Anyone Ever Bought An Ex Hire/courtesy Car?

sassy_one

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

This article about running in engines might change your mind about buying an ex hire car.

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Of course there's still the clutch, gearbox and thrashing with a cold engine to worry about.

Better buying a second hand private car or dealer, than getting a ex hire car, as you say, so many things could/may have been thrashed

pianeet

a lot of dealers buy ex hire cars, it will not say hertz or enterprise on the log book but probably something like volkswagen finance ,and you will then be buying your one previous owner(300 drivers) car.i have bought 3 minibuses recently all ex hire and i know they have not been thrashed as they al have speed limiters on them,

Dave_Z

Just because they can't go over a certain speed doesn't mean they can't have been thrashed. It's the revs that count. My work car rarely exceeds 30mph but it gets thrashed to within an inch of it's life on a daily basis.

sassy_one

Dave_Z wrote: »

Just because they can't go over a certain speed doesn't mean they can't have been thrashed. It's the revs that count. My work car rarely exceeds 30mph but it gets thrashed to within an inch of it's life on a daily basis.

Correct.

Then you have to take into consideration the gearbox, clutch, bearings etc etc.

I personally would rather pay the extra £1000 or so for a non ex hire car, just rings alarm bells for me !

Kilty_2

I had to get a lift to the local depot of a large hire company the other day - even their driver was thrashing the car he was driving :rotfl:

As for the poster above not believing a hire car would do 13k in 6 months - I do 120 miles +++++ a day when I get a hire car for work.

Can be hard as said to detect them though - they might look like they're ex demo and stuff because of who owns them (it'll quite a lot say VW UK, Peugeot Motor Company, etc on the V5 because the hire companies just lease them from the manufacturers)

sassy_one

Kilty wrote: »

I had to get a lift to the local depot of a large hire company the other day - even their driver was thrashing the car he was driving :rotfl:

As for the poster above not believing a hire car would do 13k in 6 months - I do 120 miles +++++ a day when I get a hire car for work.

I once hired a hire car, it was a Ford Focus, it was well thrashed - the clutch was well and truly worn and the tappets on the engine could be heard for the first few minutes on start up, sounded like a wood pecker in the bonnet

Kilty_2

I've had 6 in the past 3 weeks - usually around 2k on the clock so they're alright at that age but by the time they get to the de-fleeting mileage (12-15k) they're usually showing their "age".

sassy_one

Kilty wrote: »

I've had 6 in the past 3 weeks - usually around 2k on the clock so they're alright at that age but by the time they get to the de-fleeting mileage (12-15k) they're usually showing their "age".

Agreed.

One KA I hired was leaking what appeared to be water from the exhaust :eek:

Scary, specially when travelling 290 miles back home with it!

POPPYOSCAR

Yes I bought ex-hire at 6 months old.

Still have it 10 years later, love it to death, nearly bought a new one recently but could not bear to part with my old faithful.

skiddlydiddly

sassy-one wrote: »

Agreed.

One KA I hired was leaking what appeared to be water from the exhaust :eek:

Scary, specially when travelling 290 miles back home with it!

Water does come out of the exhaust on cars.Water is in the air we breathe and doesn't burn so turns to steam and is forced out of the exhaust.