Are SIMI sellers required to tell you if a used car is an ex rental?

MrMiyagi

Hello,

Recently bought a used car.

I was told that the car was previously owned by one of the brands marketing team in Ireland.

However I have sub-sequentially found out that the car is an ex rental.

bazz26

Being a S.I.M.I. member means diddly squat to a consumer, as they are only lobby group made up of dealer members. Any dealer should be honest and upfront about the car being an ex hire car, in reality they may not so always advised to do your own background checks. BTW how did you find out now?

Green farmer

Personally I'd buy an ex rental ahead of a privately owned one. They get serviced exactly when their meant to, and people renting them tend to drive them carefully as any dents or scratches comes off your credit card.

hullaballoo

I'd agree with Green farmer, rental miles would rarely be hard miles as they would with an ex taxi etc.

People renting cars would tend to be very careful not to damage them when rental company agreements essentially ostensibly allow them to empty your wallet and more if you are in any way careless.

Special Circumstances

hullaballoo wrote: »

I'd agree with Green farmer, rental miles would rarely be hard miles as they would with an ex taxi etc.

People renting cars would tend to be very careful not to damage them when rental company agreements essentially ostensibly allow them to empty your wallet and more if you are in any way careless.

Careful not to visibly damage them

whaaaaaaam-bam-bam-bam-whaaaaaaam. ..squeeeeeal whaaaaaam......

Comhrá

Was down in Kerry last weekend and I noticed all the rental cars were being driven ever so slowly and carefully. If I were renting, I'd drive carefully and slowly too because as already mentioned, the rental company have my credit card details.

I'd have no problem buying an ex-rental car tbh.

hullaballoo

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Careful not to visibly damage them

whaaaaaaam-bam-bam-bam-whaaaaaaam. ..squeeeeeal whaaaaaam......

"One careful owner" could just as easily be the same!

colm_mcm

That's hilarious, rental cars have a far tougher life than your average car. They are massively more likely to have body damage too.

bazz26

Green farmer wrote: »

Personally I'd buy an ex rental ahead of a privately owned one. They get serviced exactly when their meant to, and people renting them tend to drive them carefully as any dents or scratches comes off your credit card.

hullaballoo wrote: »

I'd agree with Green farmer, rental miles would rarely be hard miles as they would with an ex taxi etc.

People renting cars would tend to be very careful not to damage them when rental company agreements essentially ostensibly allow them to empty your wallet and more if you are in any way careless.

Seriously are you guys having a laugh?

People being extra careful with rental cars? Rarely driven hard? Ever hear the term "the fastest car in the world is a rental"? Rental companies spend the bare minimum regarding servicing and damage repairs as it costs them money. Tourists burning the clutch out because they aren't used to driving a manual, etc. These cars get dogs abuse and not all of it is scrapes and stretches on bodywork.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

grogi

bazz26 wrote: »

Seriously are you guys having a laugh?

People being extra careful with rental cars? Rarely driven hard? Ever hear the term "the fastest car in the world is a rental"? Rental companies spend the bare minimum regarding servicing and damage repairs as it costs them money. Tourists burning the clutch out because they aren't used to driving a manual, etc. These cars get dogs abuse and not all of it is scrapes and stretches on bodywork.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Don%27t%20be%20gentle%2C%20It%27s%20a%20rental

Fatswaldo

Our company uses a well known rental company for short and long term rentals. Friendly, helpful and excellent to deal with. However, The bare minimum is spent on servicing. Service intervals pushed out well beyond manufacturers recommendations, faults ignored, cheapest tyres, etc etc. I collected the last one I drove from a service - mechanic told me he found metal fragments in the oil (ford 142 car, last november). The previous two before that both had serious (expensive) issues develop despite being less than a year old. Both VAG.

So would I buy an ex-rental? hmmmm... no!

Henry Ford III

I tend to give any rental car I ever hire a pretty hard time.

I doubt I am alone in that.

hullaballoo

Right ye are so.

I guess now I know not to be such a little bitsch when I get my next rental! :pac:

colm_mcm

They factor a new gearbox into the price. It's a bit like towels or TVs in hotel rooms.

Special Circumstances

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's a bit like towels or TVs in hotel rooms.

who knew the hotel wrecking rockstar that hid behind com_mcm's calm, level-headed moderator persona!

