Buying Rental car, Good, bad, uglys of it?

[djdraggin]

I'm looking to buy a 99 Ford Taurus SE for my girlfriend and they are only asking 2Gs for the car but it was at my Buddy's trans shop due to a surge going into 2nd when hot, brakes, and shocks/struts, and lack of blowing heat. It has 112,000 on it.

I just ran a carfax on it and its a former rental vehicle,
http://www.carfax.com/cfm/FSBO.cfm?r...FX000005787557

SO is this a major red flag or is it still a good deal? I'm hoping to bring them down even more due to the fact I'd be putting the same amount into the car as buying one without any problems. The mechanic says with a good tuneup and Lucas oil it might not have any problems till 200,000 then again it could go at any moment. What sort of problems will I have if it came down to reselling it later to someone else? Thanks for any and all help we have to decide this today/weekend.

[medicTA]

I'm looking to buy a 99 Ford Taurus SE for my girlfriend and they are only asking 2Gs for the car but it was at my Buddy's trans shop due to a surge going into 2nd when hot, brakes, and shocks/struts, and lack of blowing heat. It has 112,000 on it.

Questions:
Were all these problems fixed or just diagnosed? Was the tranny rebuilt?

[djdraggin]

just diagnosed, So far we've not even really felt anything out of the norm. Car seems to be strong other then brakes, lack of heat issue, shocks, and other lil odds and ends that can fixed easly.

Get this though. the horn quit and when you shift the horn cover it flashes the SES light and the engine surges up or down in rpm. Odd eh?
He quoted me 1000 for a rebuilt trans, so that would make a grand total for the car 3 granted trans ever goes out. and all said and done car 100% for under 4Gs. I figured it is smarter to buy a car cheap and do the repairs then buy one just waiting to die and then pour more into the car later. We bought it today and is she ever happy!! Thanks for the reply

PS can you turn off the air bags in this type of car?

L8

[medicTA]

How does the tranny fluid look and smell?
Unless you can do it yourself, I would immediately take it in for a complete flush/ filter change and band adjustment. Many trans shops offer this for $59-79 or so and it's well worth it.
Also, inquire about synthetic fluid for a few extra bucks and make sure the shop shows you the pan so you can see for yourself the amount of crud left in the bottom. (friction material ect.)
If you have a slip going into second gear when hot, the combination of fluid flush/band adjustment may help, and you could also look into adding a secondary trans oil cooler to keep the temperature down.
Brakes:
If you can, jack it up and secure it SAFELY, and check all 4 corners yourself, you could do all 4 sets for under a hundred if all it needs are pads ect. and the rotors are in good shape with no leaks for the wheel cylinders/calipers. I would check them quick, before the rotors are damaged.
The heat issue could be a matter of a real good flush of the heater core and radiator to fix.
The horn problem you need to be careful here. Do you have a manual? If not go buy a Haynes and a Chilton, sometimes you find one covers something and the other doesn't.
It is IMPERATIVE that you disable the airbag if you are going to start working around the steering column to fix the horn and check into that surging, not only do you have to disconnect the battery and module, but many airbags have a huge capacitor that stores power incase the battery fails. (sometimes behind the glove) Check your manual.
Nice car though, enjoy it!!

[karilyn1982]

I'm a girl, and I don't know much about cars...but I was pretty close to buying a used Taurus from the Enterprise car rental place.

Once I thought about it, I know how *I* drive my rentals, and I'm sure a lot of other people who drive rentals tend to "dog" them at times. After thinking about it...I just couldn't imagine buying a car that MANY MANY MANY other people drove before me.

After comparing prices, I just thought it would be better to buy a car that had one owner.

Not saying that ALL rental cars are bad to buy, just not my choice.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

~ Kari ~

OOPS....just noticed you already bought the car...lol. Well - good luck with it! I'm glad your gf likes it!

[icantfixgood]

I worked in the rental car industry for about 6 years. I wouldn't worry about the majority of rental cars. They are driven by mostly white collar corporate customers if the car was based at an airport. If it came from a vehicle replacement location, I would be a little skeptical.

The service agents that clean the cars probably give the car it's worst treatment, but typically they are well maintained. I worked for Hertz and Avis. I can't really say for any other company.