What do you guys think of these cars?? There are a bunch of them at Hertz and Enterprise car sales all around the area.. Most of them are $19k or less (they are all 02s, auto, no options, and under 25k miles)..

I test drove one and it was in pretty bad shape.. It looked good from the outside (despite a few obvious bumper dings) but the inside was a disaster. It had what appeared to be red and orange kool-aid stains in the front, and scratches on the interior trim pieces..

There was also a funny noise I heard occasionally when turning.. cv boot?

Anyways, do you guys think these cars are a money pit? Do you think there are any good ones there?? Is there anything one can do to protect themselves when buying from one of these Car rental/sales places??

Thanks!

 

 

I would definitely NEVER buy a used car that was in a rental stable. I have rented cars for many years now and have been quite abusive to them myself. There's a classic rental phrase used when something bad happens: "**** it...it's a rental!!!" I have known sooo many people to use this phrase. Honestly, people don't care about the damage they do to a rental, so long as the damage is not noticeable when they turn the car in (i.e.: they don't want to get busted for damaging the car). I have WAYYYY too many war stories about things done to rented cars...

 

Because of no options?? Why?

I plan to get a full leather kit from Katzkin.com and will probably put some nice rims and an audio system in on my own.. so I could care less about the lack of options.. 25k miles doesn't scare me, either, since it is California and there's a lot of driving to be done out here in Cali...

 

 

99.9995477% of people who drive rentals DOG them.....Its like a sore pecker baby...you cant beat it.

 

LOL...you must have missed my post from a few weeks back....

might as well buy the car...cause you never know where the car comes from anyway....

RECAP:

Bought 02 xterra for wife...salesman said it was a new car trade in.........well...it was a budget rental car in it's former life (found a receipt when cleaning it). run a car fax on any thing you buy...the title report on our xterra that the deealer so nicely ran was like vehixinfo.com or some crap. it sucked, only said the car was never totalled.

 

yeah well I know rental cars get abused, but aren't I protected by the lemon law??

You guys have no clue how hard it is to find an 02-03 White Maxima SE.. I've totally given up on finding a manual at this point and it's even becoming difficult to find a decent auto....

Kevin

 

 

don't give up...try ebay, autotrader, etc. go out of state if you have to...it's worth it if it's the car you want...

 

With 25k, you will have a warranty for a year or so, so I wouldn't worry too much about the abuse factor.....

 

you guys are foolish for not looking at the options. just because a rental agency sells cars doesn't mean all of them are dogs. i bought my 2000 from enterprise, got a great deal, extended warranty, and to top it all off, it was a lease car. i know that enterprise only sells the top %5 of the cars in their fleet, and there is an incentive for them to keep their cars in top shape for resale value. (ever rent a car from a major rental company that is older than 3 years old? where do you think they all go? to the dealerships, and used car lots)
i am VERY pleased with my car, got it for under 15k with 35,000 miles on it. plus i got an extended warranty to 88k. or you could go to a used car dealer, take your chances, or you could buy a car from one of us on the forum- no one here beats on their cars.
good luck with the search.

 

Buying rental cars is toooooo risky. How do you know that the car or engine wasn't beatin to a pulp? For a couple more thousand you get BRAND NEW! That means NEW car smell and all!

 

As is being posted DONT DO IT!!! Forget the rental customers, I worked @ Hertz for a while as a vehicle transporter; we drove those cars HARD!!!!!!! And @ the time I worked at Hertz, the most powerful cars we had were 1993-94 Thunderbird V8s. I can't imagine the fun my former coworkers now have with these 2K2 Maximas.

Again, DONT EVEN CONSIDER IT.

 

Yeah, I used to be a caddy for a golf course and we'd tear that **** up all the time when the course was closed (one day a week) -- of course, we'd need to clean up the next morning but it was a good time..

