There’s a car for sale that looks fine but I keep hearing it might have been used as a rental or in a company fleet. That doesn’t automatically kill the deal for me, but it definitely changes how I think about it, because those cars rack up miles fast and usually get driven harder than normal. On the positive side they’re maintained, but still, it’s not the same as a private owner. The seller didn’t mention anything about it being a rental, so I’m wondering if that kind of usage is recorded somewhere. Can you actually check if a car started its life as a rental or does that info disappear once it’s sold off.
Rita Young
Suggest checking Cargurus or Carfax if you have the vin#. I believe the Rav4 we bought from Carmax was a rental in its previous life. We bought it with 70K miles 4 years ago. It has 152K now and only needed normal maintenance.
Sometimes private owners are worse. Yes, rentals have had multiple drivers but are usually maintained reasonably well. With private owners they may have driven it nicely, but not maintained it as well as they should have. Especially if they didn't keep the service records.
Sometimes private owners are worse. Yes, rentals have had multiple drivers but are usually maintained reasonably well. With private owners they may have driven it nicely, but not maintained it as well as they should have. Especially if they didn't keep the service records.
It's not 100% guaranteed, but Carfax often tells. I just looked at a local ad that had a free Carfax report, and it was a rental its first year in NY state, then sold in MA.
“Fleet” is a big and wide noun. The data 06PT found is pretty clear it was Enterprise, some people have had great luck wtih them - my daughter's Sebring was purchased from a guy who bought it from Enterprise and it was fine. However... my cars rented from a particular Enterprise in the midwest were sometimes unmaintained, with one or more nearly flat tires and so on.
Fleet also would mean traveling salesmen and government workers and even my brother in law, once upon a time, who bought Chrysler LH cars and Lincolns to travel incredible distances in the midwest. Those cars were pretty much babied, 200,000 miles in three years or whatever was all highway.
Fleet also would mean traveling salesmen and government workers and even my brother in law, once upon a time, who bought Chrysler LH cars and Lincolns to travel incredible distances in the midwest. Those cars were pretty much babied, 200,000 miles in three years or whatever was all highway.
I've owned two former rental cars, the 96 Intrepid and the 19 Grand Cherokee. It's early yet for the JGC but there's only been one weird problem: the mechanism in the center HVAC vents that levers the airflow dampener was missing! There's a little connecting crank arm between the "dial" and the dampener, and it was just ... ? missing?. Surely one of the weirdest failures I've ever had the displeasure of finding. It may be one of those rare cases where someone rented the car just to get that part out of it. There were no broken pieces left, it was erased like it had never been there. To fix it, you have to replace the entire vent assembly at $100 each. Since the problem was they were blocked closed during peak A/C weather here, I simply blocked them open and reassembled the center stack.
So look your prospective purchase over carefully. Weird stuff can happen to any car; I don't think rentals are the exception.
So look your prospective purchase over carefully. Weird stuff can happen to any car; I don't think rentals are the exception.
Fleet and Rental vehicles may be able to be ordered with options not available to a regular customer or a stock vehicle.
For instance, I have seen Gen2 PT's with daytime running lights (high beams on). This is not a normal operating feature of a standard or stock PT.
I have searched and found some PT's and ran the VIN and the Build Sheet will list the DRL, and that it was a rental or fleet vehicle.
But it might be selectable through the TIPM options, if you had access to such programming equipment.
But I use my driving lights as DRL, so I don't have to have the headlights on during the day.
For instance, I have seen Gen2 PT's with daytime running lights (high beams on). This is not a normal operating feature of a standard or stock PT.
I have searched and found some PT's and ran the VIN and the Build Sheet will list the DRL, and that it was a rental or fleet vehicle.
But it might be selectable through the TIPM options, if you had access to such programming equipment.
But I use my driving lights as DRL, so I don't have to have the headlights on during the day.
I don't like burning the headlights, saves wear and tear on them, they are hard enough to replace the capsule through the wheel well access, you almost have to remove the entire headlight to replace the high beam capsule.
The driving light bulbs are very easy to replace.
The driving light bulbs are very easy to replace.
That too.
... side note: parking lights. Driving lights are those big supplemental things people add on. Or so people used to incessantly correct me.
... side note: parking lights. Driving lights are those big supplemental things people add on. Or so people used to incessantly correct me.
My son just bought a Charger that was a rental. Biggest clue was the wear on the rear bumper from luggage sliding in and out of the trunk. I looked over the vehicle report and it surely indicated it was a rental vehicle for a the first few tens thousand miles
Our 2016 Ram was an Enterprise fleet vehicle.
What does that mean?
Someone used it as a truck?
Someone used it like a car?
Someone kept up on the maintenance, perhaps better than the average consumer?
What does that mean?
Someone used it as a truck?
Someone used it like a car?
Someone kept up on the maintenance, perhaps better than the average consumer?
This was probably just another spam post, since no info was offered about the vehicle in question, not any replies to the answers.
Fleet can also mean government vehicles, including police. Caveat Emptor.
Fleet can also mean government vehicles, including police. Caveat Emptor.
I mean, technically my Dart when I won it back in '12/'13, was ordered through Fleet sales. So fleet might not mean much.
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