Buying a rental? So much inventory

[staxchips]

So much rental inventory out there.

Question:

How often do rental companies keep up with oil changes and other maintenances?

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[RPDBlueMoon]

So much rental inventory out there.

Question:

How often do rental companies keep up with oil changes and other maintenances?

They don't, they sell them when the cars start having problems

 

[mustanghammer]

I don't know about maintenance schedules but we have purchased a couple of ex-rentals and put a ton of miles on them. First was a 2002 Camry with 27K miles (we put another 180K on it) and the second is the 2002 E350 Superduty Van that we still have. We have put about 120K miles on it. Neither of these are sporty cars so their treatment while in service might be different than what someone might do to a Mustang.

I have rented mustangs in the past - a couple of new edge cars and a convertible S197. I used one of the new edge cars (a coupe) in an Evolution autox school. The autox school killed the tires on the mustang but I don't think it hurt the car at all.

 

[hemistar1]

Rental companies use fleet maintenance management services to keep their cars running. Some do small maintenance and are on site and some are mobile where the mechanic visits the rental car lot and does small maintenance like oil changes, tire rotation, etc. The rental co. is pretty good with maintenance because the car is their investment and the more it’s in use and good working condition the more times they can rent it out for profit.


There are a few issues this year though with travel (at least here in VA) being restricted no one is renting like last year for trips and vacations so you may see a surplus of 18 and 19 for sale with low miles that the rental comany are trying to unload. Remember some of these company’s don’t buy the car and still pay a monthly payment but if no one is renting they still gotta pay.

Nothing wrong with a rental as long as you test drive, visually inspect and can see service records. Most should still have manufactures warranty.

You take the same risk as buying used so just inspect, get service records, car fax or similar and enjoy the savings over buying new.

 

[staxchips]

Rental companies use fleet maintenance management services to keep their cars running. Some do small maintenance and are on site and some are mobile where the mechanic visits the rental car lot and does small maintenance like oil changes, tire rotation, etc. The rental co. is pretty good with maintenance because the car is their investment and the more it’s in use and good working condition the more times they can rent it out for profit.


There are a few issues this year though with travel (at least here in VA) being restricted no one is renting like last year for trips and vacations so you may see a surplus of 18 and 19 for sale with low miles that the rental comany are trying to unload. Remember some of these company’s don’t buy the car and still pay a monthly payment but if no one is renting they still gotta pay.

Nothing wrong with a rental as long as you test drive, visually inspect and can see service records. Most should still have manufactures warranty.

You take the same risk as buying used so just inspect, get service records, car fax or similar and enjoy the savings over buying new.

The one that i found is a 2019 with 25k miles. 17 months left on the bumper to bumper warranty. and 41 months left for the powertrain warranty. if it was beat on and the transmission/engine fails I should be covered under warranty right?

 

[FreePenguin]

Don't, just don't. Rental mustangs get beat on and abused.

bought my gf a rental, it was beat on hard and put away wet. but the services was done and it hasn't had any issues yet.

in comparison price range, we got this fully loaded, every option available in turbo, with less miles. than a regular pre owned car with more miles, and crappy interiors etc. it was 30% cheaper than comparable owned cars in same trim. paid 6k was booking for 9k had a very small front end incident, less than 500 repair damage. all brand new brakes, everything.

very happy with it. (this is before covid) so its worth much more than she paid for it.

Did have a water pump go out on it, at 60k miles, which I guess is clockwork on the 2015 sonic LTZ 1.4 turbo. but ran us 300 bucks, and no biggie, won't have to worry for another 60k miles if happens again lol

she gets damn 36-42mpg all day long in the little hatchback

now.. a mustang... its a much more complicated car imo. sonic= simple as hell. literally can get another engine for a grand out of a wrecker. so that's worst case scenario. mustangs are a whole new ball game.

 

[hemistar1]

The one that i found is a 2019 with 25k miles. 17 months left on the bumper to bumper warranty. and 41 months left for the powertrain warranty. if it was beat on and the transmission/engine fails I should be covered under warranty right?

