Would you buy a former rental car?

There's likely not any issues with it, but the idea really bothers me. Basically the same reason a "one owner" vehicle raises the value, a rental is the complete opposite of this.

I'm driving one right now I got in January 2011. It's been a great car. I recognize the concerns people have but the cars are discounted so I weigh that as well.

I rather buy a rental than a 1 or we vehicle. You know the maintenance has been done, and repairs are OE.

Have been driving one for 5 years, no issues, would buy another without a second thought.

Rental use does not void the warranty from manufacturer.

I bought a minivan in 2009 that was a rental that was one year old with 7K miles on it. Got it for 12K less than a new one was priced. Drove it for about 160K more miles over 7 years with no issue. Within the last 10K miles/1 year, started acting up a pretty good amount, so got rid of it before something major broke on it.

Last week I bought a Toyota Camry that was a rental, 29K miles and a year and a half old. Again, about 12K or so cheaper than a new version.

Both of them I bought from dealerships. Both had gone through the auto auction. Both of them I took to a mechanic (my FIL) to have him assess.

Both times, I test drove about a half dozen other rentals that I rejected. Most of them were due to cigarette smoke, one of them this time just didn't handle right.

Both had squeaky clean carfax reports.

On both of them, and I know this may go against the auto gods of the MT, we purchased extended warranties. On both of them, we were able to negotiate these extended warranties for both a longer period of time AND a reduced price. We did it as a hedge just in case anything went sideways due to prior lack of maintenance. On the van, I used it once: at 99K miles (just before it expired at 100K) to replace a window motor that was acting slow.

My wife's car was a rental, bought it at 22k miles and we have had 2 different warranty things that we've had done. No issues at all. Great car, it was in like new condition, leather, etc. No issues what so ever. We plan on driving it to 120k miles or so, got a great deal on it so I'm not too worried about resale.

While I may accelerate more harshly with a rental, in general I'm more careful as far as parking and driving goes. The last thing you want is to deal with a small ding with a rental, even with good insurance its a PITA. Unless you are buying a sports car, I don't think your average rental car is going to be driven poorly. Most are rented by businesses/ business people or families.

Now, would I buy say a Ford Mustang convertible in South Florida or Hawaii that was rented? Hell no.

I feel like a rental company is usually the most responsible kind of car owner you can get. So I'd say it's a pretty good buy. I never did it before but my parents bought my sister a used rental car in college and it's been great for her

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I feel like a rental company is usually the most responsible kind of car owner you can get

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Good point, they are cleaned after every use and maintenance would be up to date.

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Good point, they are cleaned after every use and maintenance would be up to date.

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I have an inlaw that buys a new car about every five or six years and never changes the oil, if I were not taking care of my wife's car she would likely drive it until something broke and never do basic maintenance.