Buying a Used Car? Try a Former Rental!

Buying a used car is a great way to save. Not only do you not take the initial depreciation hit, but you also save the environment by "recycling" a car. One option is purchasing a former rental car. I know, you are rolling your eyes and saying "yeah right!" but all I ask is that you hear me out. As you troll the used car lots, take note how many say "one owner." Sounds great, right? One owner, about thirty thousand miles and between one and three years old sounds fantastic-and I'll bet you it was a rental car. Many dealerships use "one owner" as a selling point, what they neglect to tell you is that one owner was a rental or leasing (like a pharmaceutical rep) company. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with marketing these cars this way, it's just a little misleading and those who wouldn't know better may think that this was someone's family car. The whole reason I am even bringing this up is this: buy directly from the rental company. Here's why, and what the safest bets are in former rentals.

When rental car companies take a vehicle out of their rental fleet, it goes to a central office to be inspected, appraised, cleaned, and what-have-you. Most rental companies (the one I worked for anyway-and no I'm not telling which one!) keep the "cream of the crop" to sell on their sales lots. The rest go to dealerships, auctions, etc. This is why I recommend buying directly from the rental company's sales lots. The rental company can also see in the computer if all of the recalls, oil changes and rotations were done and factor this into whether it's one they keep or one on which they pass.

Contrary to what you see on Jackass: The Movie not all rental cars are ragged out and driven into the ground. This is where my second recommendation comes in: if you are going to purchase a former rental, go with the full-size sedans and larger. Why? Companies have stricter age/credit requirements of renters that take out those vehicles and it's a lot less likely that a twenty-one-year old college student was drag racing in the Trailblazer than the Neon.

Now here's the kicker. It's one thing to sit here and tell you to go and buy a former rental. It's another thing to actually have done it personally. To tell you the truth I have not-but I encouraged my mother to get one in 2002. She got a 2-year-old Buick Century with low mileage and a great price...and she is still driving it 6 years later with few trips to the garage.

Most rental companies that sell cars offer an added bonus-a warranty. Where a lot of used cars are sold "as-is" on a dealership lot (some, not all), some rental car companies offer a warranty and even a day/mileage limit to bring it back if you don't like it. You also get a discounted (if not free) rental car if your car does end up having an issue during that warranty period.

So if you are in the market for a car, drop by your local rental office and ask for some information. It can't hurt to look, right?