Yes factory warranty still applies. You can also get an extended warranty If you plan on keeping for a few years.

 

[frank s]

Bought a rental Mustang convertible, current (2006) year, with 15K miles, put another 15K miles on it over the next couple years. Never a problem of any kind with the car. I did get a "Show up and pay up or get locked up" letter from the City of San Francisco for failure to deal with a parking citation issued six months before I got the car. I sent a nice, sarcastic letter telling them they should look it up, and a few months later got an unsympathetic form that made it seem as if they thought I was guilty but they forgave me.

159 photos H E R E

 

[Zooks527]

I did get a "Show up and pay up or get locked up" letter from the City of San Francisco for failure to deal with a parking citation issued six months before I got the car.

This is the problem with "the plates stay with the car when it's sold". OTOH, you don't have to play games with the Registry the instant you get the car.

 

[CJJon]

I bought a 2014 rental out of California. Great car, bargain price.

 

[Shifting_Gears]

If the deal was right, I would consider it. Remember that with a used Mustang, the previous owner likely beat the car like, well, a Mustang typically gets beat.

Maintenance, warranty and accident history would be the deciding factors for me.

 

[ORRadtech]

I bought my '18 EcoBoost Premium convertible in July of 2019. It was formerly an Enterprise fleet vehicle from Florida. It was sold by a Ford dealer as a CPO car which extends the factory warranty by 12 months/12k miles.
Was it treated like I treat my cars? No, absolutely not.
Was it "beat" on? I don't think it was.
Physically it had a scratch from luggage and the little plastic flaps that cover the striker in the trunk were missing.
Mechanically it's been flawless except for the evap purge valve but I'm pretty sure that was from me topping off the gas at fill up. In any case it was covered under warranty.
Bottom line is I got an excellent car that I've put 30k miles on as a DD for, literally, half the price on the window sticker.
The Mustang is our 3rd vehicle from a rental fleet. My wife's current car, a '14 Fusion, came from Enterprise as well. It's only issue was a failed ac condenser which was also replaced under warranty.
The other vehicle was a Ford Ranger I got back in the '90s. I beat the crap out of that little truck for nearly 200k miles and it was still reliable when I sold it.

 

[opengl]

Here's the issue for me. You could go on and on about how they keep up with oil changes, you do a test drive, get it inspected, it's under warranty, yada yada. All well and good. What I'd be concerned about is accelerated wear that wouldn't necessarily show up while it's under warranty. People beating the piss out of it with cold oil. (What do you think the first thing somebody does with a rental with huge V8 will do when they leave the lot if they typically drive a slow car? Repeat that X many times over the rental's life).

Stuff like that may not be obvious now, but what happens when it starts burning excessive oil at 75K or 100K miles? So for me, if you're only gonna keep it a few years, probably safe. If you think you're gonna have it a while, I'd stay away. I admit I'm overly anal about that sort of thing, but that's my two cents.

 

[SoulHunter91]

This is from my own experience. Years ago my job required me to travel a lot for long distance and I usually rented car from Budget at airport. One time I needed to travel from seattle to portland for job and i rented 2016 mustang gt and as soon as I started the car low oil pressure warning popped up. Drove car to security gate and asked about it. He said it’s ok and just ignore it. So I drove off . I used the cheapest gas I could find on the route, drove off as soon as I cold started the car. Of course I treat my mustang differently . If you plan to keep it for 1 or 2 year to have fun, go a head.

 

[Elp_jc]

How often do rental companies keep up with oil changes and other maintenances?

I'm sure all of them TRY to do the required maintenance to maintain warranty (many times mileage goes over due to last rental going longer than expected, etc), but sure as hell don't do anything sooner. Plus cars get abused by renters, as stated, especially sportier rides. So no way in hell I'd even consider a used rental car. Heck, I wouldn't even consider a used car, but it's pretty obvious I'm not a 'normal' person in that regard. Ha ha. But for folks less 'anal' than me, that need a car for transportation, cheaper rental used cars are an option.

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