Stupid to Consider Rental Sales?

2018 4wd SR5 with 33,500 miles. Priced decent, some new wheels/tires and a lift could be looking good for $28k
It may look "more used" in person. About an hour away to go take a look.



https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...e1=TOYOTA&modelCode1=TUNDRA&clickType=listing

 

I would never buy a prior rental car. With a pre-owned car you typically try to buy a car with only one prior owner. With a prior rental that vehicle has been driven by hundreds of people and you have no idea how they have treated it. I know a lot of people really abuse rental vehicles.

 

after seeing how rentals get treated. you couldnt give me one.

 

I’d consider it if they dropped the price and added a big ass warranty.

 

It is well known that people rent cars and "drive it like they stole it". I would never buy a rental Ford Mustang or GTi Golf or something like that, for instance.
But, I think the type of person who rents a Tundra would probably be a little more mature. Might just need a truck to move something big or haul lumber for a small project at home etc. Stuff that we use our trucks for also. The truck might also be bigger than their typical daily drivers so they would typically be a little more cautious driving it if they are intimidated by the size.
So, considering a rental Tundra might not be that much different from considering a used pre-owned truck.
Go check it out.

 

https://youtu.be/l5Yjv-eCrNY

 

Fun fact:


The fastest car in the world is a rental car

 

Find a one owner truck with clean carfax. Plenty of them out there

 

My 2 cents, I'd buy a rental if it was overall in decent shape. Sure used cars may only have a couple owners but you have no idea what kind of maintenance was performed on them and how any repairs were performed. With a rental *most (I say this assuming you're buying from a large rental place) will get maintenance done on a regular basis and any major repairs done properly.

I'd argue that most rentals are picked up driven like any other vehicle and returned with nothing more than normal wear and tear. Sure there's some that'll abuse them but that's probably the outlier rather than the norm I'd guess.

 

I don't think it's stupid to be honest. If the price is good and you have the ability to go check it out then do it. You know for sure it got it's oil changed regularly at least that's a plus.

And to all the people saying "people who rent cars drive them like they stole em, buy a 1 owner truck, etc." Well first,not all people that rent cars are @$$holes. Let's say it's been abused 60% of the time it was rented...well that's still better than buying my 1 owner Tundra when I decide to trade it in because I drive the hell out of it and abuse it 100% of the time.

 

I have never rented a car and not did atleast one burnout and one donut.

 

They have a great fleet service and those things are taken care of.

I mean I know some are abused but even for what people do to them including smoking the tires and doing doughnuts in a parking lot doesn't really kill them so long as they are marked down to a Used rental price.
If they are the same as a regular craigslist one owner car I would go with that

 

I agree with you, more mature renter for sure.
We rent trucks when our fleet trucks are down, certainly don't abuse them.

 

Lots of truths there.

 

I did call to find out if it was "daily" vs "fleet type" it was a daily rental. Price is no-haggle, unless it sits for a while I am sure.
May need to find another reason to cross town, hmmm. Not really in the market - yet.... LOL

 

$19.95 MFR!!!

 

Rental cars are absolutely not maintained well. They do the bare minimum to keep them going till it's time to unload them. Why do you think 97% of rental cars are sold with between 30 and 40 thousand miles?

 

A dealer demo or loaner, perhaps, mostly driven by owners with their own car in the shop a day or 2.
My wife has bought 3 dealer demos (2 Volvos and a Cadillac) with no problems..

A rental agency vehicle?
No 'efing way....

 

The company I work for used to encourage us to rent cars. I was in a rental almost everyday for a year. Got to know the people in the office very well. Most of the cars that get abused are the low end models, or sports cars. All of the cars were maintained just like any other large company that have fleet cars. Only issue I had was seemed like a lot of the cars were smoked in. I have considered busing a rental a couple of times, but never pulled the trigger.

 

Get car fax, trucks pretty new, and Toyota does 2 year maintenance 25k. See if it’s in there, title sub be lease/fleet. Kbb it put it in poor condition, pay that price. Factory warranty expires what looks about 3k. 28k never pay. If you want to pay that better going to local dealer and buy one off there lot. Or have them buy a 100k bumper to bumper for you at no cost. I would play hard ball when it comes to used. I played hard ball with my new one, got them to throw the warranty in no cost to me.

 

Bare minimum meaning oil changes? What else needs to be done before 25-30k miles? Nothing...maybe a tire rotation? They sell them at 25-30k miles because that's when they can still make the most money off of them. They would be dumb to keep them til 100k.

 

My opinion is, if you like the truck from distance, and you're considering a newer Tundra enough to peruse AutoTrader, it's worth taking a look in person. If you're in Pearland, it's probably no more than 50 miles. It's priced to move, and from 6' the pics show an interior not beat (few spill stains on front of driver seat...if that bothers you, think leather). Miles are high enough in two years to take it out of the ultra-cream-puff category, but these trucks are durable. If they can produce the maintenance records, might be worth thinking about.

Full-size pickups are expensive to rent compared to cars. IMO, purposeful people rent trucks to haul something, not to do burn-outs. Before my Tundra, I had to rent an F150 from Enterprise to pick up a precast catch basin in your neighborhood and haul it 3.5 hours out to the Hill Country. To minimize rental cost, my sole purpose was to pick up the truck early, get to Brookshire, load up the catch basin, get back to unload, then turn the truck in before closing. Rental cost was $80 plus gasoline (not cheap), and Hertz would probably have been 30% more.

 

Like marrying a porn star... way to many Richards behind the wheel for a long term relationship. My .02

 

My last vehicle was a prior rental. 2007 4runner sport. Bought it with 50k miles 9 years ago. I put another 120k problem-free miles on it and just traded it in with over 170k miles for my Tundra. The engine was flawless for my entire ownership. Only thing I ever had to do was oil changes and brakes

No regrets. I loved that 4runner

 

LIES!!

No one stops at just one!!

 

NO WAY!

There are plenty of good, non-abused, non-cum-dumpstered, regularly driven, one owner trucks out there with service records and clean car faxes.

Not to say they are all perfect, but chances are very high that EVERY rental has had it's gangbanging!

 

I mean there are plenty others to choose from but if the deal was Great enough, maybe I'd consider one once seen/driven.

Me personally, I treat rentals Nice, why abuse what's not yours? This from a 'boomer', maybe other gens feel different? haha don't get in an uproar over this post...

 

If the price was right and I was planning on keeping it forever, I’d consider one. I would just say keep in mind that if you decide to trade/sell it in the future, the Carfax always shows it as a rental and that will probably turn a lot of buyers off. I think most Toyota dealers will only ever give you black book wholesale on trade since they’ll just send it to auction, it’s not likely to be the kind of truck they’d take a chance on by putting it in their used lot with a rental history. That said, when I turn my 2019 lease in it’ll look like a one owner, 2 year 24K personal lease on Carfax. It isn’t going to be completely beat or anything, but I bought it for the sole purpose of pulling my work trailer for a project we have going on for the next 18 months or so and it’s only getting the recommended free Toyota maintenance. I also drive it more in the snow/salt to keep my 2017 in better shape since I own that and plan to keep the 2017 long term. I would guess my 2019 will have more towing miles than any rental you’ll find. IMO anyway.

 

Do Not Buy A Rental car or truck. See Post #6