Is It a Good or Bad Idea To Buy a Rental Car?

If you’re looking to save money on a vehicle, you may consider buying from a rental car company. That idea is worse than ever, Clark says.

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[itsnotme]

I agree with Clark for right now. I've purchased 2 former rental cars in the past. 1 from Hertz (1993 Ford Taurus in 1994) and 1 from Avis (1997 Chrysler Sebring Convertible JX in 1998). Both my rental cars were rock solid rides! They each had about 15k miles on them when I got them. But that was a different time. As Clark mentioned, proper maintenance isn't being completed on rides with higher mileage...and that's bad. Be sure to pay attention to "program cars" too. These may be former rentals in disguise. If the paperwork says PV Holdings as the previous owner, that's Avis/Budget. I believe Hertz has changed it's holding company name to Hertz Global.

[Anonymous-jisb]

I was in Enterprise rentals for about a month after I was involved in an accident in July of 2023. I had to swap cars 3 different times because all 3 of them were POS that didn’t work. They all had 50, 000+ miles on them, they smelled like smoke, they were dirty, they completely tore up inside and out, had mechanical issues, etc. It’s insane.

[sl]

Agree 100%, especially since Avis, Hertz and Enterprise are now partnering with delivery and car ride companies like Uber, Instacart etc -- and offering discount rates to delivery/car ride service drivers. And we all know how hard cars like that are driven and how they take a beating! In fact, the drivers can extend their rental leases for up to 6 months and are not required to bring the cars back for inspection or maintenance during that 6 month period. So no. NO WAY am I buying from a rental company.

[samtx]

Most rentals for sale now have 60k to 70k now vs years ago 20k to 30k

[larrylewellyn]

Bought a 2012 camry from hertz with 45000 miles 10 years later has 135000 miles and going strong no problems just regular maintenance. Going to buy another camry in 2024 from avis or hertz. Looking now and i c most under 40k miles. Some under 30k.

[philipksick]

My boyfriend bought a 2019 Corolla that was a rental. It had no accidents listed on the car fax but a mechanic showed him later that it had repaired collision damage on the front passenger side and that axle needs repairing.

[kozicki]

@clark howard, the rentals will never show any repairs major or small because they re mostly self insured and do the maintenance on their own without getting reported. Carfax is trash if it's not a repair done through insurance. Plus, are their prices significantly lower than the regular used car market? probably not. So there is not cost benefit to buy from them.

[mygolfballsannoy]

Putchased a versa cvt in 2016… with 40, 000 miles, 180, 000 miles and still going.. prices on rentals are way up also

[mikecaprock]

In December 22 I rented a car from Hertz and it was a total POS ; high miles and too many problems to type out

[eviet]

I heard from mechanic that enterprise takes very good care and over maintenance their cars

[kozicki]

Never buy from rental companies. Their cars are self insured so any issues with them go unreported. You have NO idea what kind of maintenance they do on these cars if they are been damaged because it will never get reported to carfax. Not that carfax should be the holy grail either. Plus I'm pretty sure they skimp on the maintenance. You are not getting a deal anyway. They are keeping it close to market rate for sub-market cars that you know have been beat to heck.

[hchayes]

I have always wondered if rental car companies buy those "disaster damaged" vehicles from floods, high heat waves, blizzards.

[Petesworkshop]

+ they can't find mechanics to maintain the cars either.