Many rental car companies offer their former rental vehicles for sale—often at prices below market value and with warranties that seem reasonable. Buying a former rental car sounds like a good way to get a good deal. After all, rental companies regularly service and maintain their vehicles; what could go wrong? Hereโs what you should know.
Depending on their age, mileage, and installed options, former rental cars for sale are often priced below their current market value. If youโre a potential buyer, you could save a significant amount of money by going this route. Reputable rental companies maintain their vehicles and wonโt sell a car if it has been in an accident. Former rental cars for sale are usually just a year or two old, and as with any vehicle for sale, youโll be able to see the mileage.
According to this NerdWallet article, rental companies usually sell their vehicles when their mileage reaches somewhere between 25,000 and 40,000. In most cases, this amounts to a holding time of under two years. It sounds good, doesnโt it?
However, itโs actually a red flag. Sure, the mileage is low and the car may be newer—but how many different drivers have used it, possibly driving it hard or just carelessly? For a two-year old car, that number may be somewhere over 200. Thatโs why you need to consider your purchase carefully.
โPeople treat their own belongings better than they treat borrowed things, as a rule,โ says Car Pal founder Lindsay Graham. โA car is a mechanical thing, and this matters. If a rental customer is unfamiliar with a car, for example, they may start the car and drive a few miles before they realize the parking brake is still on. This kind of driving wears out some of the vehicleโs components. Wearable components are never covered under the warranty that accompanies the vehicle when the rental company sells it.โ
When you buy a used non-rental car, you might be able to view its records, showing that it has been well maintained. But with a former rental, you really donโt know how much maintenance was done, or by whom. Questionable maintenance weighed against risk of the car being badly driven or poorly cared for isnโt worth it. The funny interior smell you smell? It could be from spoiled milk left in the trunk; perhaps the agents who checked in the car didnโt immediately check the trunk. Maybe a renterโs pet rode in the back seat, and the car wasnโt professionally cleaned—at least not right away.
Rental companies usually include a warranty for 12,000 miles or 12 months, but this runs out fast. Moreover, having a mechanic check out a former rental car before you buy it isnโt a guarantee. Mechanics wonโt take anything apart. Even if they check a component such as the brakes, they might not see a serious brake issue. They might even recommend getting new rotors and brake pads as a precaution, but they could still miss a serious problem.
However, when you buy a used non-rental car, you get a much more consistent ownership experience. โWith a former rental, there will have been multiple drivers, all of whom drove differently, and some of whom have abused it,โ says Lindsay Graham. โWhen drivers abuse a rental car, they increase the risk of its developing a serious problem. As a car buyer, you want to take steps reduce the risk of problems as much as possible. Buying a former rental increases risk tremendously. If youโre a busy professional, you donโt have that kind of time.โ
Graham offers a cautionary example. โOne of my recent customers bought a former rental—against my advice—with a bumper-to-bumper warranty, and has just taken the car to the shop for the third time in two weeks. The low tire air pressure light will not go off, even though the owner just put four new tires on the car! Some driver, or maybe several, obviously dogged out the car.โ
Lindsay Graham says no. โA professional car buyerโs agent leads clients to meticulously maintained cars with one owner and one driver, ideally. You can save money by buying a former rental car, but unless youโre amazingly lucky, youโll have mechanical problems that a mechanic may not find or that may not be covered by warranty. Even if problems are covered by warranty, youโre not saving money because youโre spending your time to resolve them—and your time is worth money.โ