be surprised mate. Alot of them would have over 40k on them and tyres would be damaged from kerbs but I only ever see them been replaced with decent spec tyres and parts but not every place is the same I assume. The spare key and service manual was never an issue as the garage use to hang onto them until the car was returned.

L-M

jayo26 wrote: »

You be surprised mate. Alot of them would have over 40k on them and tyres would be damaged from kerbs but I only ever see them been replaced with decent spec tyres and parts but not every place is the same I assume. The spare key and service manual was never an issue as the garage use to hang onto them until the car was returned.

6 month lease rental with 40kms on it?

Unless it was Ferris Bueller I doubt it!

dingding

Also noticed some in a local garage and the side of the cars had a lot of light scratched in the paint as if it was washed regularly with a automatic brush wash. Also if the car has alloys there is a good chance they will be damaged.

George Dalton

The days of 6 month rentals are gone. Most are kept for 2 years now. By which time they are wrecked.

L-M

George Dalton wrote: »

The days of 6 month rentals are gone. Most are kept for 2 years now. By which time they are wrecked.

Ah yeah a two year rental is a no go.

*Kol*

George Dalton wrote: »

Most ex rentals aren't worth the hassle. A large proportion of them will suffer from the following issues:

Above average mileage
Tired interior
Bad bodywork (or badly repaired bodywork)
Kerbed/buckled wheels
Cheap chinese tyres
No spare key
No service history of any description
No owners manuals

A 6 month old car with 20-30k km is no big deal. The mileage will average back to a normal average over a few years. As is said above the service history and tyres are not a factor plus you will have to change tyres at some point anyway. After 6 months how tired could the interior possibly be?? I would rather buy a six month old ex rental with 30k km than a four year old car with 130k km. the bodywork and wheels can be crap on any car. Though I think that people take more care when renting these days as there are a lot of excesses and exclusions if you are not paying an exorbitant amount for the insurance.
I rent a lot of cars and I check them before I drive away. Normally it's hard to find damage and if there is damage there it's really small.

*Kol*

George Dalton wrote: »

The days of 6 month rentals are gone. Most are kept for 2 years now. By which time they are wrecked.

They are not gone. I was in a garage recently that had a fair amount of sub 1 year ex rentals for sale.

jayo26

Limerick man wrote: »

6 month lease rental with 40kms on it?

Unless it was Ferris Bueller I doubt it!

No kidding you think about it alot of cars hired in summer months by tourists traveling around from one lenght of the country and back they don't hire a car just to drive around a city for a few hours. If a car did an average of 300k most days it was out on lease it would easily clock up 30k in six months.

SCOOP 64

Brought my ex rental hertz 08 zafira one year old at time, my local opel had one owner zafria for €18,500 at time, but didn't offer much for my part ex, wouldn't move on price, so brought a ex rental 08 zafira with less miles for €14000 and offered more for my part exchange,had no trouble with car,still have it, you have to weight up how much your saving on the ex rental.

ps. the garage i brought it from make it very clear that it was a ex rental.

jayo26

*Kol* wrote: »

They are not gone. I was in a garage recently that had a fair amount of sub 1 year ex rentals for sale.

Yep exactly the majority of 141 and 142 cars are probably rentals I know the garages in Wexford here make a big deal of advertising the ex rental cars are returning.

George Dalton

Fair enough I stand corrected.

I would guess that these days the 6-12 month rentals go back into the main dealer network. Certainly the only ex-rental stuff we come across is around 2 years old and not worth buying. So I was just giving my opinion based on my experience of them. Recently I was looking for a 1-2 year old Focus for a regular customer. Most of the available options to me were ex rental. I viewed multiple examples and would not have been happy with a single one of them as a retail proposition. Ended up buying a trade in from a local Ford dealer instead. Made very little money out of it but was much happier selling that car than the crap that was being offered by the ex-rental guys.

jayo26

George Dalton wrote: »

Fair enough I stand corrected.

I would guess that these days the 6-12 month rentals go back into the main dealer network. Certainly the only ex-rental stuff we come across is around 2 years old and not worth buying. So I was just giving my opinion based on my experience of them. Recently I was looking for a 1-2 year old Focus for a regular customer. Most of the available options to me were ex rental. I viewed multiple examples and would not have been happy with a single one of them as a retail proposition. Ended up buying a trade in from a local Ford dealer instead. Made very little money out of it but was much happier selling that car than the crap that was being offered by the ex-rental guys.

Id imagine its same as buying any car you get good and bad just need to keepan eye on the obvious. I haven't been in motor trade for near ten years bow but I keep a watching interest in it but from what I experienced on ex rentals where I was working it was high quality but id imagine some of the smaller rental companies cut some corners or just didn't give a toss but I only ever experienced one company.

George Dalton

jayo26 wrote: »

Id imagine its same as buying any car you get good and bad just need to keepan eye on the obvious. I haven't been in motor trade for near ten years bow but I keep a watching interest in it but from what I experienced on ex rentals where I was working it was high quality but id imagine some of the smaller rental companies cut some corners or just didn't give a toss but I only ever experienced one company.

The cars I viewed recently were 131 models and were ex Hertz and ex Europcar. So not small time operators.

I looked at 6 cars ranging from 35-70k kms. None had any history whatsoever. Only one of the 6 even had a service book but it was empty. 2 of the 6 had a spare key. 3 of the 6 had owners manuals. All of them had marks on the bodywork. Any of them that had needed replacement tyres had budget brands fitted.