Sure but there's no incentive not to be hard on the powertrain. Probably less of a problem now with so much drive-by-wire preventing you from drag racing a Camry.
Cosmetically maybe, but Hertz has very good incentives to do minimal maintenance and only fix things when very broken. The renter has little incentive to report issues like weird noises or anything mechanically broken, especially if it may have been caused by them.
Here is one more anecdata point: we bought a used Hertz rental eightish years ago and it's been great. Nissan Versa Note 2014. There was a scratch on the dash and faint cigarette smoke smell that made it a particularly good deal.
In my view, with a rental car you can at least know they got regular maintenance. I know they're driven harder, but the fact that they're getting oil changes puts them above the average mystery car for me, even if they're not ideal.
I don't even know if that's true, i've had a couple times where i was given vehicles with check engine lights on. Fortunately they swapped them for another vehicle that was .. possibly better?
Are you sure they get oil changes. I've ran into a few rental cars that didn't even get basic things like windshield wipers. I can't imagine a lot of those companies would take them out of service to change the oil on time.
My wife and I had to exchange a rental because it was producing excessive exhaust, the alignment was so bad it pulled, and an engine service indicator was on.
Rentals are frequently driven hard and may not get basic routine service (that should happen more frequently due to being driven hard).
I haven't worked in the rental car world but I used to work for a place that rented moving trucks and RVs (and was also the area maintenance provider for them) and... No. They did not get regular maintenance, at least not on time.
My brother and a cousin both worked at different rental car companies, and I can assure you - they are not well maintained. My cousin worked at Enterprise, and he said they'd buy fleets of cars, run them until they had any failure, then sell them at auction. He was a mechanic, and I remember being gobsmacked when he said "the only fluid I ever put in a vehicle was windshield wiper fluid."
My brother has told me similar stories, though I can't recall specifics at the moment. Most were similar to my cousin's stories, the theme being "as mechanics, we didn't do anything except make sure there was air in tires and wiper fluid."
I think the companies they worked for probably knew what they were doing too. Most cars made within the last 20 years can go a hell of a long way without an oil change and still function (which isn't me saying that "function" means the same thing as "work well long term"). Rental car companies know when to sell them before they stop functioning.
My old car was a rental and I didn't know it. Bought it from a car dealer, with about 20000 km on the meter. It had broken suspension that I found slightly after but could be fixed while under the 3 months warranty.
The funny thing is how I found out. One day it was a very special type of frost outside. The frost crystals formed in a pattern on the back window, spelling out the name of a local gas station. Some residual of a removed sticker. It must have been a rental from that gas station.
Still, apart from the suspension problem that was fixed for free it has been very reliable.
Meanwhile on NPR they have just been telling today how wonderful and cheap and loved in Europe and Australia the Chinese EVs for which US has just made a new prohibitive import tariff.
That tariff was the best endorsement I think I've ever seen for a foreign car. Turns out the secret sauce in creating cheap electric vehicles isn't a 10x battery improvement or technological breakthrough but the same secret sauce in making every other durable good cheaper in America the past 20 years: labor arbitrage.
I will be amused when corporations successfully push software development so far away from the US that unions will be the only way we won't be stuck with poverty wages.
I didn't mean to bad mouth unions, merely state the reality. If electric vehicles are much less sophisticated than ICE cars, and the cost of the battery never goes down significantly due to the cost of rare earth materials (especially if you want to sell at the volume environmentalists aspire to sell at) then the way they get cheaper is through labor arbitrage and there's no real alternative.
IIRC we’re seeing LFP at $50 or less per kWH now. A typical 75 kWh battery could soon be cheaper than an ICE drivetrain. I think we’re not far from ICE being the expensive choice. It’s already the expensive choice for long term use, pretty soon the capital cost will be higher too.
Hertz constantly is getting sued for something. They once sold cars that did not have certain features that were considered standard on all versions of that particular car, including some mandatory, by law safety features and did not notify the owners that the cars Hertz specially ordered did not have them.
Somehow, it was legal for Hertz to rent these cars out to potential victims and did not notify all the people who drove those around that they were potentially death traps... and then sold them to more potential victims.
IIRC, they lost in court, but Google is busy memory hole-ing news more than a couple years ago.
They also got recently prosecuted for calling the cops on "stolen vehicles" that were in Hertz's possession and had rented them out again, and had the new driver arrested for the crime of doing business with Hertz. This was not an isolated incident, and happened hundreds of times. This one has visited the HN front page a few times.
Don't do business with Hertz, they will call the cops on you. Don't buy used vehicles from Hertz, they will not be safe to drive.
Poor repairability is definitely a Telsa issue, and Rivian, and other EVs. Eventually manufacturers will get their acts together, but that's not the state of the world today. Supposedly BYD's modular batteries are better, but that option is not readily available to those of us in north America today.
Rental car companies’ operations are in their own universe of fucked. (Friend in a senior role at one of them.) Two stories:
Cars keep getting stolen. Insurance asks for evidence they were stolen, not lost. Lot has no cameras. Solution? Cease and desist the insurance company. Insurer drops them, they get a new insurer. Still no camera!
