This is my third rental. My first was a 1993 Corolla with 16000 miles. It was a budget rental, some one forgot to clean every thing out of the dash. I traded that car with over 185000 miles on my 2010 HHR with 8040 miles when I test drove it. Carfax said it was a rental out of Kentucky. My wife's had 9337 miles on a 2009 LT when we bought it. MIne came fairly well equipped, running boards XM radio/Onstar even the optional carpet in back and metallic paint (red). It had every option I wanted except the fog lamps which I may install someday.

 

I have a fleet/rental 88K nothing has gone wrong, Hell I still have the same brake pads & rear shoes. never turned rotors. Going on 5th set of tires in sep. I am bad on tires! Wife's 07 LS 72K just put on 3rd set of tires.

 

I'm currently driving a rental (2011 Hyundai Sonata ) , from Enterprize , due to me totalling my HHR. I had to wait for Jiffy lube to change the oil .The Sonata has 30,000 miles , so I know they change the oil at least every 30,000 miles .
I assume most rentals have been serviced very well and very regularly , and probably better than most private owners.
I do drive the car kind of hard sometimes , but thats what it made for , and most private owners do the same or worse as well.
I don't take as much care about where I park the rental.
I'm taking great care of the interior , cover up everything with some old bed sheets.
I'm responsible (and my insurance co ) for the condition the car is returned. It would be different if my insurance was not paying for the rental.
Still I'm sure the renter is responsible for the condition of the car. So I would assume that most renters try to take care of rental cars .But the world is full of idiots and people who just don't care about anything. Then there are also people that are renting thru their company ( their company is paying for the rental ) and they may not take care of the rental.
All things considered I believe buying a rental car is a good option.

 

:nut s::clapp y:

Believe it or not, you and I are the marginal .005% of renters. Look inside any rental that was used around a beach! I guarantee there is sand embedded in every fiber of the floorboards and cargo area! Although I ***** & moan about my former rental 2008 HHR bought in 2008 with 17,000, I now have 195,00 with nothing catastrophic. I am kinda p.o'd that the brake pedal pad was worn down to metal on the bottom right corner when I got it, and is still in exactly the same condition now, and the part is either "not available" or "in limited supply" depending on who I talk to.

My only real complaint about buying a rental is the "non-scrupulous" dealers that sell them. If you are going to buy used then you gotta look hard at the product!

 

My brake pedal pad was "near new" when I removed it to mount my metal pad..... Can't you find one in a junkyard?

 

Thanks everyone for chiming in. My intent is to find an SS, but there's not a lot out there so I may have to "settle" on an LT. Positive feelings about rental/fleet cars increases the choices by a lot.

 

My car used to be a Hertz rental but I didn't know that until after I bought it. Valvoline ran the VIN during an oil change and told me. I know that Hertz usually does proper maintenance on their cars but I hate how many miles rentals rack up. My friend put it best when she said "wow think of how many butts have been in your car!" lol

 

I haven't really looked since I have not put any additional wear on it in 185,000 miles, silly me, I thought they may be an easy to find $5 bit of car. The only one I have ever replaced was a '69 VW, and they were a dime a dozen.

But, it begs the question; Why do people who drive rentals seem to always ride the brake pedal right footed? Mine only had 17,000 on it and it was worn enough that the metal underneath had a polish to it.

 

Mine was a fleet/rental 2LT. Came with pretty much everything. Leatherwrap steering wheel, 2.4, bigger wheels, exhaust tip, fog lights, etc. Had only 24,000km on it but the dealer changed out the back struts for free. Didn't come with Auto-Start, but keyless entry.

1st issue it had was I needed to get running boards.
2nd issue it had was the water leak that many 06 & 07 model years had. Just fixed it a week or two ago.

That's been it and now at 107,000km. Does have that front end noise like many HHRs but I hope to fix that mystery soon enough.

 

Did the rental companies rent any SS models? All I was ever offered in an HHR was an LT.