Would you buy a former rental car?

lol no

Fuuuck no

Sure, unless it was a Mustang or something sporty that leisure travelers would tend to rent.

Most renters are business travelers. They aren’t racing. Cars are also pretty stout these days and can take some punishment unless it’s a Chrysler 200 or a Ford.

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I'd always been skeptical of rentals because people drive them like rentals

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This is sort of the 'conventional wisdom' on this topic, but I'm never quite sure what it means. I've never really done anything different in a rental car than what I do with my own car. What are others supposedly doing with them?

Even 90 year old grandmas that drive 30 miles under the speed limit drive like they are running from the cops in rentals.

Aren’t most people extremely afraid of scratching one no less wrecking one? Most people are not reenacting the Days of Thunder rental car scene.

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I've never really done anything different in a rental car than what I do with my own car.

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How many times have you shite in your trunk? Because I’ve seen that happen to more that one rental car.

Aside from the fact that people usually abuse those cars, they're almost always the most base models you can get unless you're looking at one of the luxury levels.

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This is sort of the 'conventional wisdom' on this topic, but I'm never quite sure what it means. I've never really done anything different in a rental car than what I do with my own car. What are others supposedly doing with them?

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We took our little compact rental sedan on some sketchy dirt/gravel roads in Alaska to get to some remote trailheads. That's probably an exception, but you never know what someone has been up to.

Done it twice.

First one was a minivan with 8K miles. Owned it for 8 more years and 162K more miles. Sold it for 2,000 as it was starting to give me A/C and transmission problems.

Last year bought a Camry with 28K miles. 2 years old. No problems so far.

Both came with fully documented service histories. Neither, though, is a vehicle likely to be driven like crazy by renters. Minivans are expensive AF to rent, and mostly families. Camry is generally a business rental.

Like any other used car, get a good inspection.