Buying Used Rental Cars?

It depends. If you are looking at a full-size car (like a Charger or 300, not the Hyundai Elantra the rental cos now call a full size LOL) or a "sports car" (like a Mustang GT) they can be good buys if the price is right. With the big cars, and even more so with the Mustangs, they are rented out at a significant premium unless you are a frequent renter. For those, typically people on business, they are doled out as perks/rewards for regular patronage; and as such they are typically going to mature adults who are chosen by the counter agents. When I got them, did I drive them hard? Yes, but no more than I would my own car - after making sure everything was up to temperature.

I bought a 13 month old 2013 Chrysler 300S with 25K kms for half the original price. The only thing wrong with it was some curb rash on the machined face wheels, otherwise it was like new. We had the car for a few years with no issues.

Until the pandemic shook things up, I was planning to buy a 12-24 month old Mustang GT convertible ex-rental - they usually traded for $29-33K (Canadian) with low mileage, just over 50% of the MSRP and about 60% of the best negotiated new price. They were usually in near-perfect condition. Unfortunately with changes in the rental fleets the prices are much higher now.
 
orange260z said:
It depends. If you are looking at a full-size car (like a Charger or 300, not the Hyundai Elantra the rental cos now call a full size LOL) or a "sports car" (like a Mustang GT) they can be good buys if the price is right. With the big cars, and even more so with the Mustangs, they are rented out at a significant premium unless you are a frequent renter. For those, typically people on business, they are doled out as perks/rewards for regular patronage; and as such they are typically going to mature adults who are chosen by the counter agents. When I got them, did I drive them hard? Yes, but no more than I would my own car - after making sure everything was up to temperature.

I bought a 13 month old 2013 Chrysler 300S with 25K kms for half the original price. The only thing wrong with it was some curb rash on the machined face wheels, otherwise it was like new. We had the car for a few years with no issues.

Until the pandemic shook things up, I was planning to buy a 12-24 month old Mustang GT convertible ex-rental - they usually traded for $29-33K (Canadian) with low mileage, just over 50% of the MSRP and about 60% of the best negotiated new price. They were usually in near-perfect condition. Unfortunately with changes in the rental fleets the prices are much higher now.
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Bought a rental Chevy uplander it had been in 2 rental fleets and one owner by the time it was 21/2 yrs old with 32 k on the odometer saved aprox 10!k off the normal price . Used it 12 yrs and 160 k wit lh the only major issue trans went out at 100k, it was a Good vehicle and we definitely got our moneys worth out of it !
 
I have before. Always a year old and from the originating dealer. Someone else pays the first year of steep depreciation and I've never had problems with them. At least not for around 5-8 years. Fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration and just drive 'em.

Last was a Chrysler Town and Country, top of the options list. Had it for ten years. Took the extended warranty, which we used a couple times but always for faults not related to being a rental it's first year of "life".

Year 8 I had to pull the front head and have a valve guide redone on cyl #4. But that's not an uncommon fault for those engines. Went for two more years and then we traded it in on a new EV. In year ten the sat nav radio unit started acting funky. Starting to experience failures on "EOL" electronics was the final motivation to move it on.

It was a great vehicle for the uses my missus wanted it for. No regrets. Residual value was pretty minimal on trade, but that's not unexpected on a ten year old vehicle.

We still see it on the roads here from time to time. Still going.

A rental "buyback" is a used car. You take your chances with any used car, hoping to avoid the first year depreciation hit and get something reliable.

It's worked out for us before. YMMV.
 
I bought a one year old Dodge Charger Rallye for my wife in 2017 with 36,000 miles on the odometer, for less than 1/2 its new price. It has been a pretty good car with only two issues: I had to replace the driveshaft center bearing and two of the doors had the top of the interior panels coming loose, but I fixed those with my pneumatic stapler.

I traded in my 2016 Charger Scat Pack for a 2016 Charger SXT+ (and got a lot of $$ back on the deal) so far it has been flawless.
 
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