2017~2024 Buying Rental. Good or bad?

B

berewick

:
Saab 9-3
Hi all,
really want to get CX-5 GT. Found 2018 gt for good price but it was a rental vehicle, with 26k miles now. OTD $23,600.
Dealer says its actually good and that usually those vehicles are maintained good. I have the opposite opinion. People don't care about rentals and drive them harsh. I am one of them (donuts in mustang on a closed road).
What do you all think? Should i be concerned getting car with rental history?
thanks
 
berewick said:
Hi all,
really want to get CX-5 GT. Found 2018 gt for good price but it was a rental vehicle, with 26k miles now. OTD $23,600.
Dealer says its actually good and that usually those vehicles are maintained good. I have the opposite opinion. People don't care about rentals and drive them harsh. I am one of them (donuts in mustang on a closed road).
What do you all think? Should i be concerned getting car with rental history?
thanks
Click to expand...

Certfied pre owned ?
 
Not certified. I asked dealer about history and how they got it - he said it belonged to one of the rental companies.
 
berewick said:
Not certified. I asked dealer about history and how they got it - he said it belonged to one of the rental companies.
Click to expand...

Here in the SF Bay Area a new 2019 CX-5 GT can be bought for in the range of $30,000 to $30,500 OTD (including tax, license, other fees). This price also includes a $750 Mazda loyalty discount.
Is your $23,600 for a CX-5 with 26K miles is a little high priced. Do you think the dealer is willing to make it a CPO vehicle and give you the warranty that goes with CPO's ?
 
Earlier in March 2019 I traded in a 2013 Ford Escape SEL that was a rental from Avis for a new 2018 CX5 GT. At the time of purchase the Escape only had 7,000 k miles. The Ford dealership provided a CarFax showing the history of the vehicle. I drove it for 5 years without any issues. If the mileage, vehicle condition, & pricing was right I would purchase a rental again.

Wade
 
Zig613 said:
Earlier in March 2019 I traded in a 2013 Ford Escape SEL that was a rental from Avis for a new 2018 CX5 GT. At the time of purchase the Escape only had 7,000 k miles. The Ford dealership provided a CarFax showing the history of the vehicle. I drove it for 5 years without any issues. If the mileage, vehicle condition, & pricing was right I would purchase a rental again.

Wade
Click to expand...

I owned a Mercury Grand Marquis RWD , one that was formerly a rental fleet vehicle, and it was a great car for me.
 
My supervisor at work has had her Ford Escape since 2013. Nearly same story as the AVIS one above. She bought hers from enterprise with maybe 10k miles on it. Still owns it, had never had an issue with it.

Another co-worker, same story different ending. Bought a 2014 Focus that was a rental, but with the notoriously bad dual clutch transmission. The car is on its second or third transmission and hes still having the same issues (hard shifts, like bone crushing clunks where it feels like the tranny fell out).

Get an inspection done on it if youre interested in purchasing. A little while back somebody shared pictures of a previous rental for sale. Oil all over the place and it was missing the portion of the shroud for accessing the oil filter. That alone would be enough to make me look elsewhere.
 
I might drive a rental a little harder but... Donuts in a parking lot? Really? How old were you?
And I doubt anyone is trying that with a CX5.
Add me to the "bought a rental with no issues" group. However I have issue with a dealer selling a one year old car and not willing to certify.
 
My CX5 (2015) was a rental. In 106K miles, nothing "abusable" ever broke on it except the diff, which broke because I flooded it crossing a stream.
 
I bought an Avis rental and it got totaled and my wife felt brakes were an issue. I will not buy a rental again. But keep in mind most rental cars are sold at auctions the same way as leased cars are. Almost impossible to tell a rental.
 
If you read the details of CARMAX listings, LOTS of them are prior rentals...they are not just found at auctions, they are in mainstream sources.

One of the reasons I went new was so I could break the thing in properly.

Interesting that a few folks here seem to have no problem buying a rental car that most likely violated rules of proper break-in (no putting your foot into it, no long trips at constant speeds). Maybe I put too much importance on the long-term benefit of proper break-in.

The other factor I was going to point out is to keep your eye on dealer financing incentives. With the right one, the payment difference between a used car and a new car can narrow your total cost over the life of the loan, and might be enough to make you go new.

Late last year Mazda offered 0% on the CX-5. Current rate in my region at the dealer is 2.9% on the CX-5 (they have 1.9% on other models). I believe Mazda's incentives change monthly. Maybe others can confirm/deny that. You can always check Mazda's website for new car incentives in your area just so you know what that payment spread/total cost might be.
 
I've never bought a rental, but I've travelled a fair bit and rented lots of cars.
I wouldn't have bought a single one of them if they came up for sale. They all felt abused and under maintained. No thanks.
On another note though, I have purchased several low mileage dealer cars that were either loaners, short term rentals for customers that needed a car (while theirs was in the shop), or demonstrators.
The prices were very well discounted, and they still gave the full warranty on them. I had no problems with any of them, and was much cheaper than buying new.
Maybe you should look at that option. Dealers always have demonstrators with a few miles on them.
 
I bought my 2012 Mazda3 as a former rental after it spent no more that 7 months in the fleet and it had about 10k km on it. It was not CPO but had 2 years of warranty remaining, was on display inside the dealership, and was inspected by the dealership. Immaculate condition other than a small dent on the roof. Zero problems at all 6 years later at 91k km.
 
3 years ago I purchased a 2016 CX-5 Touring through Enterprise Rent a Car. At the time I was on
the fence about Mazda due to the power output. After a quick test drive, I loved the driving dynamics
so I purchased it-no haggle pricing and they gave me extra $500 for my trade-in (Saturn Vue, with 210K). No problems whatsoever. Once in a long while I get an infotainment hiccup, but that seems to go away.

Although, I'm fairly confident I could get to 100K (have 55K on it now) without any major problems, I am looking to trade it in this summer/fall due
to the power and belief that I will get the most resale now. I'll be looking at a new GT-R or Signature, Q3 sports back, or X2 used. Until
I make up my mind, I'm going to enjoy my CX-5.
 
I saw a 2018 CX5 at Enterprise and the body was pretty badly scratched for a new vehicle. The interior was dirty and tons of stains and spills. It only had 20k miles on it. The rental place said they changed the oil around 10,000 miles but it's common for rentals to go OVER their scheduled service due to the vehicle needing to be rented out or on long trips.

I would never buy a rental vehicle. The renters abuse the body, paint, interior and mechanical.
 
Lbear said:
I saw a 2018 CX5 at Enterprise and the body was pretty badly scratched for a new vehicle. The interior was dirty and tons of stains and spills. It only had 20k miles on it. The rental place said they changed the oil around 10,000 miles but it's common for rentals to go OVER their scheduled service due to the vehicle needing to be rented out or on long trips.

I would never buy a rental vehicle. The renters abuse the body, paint, interior and mechanical.
Click to expand...

Mine was in great shape. Flawless interior and normal exterior.
 
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