Buying an ex-rental

LarryR

I've seen an ex-Enterprise rental car for sale but my gut is telling me to steer clear (no pun intended) - too risky. 45k+ miles, 21-plate, 1litre. Should I consider? Could an AA inspection help in showing if it's been driven badly and will likely cost me some new parts quite quickly? 
Thanks 

400ixl

It would potentially show up wear and tear items like suspension. It wouldn't show up any engine internal issues as they don't do compression checks or use borescopes to check the internal wear.

If the price is cheap enough to make any additional expenditure in the future tolerable then it could be worthwhile. If that additional risk of expenditure is too much then its not worth going that route.

Only you can decide, but it would need to be a significant saving for me.

kipperman

As above - if the saving would potentially cover replacement parts ( clutch, brakes etc etc) possibly, although personally I would not even consider it.

BlueHarbourBouy

No problem with ex Rental cars. They are looked after well. I have owned several  and had no problems. Usually good value

user1977

I would have thought rental cars would be less "drive it like you stole it" and more "drive it like you're paranoid about getting charged for every tiny scratch"? Are they really going to be any worse than a "normal" car for their mileage?

facade

BlueHarbourBouy said:

No problem with ex Rental cars. They are looked after well. I have owned several  and had no problems. Usually good value

The popular myth is that all rental cars have been "driven like you stole it" , whereas the reality is that only most of them have, along with most lease and most PCP cars- why not if you are handing it back so failures out of warranty caused by abuse early on are never going to be your problem?

All second hand cars are a risk, a rental car isn't much more of a risk than a one owner PCP/lease return- the only "safe" car is the one that you have owned from zero miles and have loved and cosseted every journey, never once allowing anyone else to drive it..........

(However, I wouldn't touch one of those car share cars unless it really was dirt cheap, now that is a big risk, not only has it been driven by hundreds of people round town, but they have had the wiring compromised and patched up with the remote immobiliser fitment and subsequent removal)

EssexExile

See the other similar tread for what everyone thinks of buying an ex-hire car. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6521832/i-have-been-sold-a-used-rental-car-as-approved-used-car-by-mercedes/p1

400ixl

BlueHarbourBouy said:

No problem with ex Rental cars. They are looked after well. I have owned several  and had no problems. Usually good value

No, they aren't in general. Services are frequent as the mileage is typically high, but they get the minimal attention to keep them on the road and not always to time. Glad you have not had any issues and in that circumstance they are indeed good value. Its when you get one with issues that it can be very different.

Hence you have to be happy to take the higher risk there will be issues.

mgfvvc

I bought a 3 year old, 45000 mile, ex Europcar Octavia some years ago. I ran it for 8 years and 100,000 miles. There were no issues that seemed to likely to be related to it having been a hire/lease car.

lordmountararat

My son bought an ex-rental Hyundai in 1998 and it gave him many thousands of miles of trouble free motoring.