Moving cars between lots is done one by one by employees. To move two cars between two lots, they’d send two employees in two cars, leave one car, and then drive back to pick up the next one. They do this if two cars need to be moved or five hundred. Apparently capital expenditures are highly scrutinised while operating costs are not.
Not in the US but bought a second-hand Toyota from a Toyota dealer that I later found out from the service manual was a Hertz rental in its previous life. Its been trouble free for the 8 or so years we've had it (it's now with another family member).
Funny enough, I bought that model because I used to rent it from another company and so I "knew" how the car would be.
So, not saying Hertz is a not a shitty company, but I wouldn't say rental cars aren't a good buy
Same. Our yaris sedan is a fleet model. Currently at 140k mi and shows no signs of stopping. Recently saw a review from a Toyota mechanic that they are hidden gems (in terms of maintenance). I'm terms of features, it has pretty much none. Fewer things to break down.
This story is about one anecdote and passing it out as a pattern. For example Consumer Reports found Teslas have the least maintenance and repair costs among all brands.
This is true, but to be fair they do have quite large repair bills if there is an accident. Consumer reports rates Teslas (since 2023) as "average" for reliability.
Not surprising. I have a friend who rents Teslas when he rents. He always fast charges and always to 100%. He also drives it hard. "It's fun and it's not my battery!".
I'm guessing most people who rent Teslas operate the same way.
This is just an article about a Reddit thread. Apart from being a misinformation factory, Reddit is home to fanfiction masquerading as fact. Do not take any unverified information on Reddit seriously.
FTA: "Soon, a body shop found a quarter-size hole in the undercarriage he hadn’t seen before, which led to revelations of deeper issues inside. “The high-voltage battery pack is damaged and could cause extreme safety concerns,” a Tesla technician texted him."
That's not a maintenance issue. That's "driven by assholes and serviced by cheapskates" issue.
To my great regret I once bought a ford from a dealer that I found out later to have been owned by hertz. I bought the ford extended warranty at purchase, but hertz had replaced most of the parts with shit parts, so the warranty wouldn't cover their failure. FML.
We give dealers too much slack when it comes to selling used cars.
Go there, talk to a salesperson (don't, please...), and hear them out on how awesome and well maintained this car is that you're looking at.
Then you go and sign, and in the stack of papers is a form that says no warranties can be derived from what the salesperson told you.
That really means a lot to me.
For my next car I'm going to email the 3 dealerships here. I need a test-drive in a similar model, but I want a custom order (options, color combo that's never available). I'll see which ones will want to give me a CarMax experience...
I never understood why Hertz did this. I'm a huge fan of our own Teslas (yes, we bought a second one), but when we go on trips I never want to rent one. I had the option and considered it for a second, but I just want my vacation to be as close to zero issues as possible. We don't necessarily know where we will end up driving and I don't want to have to worry about finding a charging station. There is slim chance my hotel has a charger, and when they do, they only have a few.
At home it makes tons of sense to have a Tesla. I have a charger in my garage and I know my regular commute and where super chargers are.
It just doesn't make sense to me to rent an EV right now. Not until chargers are ubiquitous. Maybe for short business trips where you know you'll be in an area that has lots of chargers?
With the super charger network in the United States, renting a Tesla isn't all that bad of an idea. I've taken very long trips in my Model 3, with a lot of unplanned wandering, so I know it's possible. That's not to say it's the same as when you're doing that sort of thing in an ICE. More options for refueling means less stress when you're dealing with unknowns.
But road tripping isn't bad either - at least with a very minimal amount of planning. On my most recent one trip, we could still make room for spontaneity. It just changed when and where it happened. We'd start the drive by first finding a super charger that was about as far as we wanted to go that day, then explore the map for routes that seemed interesting and had chargers along the way, making sure to arrive with about 20-25% charge each time. Worked great, and we were able to explore and not feel "trapped" by the route or anything. The closest call we had was when we arrived with about 5% charge once, and that was due to a headwind and elevation gain we hadn't anticipated.
Come to think of it, I once ran out of gas on a road trip for not doing this exact same sort of exercise. I had assumed there'd be services along the leg we picked, and we actually ran out of gas about 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I had to hitch hike in blasting cold wind for about 2 miles, then pay the gas station employee's brother to drive me back to my car. For 10 miles, all that guy could talk about was "women with fat butts." I haven't thought about that experience for 2 decades probably, so, thanks? I guess.
52 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 111 ms ] threadNope, one anecdote from a buyer and one Reddit thread.
From the article: "quarter-sized hole."
If you're buying a former rental car and aren't giving it an intense enough inspection to spot a quarter-sized hole, you're rolling dice.
If you take the time to methodically go over one... and reject a few... I'm sure you can find a pretty great deal.
My wife and I had to exchange a rental because it was producing excessive exhaust, the alignment was so bad it pulled, and an engine service indicator was on.
Rentals are frequently driven hard and may not get basic routine service (that should happen more frequently due to being driven hard).
My brother has told me similar stories, though I can't recall specifics at the moment. Most were similar to my cousin's stories, the theme being "as mechanics, we didn't do anything except make sure there was air in tires and wiper fluid."