Notch000

i was in a nissan main dealers recently and they had a line of almost new micras, i was acutally looking for a automatoic and this suited. I asked the sales person straigh out if they were ex rental & he said he coudnet acutually guarant they wereent , no doubt they were when one was 2 yrs old and had about 65,000 Km.
who else would osd that milage in a micra autobot

Special Circumstances

Notch000 wrote: »

micra autobot

Worst Transformer toy EVER.

The J Stands for Jay

bazz26 wrote: »

Seriously are you guys having a laugh?

People being extra careful with rental cars? Rarely driven hard? Ever hear the term "the fastest car in the world is a rental"? Rental companies spend the bare minimum regarding servicing and damage repairs as it costs them money. Tourists burning the clutch out because they aren't used to driving a manual, etc. These cars get dogs abuse and not all of it is scrapes and stretches on bodywork.

It's actually: " the fastest car in the world is a rental car driven in reverse."

colm_mcm

Notch000 wrote: »

i was in a nissan main dealers recently and they had a line of almost new micras, i was acutally looking for a automatoic and this suited. I asked the sales person straigh out if they were ex rental & he said he coudnet acutually guarant they wereent , no doubt they were when one was 2 yrs old and had about 65,000 Km.
who else would osd that milage in a micra autobot

He knew right enough!

€4K off new ones at the moment

uck51js9zml2yt

Bought an automatic ex rental a few years ago. Never had a problem with it.

grogi

Holden Sparse Variable wrote: »

Bought an automatic ex rental a few years ago. Never had a problem with it.

The thing with rental automatics is:
- more expensive to rent
- typically only Yanks and Ozis rent them
- a bit harder to abuse - you'll not damage the clutch, spin the engine to the clouds etc.

CiDeRmAn

So, I'm looking a an ex taxi Skoda Superb, 1.9 tid, with 201k miles on her.
Is that worth the 2.5k they are looking for it?
Is buying it just buying into a world of misery?

I've never bought an ex PSV before so, need some advice, hoping to get something over the weekend.
This is the car
link

MrMiyagi

The car I bought had 10000 miles. They told me it wasn't a rental car, but I found out it was.

It was a main dealer.

Toyotafanboi

MrMiyagi wrote: »

The car I bought had 10000 miles. They told me it wasn't a rental car, but I found out it was.

It was a main dealer.

They have lovely ways to dress up "rental car"

Hire drive
Demonstrator
Ex management

Anything other than private ownership is a bit of a gamble imo. That said our 500 was a rental for the first 6 months I suspect and it's grand now two years on. I don't know if non car enthusiasts hockey their rental cars.

We had a Dodge Caravan in NYC last year and I made it my bitch.

Special Circumstances

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

They have lovely ways to dress up "rental car"

Hire drive
Demonstrator
Ex management

Anything other than private ownership is a bit of a gamble imo. That said our 500 was a rental for the first 6 months I suspect and it's grand now two years on.

I remember seeing in an "Honest John" review of the Corsa B that even the British School of Motoring registered their cars as the 'Engineering Education Trust' as a way to obscure the fact that they'd spent their life being driven by people who couldn't drive.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I don't know if non car enthusiasts hockey their rental cars.

We had a Dodge Caravan in NYC last year and I made it my bitch.

Well that beats my Transits anyway.

the_syco

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

So, I'm looking a an ex taxi Skoda Superb, 1.9 tid, with 201k miles on her.

Pretty sure taxi's need an NCT every year, but not sure how well they're looked at, at the NCT center, so would have your trusted engineer look at it.

Also, looks like the rear passenger door got a wallop?

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, I saw that, look like a bang from something rather than some numpty throwing the door open against a bollard.

bazz26

Taxis generally have more wear on them than privately owned cars as naturally they are on the road more and and used more. Some are well looked after by their owners while others are not. Some can have more than one driver too as they are on the road 24 hours a day but I'd be of the opinion that one of the main reasons it's being sold on is that it is no longer suitable to taxi life or it's cheaper long term to replace it with a newer one.

On a 200k mile former taxi you could well be looking at a car that has some expensive bills around the corner with such things as clutch + dual mass flywheel, timing belt, etc all due changing. Then you have to look at the interior which more than likely has excessive wear on it.