For $19.95 you can rent this MF'er

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLpuq0jyiCE

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Originally posted by mrvmax:

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Originally posted by bigdeal:

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Originally posted by mrvmax:
I never thought people would use them to do cross country runs in them but VINwiki shows otherwise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGI0BFMT4bU

Rental Mustang cross country run

For Christ sake, this isn't exactly rocket science. If a year old car has 30k+ miles on it, don't buy it.

Sure, cause miles tell everything about a vehicle’s condition. If you believe that then I’ll sell you a bridge....

I was making a specific point about the original post (i.e. driving coast to coast). And you can keep your bridge. I already have one.

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Originally posted by nasig:
there is something wrong with abusing someone else's property. the guy in the video thinks he's cute for doing it. i think he's an asshole but i guess that's just me.

Nope. He's an asshole.

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Originally posted by shovelhead:
That's nothing new. Those Mustangs that were built for Hertz, GT-350's back in the mid 60's. many stories of those rented and raced. Heard of at least one of them that had evidence of a roll bar installed and removed before it was returned.

I read an article about those GT-350H, and at least one was rented as a getaway car for a bank robbery. I guess they figured they'd outhandle what they couldn't outrun.

I go on a retirement forum occasionally and there was a thread there anticipating great deals on Hertz cars as they circle the drain.

The thread had a lot of similar responses. I never trashed a rental car. But, I spent a lot of time on business trips where coworkers acted like it was their mission to destroy the rentals they had. That was over 20 years ago, but I would never buy a rental car.

It’s a psychological thing with people who like to treat rentals like crap. I never have and I have had every opportunity available. Off roading, track (road courses), etc. I think it’s shit to do that. I treat a rental car like I treat my own cars, well. I don’t want any issues. About the only thing I’ll do in a rental that I won’t in my vehicles is park it where I feel like. We get hail here so traveling in the Spring, I’ll do a rental car and take out the optional insurance for hail. I’ll still pull off the road when I get hit by hail but in general I don’t worry nearly as much about it compared to driving my own vehicles. Last time that happened it was in a van with one of my bikes loaded in the back for a trackday. I pulled off the road and got the van under some trees to limit the damage.

I’d never buy one either. I’ve seen colleagues just trash them. Take them off road, jump them, I’d just shake my head and call them an ass hole upon hearing it. I don’t treat rented anything like shit. It’s why I no longer loan out tools or much of anything. For some reason ass holes think when it’s not theirs they can treat it like shit. No buying used performance vehicles either.

Depends on the car...

In 1965 Hertz decided it would be neat to bring in a batch of Shelby Mustangs, known has the GT350H, MY 1966. Of course it was a popular weekend rental...that, thanks to an equally goofy 'rent-a-racer' promotion, wound up placing those rentals on race tracks all over the country. Hertz finally figured out what kinds of abuse these cars were going through and suspended this 'bright idea' a year or so later, returned the cars to Ford who then "reconditioned" the surviving remnants and sold off the cars for relatively cheap.

Nowadays those 'racing rentals' command not insignificant money, anywhere from $100K for a rough restoration candidate to over $275K for one restored to concourse condition (compared to $150K for a regular consumer 1966 GT350 in the same concourse condition).

So as I said, it just depends on the car in question. When Hertz filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, I went on the lookout for bargains from their premier Adrenaline and Exotic Car programs. Sad to say that they didn't put any of those cars up for fire sale like they did with many of their luxury rentals and more common rental fleet cars. Oh well...no dirt-cheap Ferraris here.

My brother just bought a 2019 Toyota Corolla with 10k miles that was a rental vehicle. This was from a small rental operation, not a big box store. No issues so far.

Another friend has bought 3 vehicles that were rentals, no issues.

As gjgalligan said lease vehicles can be just as bad. I know a guy that does a 24 month lease on his vehicles and does ZERO maintenance on them. Like no oil changes, nothing. At least the rental cars have regular maintenance...

Honestly it all comes down to condition which can be determined by a 3rd party inspection by an honest mechanic......

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Originally posted by bubbatime:
I check the oil, tires, and will buy a quart of oil if the oil is low on a rental car.

I treat them like they are my own vehicle. I guess it's because I'm counting on it to get me around - and abusing or neglecting equipment irks me.

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Originally posted by Sclass:
For $19.95 you can rent this MF'er

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLpuq0jyiCE

That guy is a rank amateur. This is how the pro's do it:



Yes, It's a U-Haul pickup.

I worked for a large insurance company that had a fleet of company cars. I bought 2 or 3 before I took the job of selling them. I had a great career of 20 years selling the cars our execs, claims adjusters and other employees drove.

I sold to my brother, dad, best friends and others I knew well. These cars were typically 18 months to 2 years old and the mileage was under 50k. We were much cheaper than a dealer. I believed in the cars. I bought many myself and traded often if something showed up that I wanted. If we got one back that was beat up, it went to the auction and we billed the area the driver worked for the loss, if any.

The Vinwiki youtube video that covers this also has a comment added to it. The comment mentions that the driver had eventually purchased the rental Mustang he used in the race.

Jeremy Clarkson on rental cars, "Fastest car in the world."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucQKNkvzQ3g