I think the companies they worked for probably knew what they were doing too. Most cars made within the last 20 years can go a hell of a long way without an oil change and still function (which isn't me saying that "function" means the same thing as "work well long term"). Rental car companies know when to sell them before they stop functioning.
The funny thing is how I found out. One day it was a very special type of frost outside. The frost crystals formed in a pattern on the back window, spelling out the name of a local gas station. Some residual of a removed sticker. It must have been a rental from that gas station.
Still, apart from the suspension problem that was fixed for free it has been very reliable.
Can't make that work in America with the UAW.
Hertz constantly is getting sued for something. They once sold cars that did not have certain features that were considered standard on all versions of that particular car, including some mandatory, by law safety features and did not notify the owners that the cars Hertz specially ordered did not have them.
Somehow, it was legal for Hertz to rent these cars out to potential victims and did not notify all the people who drove those around that they were potentially death traps... and then sold them to more potential victims.
IIRC, they lost in court, but Google is busy memory hole-ing news more than a couple years ago.
They also got recently prosecuted for calling the cops on "stolen vehicles" that were in Hertz's possession and had rented them out again, and had the new driver arrested for the crime of doing business with Hertz. This was not an isolated incident, and happened hundreds of times. This one has visited the HN front page a few times.
Don't do business with Hertz, they will call the cops on you. Don't buy used vehicles from Hertz, they will not be safe to drive.
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-pro...
> Don't do business with Hertz, they will call the cops on you.
Even that is not enough:
"Hertz Is Even Sending People To Jail That Never Rented Cars From Them" - https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-is-even-sending-people-to-...
Well that's just good business for Hertz. Now there's no down-side to renting from them. Except for unsafe vehicles, of course.
Let me rephrase what I said earlier: never buy a used car from any car rental company. Any of them.
Cars keep getting stolen. Insurance asks for evidence they were stolen, not lost. Lot has no cameras. Solution? Cease and desist the insurance company. Insurer drops them, they get a new insurer. Still no camera!
Moving cars between lots is done one by one by employees. To move two cars between two lots, they’d send two employees in two cars, leave one car, and then drive back to pick up the next one. They do this if two cars need to be moved or five hundred. Apparently capital expenditures are highly scrutinised while operating costs are not.
Funny enough, I bought that model because I used to rent it from another company and so I "knew" how the car would be.
So, not saying Hertz is a not a shitty company, but I wouldn't say rental cars aren't a good buy
https://youtu.be/TU_P9YTseFU?si=DcSrJtnxICWpDz33
They are currently hiring man in spandex.
Edit: My bad, they will not hire, they will reuse this one: https://youtu.be/TsNc4nEX3c4
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/consumer-reports-names-cheapest...
Edit: Predictable downvotes without replies for referencing unpopular facts.
I'm guessing most people who rent Teslas operate the same way.
1) Rental EVs could be acceleration and charge capped to reduce excessive strain on the drivetrain.
2) Some customers may be seeking an EV without artificial limiters.
3) Rental companies could charge more for removing performance limiters.
Buyer in the article: It dawned on me that maintenance was too expensive.
No surprise there.
That's not a maintenance issue. That's "driven by assholes and serviced by cheapskates" issue.
To my great regret I once bought a ford from a dealer that I found out later to have been owned by hertz. I bought the ford extended warranty at purchase, but hertz had replaced most of the parts with shit parts, so the warranty wouldn't cover their failure. FML.
Don't buy from hertz. It's not just the drivers.
Go there, talk to a salesperson (don't, please...), and hear them out on how awesome and well maintained this car is that you're looking at.
Then you go and sign, and in the stack of papers is a form that says no warranties can be derived from what the salesperson told you.
That really means a lot to me.
For my next car I'm going to email the 3 dealerships here. I need a test-drive in a similar model, but I want a custom order (options, color combo that's never available). I'll see which ones will want to give me a CarMax experience...
At home it makes tons of sense to have a Tesla. I have a charger in my garage and I know my regular commute and where super chargers are.
It just doesn't make sense to me to rent an EV right now. Not until chargers are ubiquitous. Maybe for short business trips where you know you'll be in an area that has lots of chargers?
But road tripping isn't bad either - at least with a very minimal amount of planning. On my most recent one trip, we could still make room for spontaneity. It just changed when and where it happened. We'd start the drive by first finding a super charger that was about as far as we wanted to go that day, then explore the map for routes that seemed interesting and had chargers along the way, making sure to arrive with about 20-25% charge each time. Worked great, and we were able to explore and not feel "trapped" by the route or anything. The closest call we had was when we arrived with about 5% charge once, and that was due to a headwind and elevation gain we hadn't anticipated.
Come to think of it, I once ran out of gas on a road trip for not doing this exact same sort of exercise. I had assumed there'd be services along the leg we picked, and we actually ran out of gas about 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I had to hitch hike in blasting cold wind for about 2 miles, then pay the gas station employee's brother to drive me back to my car. For 10 miles, all that guy could talk about was "women with fat butts." I haven't thought about that experience for 2 decades probably, so, thanks? I guess.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40381777