Rental cars and oil changes

[stp44]

I am looking at buying a 2011 Ford Taurus that served as a rental car for about 8-10 months. Do rental company do any service on their cars or just run them and turn them back in when the lease is up. This car has about 19000 miles on it.

 

[Eddie]

Ask the rental car company to see the service records.

 

[stp44]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Ask the rental car company to see the service records.


The car has been sold to a car lot. It came in from out of state.

 

[Lead Shoes]

They are all properly maintained to the T at most rental company's, now how it was driven on the other hand... who knows..

My 99 grand am was a rental car at when it was new, I would have never known except my friend works at the dealership so he ran carfax for me.

 

[SuperDave456]

At one point in time my family owned 5 Taurses. All purchased through Hertz.
Not too sure about other Rental Car Companies, but Hertz takes really good care of their cars.

My Taurus turns 10 years old this year, and has 177,500 on it as of this past weekend.

Right now my goal is at least 300,000 miles. But that might take me another 10 years. I racked up a lot of miles driving cross country in previous jobs. Right now it is almost 100% city driving.

Good cars, although I don't know much about the newer Tauruses.

 

[edwardh1]

rented in san jose, only car left, change oil lite was on.
drove it 1500 highway miles over 10 days, turned in in l.a.
hertz guy complained why is oil lite on. I said your guy gave it to me that way. highway miles though, probably no problem.

 

[rjacket]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
rented in san jose, only car left, change oil lite was on.
drove it 1500 highway miles over 10 days, turned in in l.a.
hertz guy complained why is oil lite on. I said your guy gave it to me that way. highway miles though, probably no problem.


When did you do this? What year?

 

[gathermewool]

I attended a winter driving school two weekends ago and overheard one of the older ladies talking to her daughter about her off-roading adventures - "in the rental, of course." My colleagues and I always drive our rentals normally, but I don't think the same can be said about most people. After that story (on top of having rented a couple of newer cars with worn-out suspensions,) I don't think I'd ever consider buying a rental car, even with low mileage and at a great deal.

With all of that said, I have asked, and every major rental company has replied that the oil is changed frequently. I've only had to add oil to a rental once, but the oil has always looked alright when I check.

 

[JHZR2]

I had a long term rental. Avis only changed every 10k. I had to check in once a month, and they didn't want to hear about intermediate mileage, even if I crossed 10k.

As a result the car went 14k on the OCI.

I drive easy and it was a lot of highway, the focus didn't consume, but wouldn't want to be the person who bought it after.

 

[widman]

In august my rental had the oil change light on. The girl said "so what". Only car on the lot. Drove it 4 weeks and told the guy receiving it that the oil change light was on. He said "so what".

 

[rjacket]

Pros

Many of the miles are highway. If you are buying from certain locations, then you're guaranteed no cold starts and not so much driving in very hot conditions eg San Diego.

They do generally get oil changes on time. If you buy direct, then they will show you maintenance records.

They do get a wash after every rental.

Some locations keep cars under cover.

Cons

You don't know how one or more particular person may have driven the car.

Probably got the cheapest gas.

 

[rjacket]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
At one point in time my family owned 5 Taurses. All purchased through Hertz.
Not too sure about other Rental Car Companies, but Hertz takes really good care of their cars.

My Taurus turns 10 years old this year, and has 177,500 on it as of this past weekend.

Right now my goal is at least 300,000 miles. But that might take me another 10 years. I racked up a lot of miles driving cross country in previous jobs. Right now it is almost 100% city driving.

Good cars, although I don't know much about the newer Tauruses.


Taurus' were once a bargain through Hertz. I had a choice of dozens when I went (to more than one location) and chose the one that had a virtually immaculate interior and exterior compared to the others. It gave me the sense that it had had mainly careful drivers.

No problems in 7 years that could be related to how it was treated for it's first year and 24k miles.

 

[artificialist]

I have dealt with many Enterprise rental cars. If a car required synthetic oil, they would not do it, and require us to use the regular stuff. That always made me angry.

However, if their cars use the regular stuff, they stay up to date.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

All our cars have been rentals..The dealer we got them from got the service records [and car fax] for us..Mine [05 Vic] had 20K miles on it,[now has 120K miles on it] one had 10K miles and the other had 7K miles on it..All cars were serviced every 5K miles..All cars were 6 months to a year old.

Would I buy a rental again..The answer is yes..All cars came with an extended warranty..All cars were also checked out by an honest independent mechanic before we bought them..

 

[Cujet]

After 280,000 miles, our ex rental car finally gave up the ghost. It rusted out.

The car was nearly 100% trouble free. Never a hint of engine or transmission trouble. Only shocks, brakes and wear items. Oh, and an airconditioner repair or two.

 

[demarpaint]

Just make sure it wasn't hit. Rentals are many times diven hard and certainly not as well maintained as someone who actually owns the vehicle, but many do live long lives.

 

[eljefino]

Had a corsica and ciera that literally had RPO codes saying they were rental specials. Trouble free.

Have seen Enterprise cars get bulk 5w30, probably the right stuff most were supposed to have gotten.

 

[artificialist]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Had a corsica and ciera that literally had RPO codes saying they were rental specials. Trouble free.

Have seen Enterprise cars get bulk 5w30, probably the right stuff most were supposed to have gotten.

Here in Florida, many of our bulk dispensers would be filled with 10w30, but it didn't matter, as temperatures never got cold enough to see the difference.

In other parts of the USA, I am not sure what was used.

 

[Hollow]

I have had 2 cars that were former rental vehicles, both from
Hertz.

One required expensive engine repair down the road because of a [censored] poor repair that the Hertz mechanics had done on it when it was still theirs.

They other had no issues outside of what was normal for a used vehicle of its' age and miles.

Would I buy a rental? Not if I can help it.

 

[Scott88]

My folks bought a rental '95 Aerostar 4.0 when it was a year or two old... they sold it two years ago with 285K on it. It hardly gave us trouble and only required minor fixes... plus it survived as mine and my brother's "first car" (kept us out of trouble for sure haha.)