Anyone ever bought a rental/service loaner car?

[cgruita]

Hi everyone
glad to have found this community here (the car market in US is new to me, as I have been living in Germany until now)
So my question is whether someone happens to have bought such a car until now (previous rental or service loaner, they are similar, I guess)
It is a Volvo, it looks good, my concern is, of course, that I don't know how the car has been treated. And since one owner is the best when buying a pre-owned car, I guess a couple of hundred is the worst, since everyone has his own way of driving).
I know it might be a good deal, some people did it and were happy with it.
If you guys did it too, or happen to know more about it, please respond here.
I'm gonna have a trusted mechanic inspect it before I buy it, that's for sure.

Thanks a lot
Cristian

[Shpuker]

Thats literally the last place I'd suggest buying a car from, 99% of them have been mistreated to the highest extent (just think back to how you treat rental cars lol) my bet would be on the whole car falling apart as you drove it off the lot.

One way you could find some cars to look at is to go on some car buying websites, you could try searching cars.com. autotrader.com and craigslist.org, those'll probably give you some good cars to look at.

[Ray paulsen]

I consider a former rental no more than 1 model year old the best buy for huge savings along with a Mfg warranty most likely still in place, buying a former rental thats been in service beyond a year I agree with the above post as being a risky investment

However to answer your Q with more detail you did not mention year - miles ?,,, can you post a link ? Here is some further input about buying a former rental http://www.usedcartips.org/RENTACAR.html

[cgruita]

Thx a lot for this website. It is very good!
The Volvo has about 16 000 miles.
This is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/yc6gpc5
It was rented to a company that used it for their employees.

[Shpuker]

Originally Posted by cgruita

Thx a lot for this website. It is very good!
The Volvo has about 16 000 miles.
This is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/yc6gpc5
It was rented to a company that used it for their employees.

O well thats way better than if it was a rental company vehicle or a fleet car, thats like a corporate company car, that should be in fairly good shape. If a mechanic can't find anything bad on it then I'd say go for it, it should still have a factory warranty on it aswell

[Ray paulsen]

I did a background check on this vehicle with results excellent along with average " asking " price range being fair within the zip code.

It now comes down to the negotiation process " are you a fighter or a lay down " ?

As an example in the link you provided " any dealer document preparation charges are extra,,, yer right take me to the cleaners " LOL "

Study my website, and feel free to ask further questions.

[akboss]

There should be some room for negotiation on the price, especially considering the (potentially) risky history of the car. But why would a company drop a vehicle after 1 year and only 16K miles? Gotta wonder...my father-in-law's company uses a fleet of vehicles and their salesman and executive staff drive them every day - they hold onto cars typically for 5 years, sometimes 3-4, because exchanging after 1 year usually puts you upside down on your investment...in other words, the vehicle is worth less than you are paying.

[Ray paulsen]

Originally Posted by akboss

There should be some room for negotiation on the price, especially considering the (potentially) risky history of the car. But why would a company drop a vehicle after 1 year and only 16K miles? Gotta wonder...my father-in-law's company uses a fleet of vehicles and their salesman and executive staff drive them every day - they hold onto cars typically for 5 years, sometimes 3-4, because exchanging after 1 year usually puts you upside down on your investment...in other words, the vehicle is worth less than you are paying.

High profile corporations mostly stay with current model years " IMAGE " being the key factor along with a pre tax benefit that has been calculated to fit the budget.

As for room for negotiations,,, in this case we're talking a few hundred dollars at best , it's the dealer fees and the business office that should be the buyers main concentration.

As for risk factor,,, in this case there are none.

akboss,,, having answered thousand of questions on the Internet IMO shopping for a used vehicle most buyers shop price first,,, it should be the other way around,,, shop the car without the sticker price implanted in your mind,,, and then figure the value. A perfect example is this same vehicle mentioned in this post is for sale on ebay with only 3.5K for $19,900 asking,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, got my point ???

[akboss]

Originally Posted by Ray paulsen

High profile corporations mostly stay with current model years " IMAGE " being the key factor along with a pre tax benefit that has been calculated to fit the budget.

As for room for negotiations,,, in this case we're talking a few hundred dollars at best , it's the dealer fees and the business office that should be the buyers main concentration.

As for risk factor,,, in this case there are none.

akboss,,, having answered thousand of questions on the Internet IMO shopping for a used vehicle most buyers shop price first,,, it should be the other way around,,, shop the car without the sticker price implanted in your mind,,, and then figure the value. A perfect example is this same vehicle mentioned in this post is for sale on ebay with only 3.5K for $19,900 asking,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, got my point ???

How can you say the risk factor is none? You haven't seen the car. Plenty of new-looking cars came from New Orleans a few years back with great prices on them, and if you didn't know how to look for water damage, you'd think it was a great deal too...

Always be suspicious until you see it for yourself. And at that point, you can always work out a better deal...in my experience.

[Ray paulsen]

Originally Posted by akboss

How can you say the risk factor is none? You haven't seen the car. Plenty of new-looking cars came from New Orleans a few years back with great prices on them, and if you didn't know how to look for water damage, you'd think it was a great deal too...

Always be suspicious until you see it for yourself. And at that point, you can always work out a better deal...in my experience.

Hey you're right, I can't say the risk factor is none, but I know it didn't come from New Orleans, the report on this vehicle check with me 100%, your trying to pick straws,,, don't

[RahX]

Rental cars are always a bad idea. Damage and abuse is VERY hard to spot. They usually get the stuff fixed in an 'off the radar' sort of way so nothing shows up on a carfax. You get lucky every once in a while though. As far as a lease vehicle, those are more like a trade in since the car is returned and evaluated on mileage/maintenance/condition. I've dealt with a few water damaged cars. The last one was beautiful except when I peeled the carpet back and had to tinker under the dash. You could see the water line that was about chest high before they fixed it up. Everything was rusted including the wiring on the inside :/

[Shpuker]

Originally Posted by akboss

How can you say the risk factor is none? You haven't seen the car. Plenty of new-looking cars came from New Orleans a few years back with great prices on them, and if you didn't know how to look for water damage, you'd think it was a great deal too...

Always be suspicious until you see it for yourself. And at that point, you can always work out a better deal...in my experience.

Seeing as how it was owned by a big corporation of some sort, and was built in 2009, I doubt it was in New Orleans during the hurricane....

If this cars in good shape and everything checks out good then I'd say go for it.