How can you buy and ex rental or fleet car?

kh1975

HI

I am looking at buying a used car for around £5-6,000 - preferably a 5 door hatch, I am about to be made redudant so am using part of my pay off, but unlikely to have money for another car for sometime. I thought that buying an ex rental may be a good way of ensuring the car had been serviced regularly. I was also hoping this may also miss out paying a premium to a dealer - however I'm struglling to find out how the cars are sold, most seem to go direct to a dealer - any advice?

Also On one of the other threads I noticed a response about buying ex police cars doesn't mention how though - do you go to the force direct?

Any help much appreciated

sebdangerfield

Try a google search for 'police cars for sale'. My local one is http://www.expolicecarcentre.com/ and is a family run business who are really nice. There are lots of bad reports about not buying ex fleet and in particular ex police cars but I've never had a bad experience.

chrisw

We use Hitachi lease vehicles which are sold off here:-

http://www.hitachicapital.carsite.co.uk/

They are well maintained and have to be virtually spotless when handed back.

harveybobbles

We love buying cars from Hitachi cos they come to us immaculate!

merlie

Lovin the Hitachi site !

property.advert

Prices on that Hitachi site are maddeningly high, what a rip off.

forgotmyname

ex-rental & hire = pot luck on condition & reliability.

Last time i had a hire car was when i broke down & the RAC arranged one for me, I was used to driving
an auto and they supplied a 1.8LS cavalier with less than 200 miles on the clock.

I sort of forgot to change gear, About 70 in 2nd and it buzzed and died, I dropped it into 4th & coasted for a bit and it restarted.

phew!!! Pity the poor person that bought that.

Kilty_2

Auction.

Not all are driven by absolute wnakers either. I'd veer towards 2/3 year old lease cars rather then daily hire wrecks though

andygb

I will second the auction suggestion. Look for a local large auction (BCA are reputable), and take someone with you. You can find out when the fleet/motability vehicles are going through, and you will save thousands. They will have been serviced correctly, and will probably be very low mileage and two to three years old.

beth58_2

Should go for a former motability car, they've been well maintained and have low milage. Once lease is up they go for auction you'd need to google to find out which autioneers deal with motability lease cars. Normally the dealer who deals with motability buys the car back to sell on, so most of the big dealers will have them. Great value for money.

Happychappy

kh1975 wrote: »

HI

I am looking at buying a used car for around £5-6,000 - preferably a 5 door hatch, I am about to be made redudant so am using part of my pay off, but unlikely to have money for another car for sometime. I thought that buying an ex rental may be a good way of ensuring the car had been serviced regularly. I was also hoping this may also miss out paying a premium to a dealer - however I'm struglling to find out how the cars are sold, most seem to go direct to a dealer - any advice?

Also On one of the other threads I noticed a response about buying ex police cars doesn't mention how though - do you go to the force direct?

Any help much appreciated

I would not recommend you buy an ex police car, unless you know somebody who has knowledge of exactly what the car was used for, there are few police cars worth buying, but generally all high mileage and thrashed within an inch of their lives. There are the odd ones which have a very easy life, but trying to find them is impossible and less someone working for the police can you let know. BCA is full of decent ex fleet cars, but try and get one with a little bit of warranty left, just so you can get it sorted before you pay for everything.