5 ms·

The article is focused on the rental agencies dumping their older fleet cars onto the market in about 6 months. But there's no way I'd buy a former rental car -

by chiph 7y ago

The article is focused on the rental agencies dumping their older fleet cars onto the market in about 6 months. But there's no way I'd buy a former rental car - I know how people treat those cars. The buyers will be people who are fine with a not-so-gently used car in a lower trim spec. They're going to negotiate hard, driving the prices down even further. And like others have said - I have very little sympathy for car dealers. I helped mom buy a new CUV recently, and one dealer had it sewn up .. until they swapped the vehicle we had been talking about for a different one when we got to the "We're buying today - how much will you come down on price?" part.

sq_ 7y ago
> I have very little sympathy for car dealers. I helped mom buy a new CUV recently, and one dealer had it sewn up .. until they swapped the vehicle we had been talking about for a different one when we got to the "We're buying today - how much will you come down on price?" part. Helped my parents buy a car recently and had a very similar experience. The guys at the first dealership we went to kept switching the car and trim they were talking about, then promising deals that magically disappeared a few minutes later. They really don't help themselves if they actually care about rehabilitating their reputation for being shady.
- mywittyname 7y ago
  This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't think honest dealerships can really survive the cut-throat car sales industry. You have to figure that these dealerships often get stuck selling whatever the manufacture sends them. So to get that nice, $70,000 truck they are required to accept a few shitty, stripper economy cars that sit on the lot for months, collecting interest payments. Shit rolls down hill, so when the the manufactures screw over the dealerships, the dealerships find ways to screw over the customers. It doesn't help that the owners of dealerships tend to be politically connected locally, which gives them a staggering amount of leverage to combat any consumer protection legislation.
  - apta 7y ago
    You point out the conflicts of interest involved, this just means that dealers (at least for new cars) need to be completely cut out, and the car manufacturer itself should be responsible for selling (like Tesla). This would solve so many issues.
    - sq_ 7y ago
      From my uninformed perspective, it's hard to disagree with this. Tesla seems to have the whole manufacturer direct thing figured out pretty well. Anecdotally, no one I know who's bought a Tesla has had a major complaint about the purchase and pickup process.
kube-system 7y ago
Most people don't look that closely, and many vehicle history reports lump fleet/lease/rental all under the same designation, making it difficult to even tell the difference. Flooding the market will affect the prices for all vehicles though, as most used vehicle buyers highly prioritize price.
joezydeco 7y ago
But there's no way I'd buy a former rental car - I know how people treat those cars. Not sure what part of the country you're in, but in my area most rental cars are driven from the airport to a hotel and back and nothing more. I personally owned a japanese econobox that came off Enterprise after 18 months and I drove it for 100,000 miles. So YMMV (pun intended) but rental cars are usually a great deal for the price. The companies get the car cheap to begin with, they're maintained on schedule, and usually sold off fairly early in their lifetime with low mileage to keep the flow from the factory coming.
- chiph 7y ago
  I think you're they're ideal customer. :) I agree that most get driven like you said - from the airport to the hotel and back - i.e. sensibly. But I have known people to seriously abuse their rental car. One drove back to the rental lot in 2nd gear because he was mad they gave him a model he didn't like. Those are the ones I wouldn't want to end up with.
  - joezydeco 7y ago
    And now we know why they charge more for drivers under 25...

by chiph 7y ago

sq_ 7y ago

> I have very little sympathy for car dealers. I helped mom buy a new CUV recently, and one dealer had it sewn up .. until they swapped the vehicle we had been talking about for a different one when we got to the "We're buying today - how much will you come down on price?" part. Helped my parents buy a car recently and had a very similar experience. The guys at the first dealership we went to kept switching the car and trim they were talking about, then promising deals that magically disappeared a few minutes later. They really don't help themselves if they actually care about rehabilitating their reputation for being shady.

mywittyname 7y ago
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't think honest dealerships can really survive the cut-throat car sales industry. You have to figure that these dealerships often get stuck selling whatever the manufacture sends them. So to get that nice, $70,000 truck they are required to accept a few shitty, stripper economy cars that sit on the lot for months, collecting interest payments. Shit rolls down hill, so when the the manufactures screw over the dealerships, the dealerships find ways to screw over the customers. It doesn't help that the owners of dealerships tend to be politically connected locally, which gives them a staggering amount of leverage to combat any consumer protection legislation.
- apta 7y ago
  You point out the conflicts of interest involved, this just means that dealers (at least for new cars) need to be completely cut out, and the car manufacturer itself should be responsible for selling (like Tesla). This would solve so many issues.
  - sq_ 7y ago
    From my uninformed perspective, it's hard to disagree with this. Tesla seems to have the whole manufacturer direct thing figured out pretty well. Anecdotally, no one I know who's bought a Tesla has had a major complaint about the purchase and pickup process.

kube-system 7y ago

Most people don't look that closely, and many vehicle history reports lump fleet/lease/rental all under the same designation, making it difficult to even tell the difference. Flooding the market will affect the prices for all vehicles though, as most used vehicle buyers highly prioritize price.

joezydeco 7y ago

But there's no way I'd buy a former rental car - I know how people treat those cars. Not sure what part of the country you're in, but in my area most rental cars are driven from the airport to a hotel and back and nothing more. I personally owned a japanese econobox that came off Enterprise after 18 months and I drove it for 100,000 miles. So YMMV (pun intended) but rental cars are usually a great deal for the price. The companies get the car cheap to begin with, they're maintained on schedule, and usually sold off fairly early in their lifetime with low mileage to keep the flow from the factory coming.

chiph 7y ago
I think you're they're ideal customer. :) I agree that most get driven like you said - from the airport to the hotel and back - i.e. sensibly. But I have known people to seriously abuse their rental car. One drove back to the rental lot in 2nd gear because he was mad they gave him a model he didn't like. Those are the ones I wouldn't want to end up with.
- joezydeco 7y ago
  And now we know why they charge more for drivers under 25...