Well, since I have written this message, I now have an unofficial offer from a Nissan dealer here in town for a REEEEEEEALLY good deal on a brand new 03 6-speed, so it looks like I might be getting a 6-speed AND a new car after all!! - To think I was about to pay $1500 less for a used 02 AUTO!!!!! WOW!! WHAT WAS I THINKING!!


Thanks for all your input, guys!! Well appreciated!

Kevin

 

I know what I do to rentals....I would not want to buy a car I had rented before

 

lol...true that. Sometimes I think to myself..."ya know...I'm just as tough on my car as what anyone else could possibly dish out"

I love my car...but I have a 25 lb. brick for a right foot...

 

run from rental cars. a friend of mine has a friend who rented a max and was pulling the ebrake at 40 mph. not good.

 

....lol....

 

Stay away from it, go new and get the full 3 year 36k and the 1 year 12k full warranty. An 02 with 25-30k miles already the warranty will end soon and you will be ****ed off if something goes wrong and your year old 2002 isnt covered because of excess miles.

 

ive rented 3 2k2 maximas.......dont get a white one has coffee stain on the pass. drivers sesat...a black one..keyed trunk lid...or a blue one...dent in drivers door...I didnt do thoes..but oh boy...just dont buy them..or be prepared for some new tires...tranny work....brake work..and oh boy...i dont even think it was gas we put in it...some cheap-o-gas station was like 15cents cheaper than everyone else.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA UFCK DUDE!

Well hopefully all will go well and I won't be buying a used rental!!

Kevin

 

heh, first thing that came to mind was some video of a guy running a 100 shot of nitrous on a rental neon. He took it to the track until eventually something blew. I think he ran a mid 13 in the quarter . I would be carefull about rental cars, but it sounds like you found a good deal on the 2k3 anyways, enjoy.

 

I used to work for Enterprise, hopefully you'll be able to find one that wasn't driven by the inconsiderate people here. Yes I have plenty of stories of idiots trashign the rental car, but I also ha allot of people and corporate customers who kept theirs in great condition. If you are going to buy, go with Enterprise over Hertz. Hertz does retail (people who trash cars). Enterprise does more leasing and corp. renmtals (people who need the car for 1+ months), normally they take better care of it because they are in it so long.
Also Enterprise usually sells the top 1% of their cars at their car lots before they sell them to the dealer. If you buy from the dealer you're still probably getting a rental, even from Ebay or Autotrader. At least if you get it straight from the Enterprise you can get their warranty, maintennace history and if you have problems they can't pass the buck to someone else.

I am no longer with Enterprise so I'm not trying to sell them, but I had an inside view so I'm talking from experience.

As always, get a carfax, and take it to a reliable mechanic.

To all those that abuse other people's property

 

Hey - we pay for the rental and we are just trying out things - just using not abusing j/k

 

when I was shopping for a used 2001 max at the beginning of 2002, I looked at about 8 nissan dealerships...took my time on picking it out plus had a friend who had unlimited carfax access so I had him look up the vin numbers of all the cars I was interested in...all the sales people told me about the 2001 used cars they had that they were all ex-leased cars....they were in decent shape..a ding here and there...fluids were half decent..not as fresh as I thought it would..a spot here and there on the seat and on the carpet..in short a typical used car..i guess when they got the car, they just immediately put it on the lot with-out doing some prep work to it...had my friend run a carfax on all of them...turns out 6 out of the 9 I looked into were all ex-rental cars...the three were trully lease returned cars...then I looked at private sales...one thing I found common with the owners is that they were not happy with their cars..that is why they were selling after less than a year...made me think of their driving attitude to the car...looking at the condition...i would say that they were about the same condition as the ones in the dealership and on some, maybe worse..plus all the prices were a bit higher and firm...no negotiations...i assume they were just upside down on their loan...finally looked into Enterprise...they had three in the lot..all were in decent shape...all fluids were fresh...freshly detailed interior...price was negotiated down by a thousand...drove nice....and what finally sold me was that they all had brand new tires...still had those tiny rubber stubs sticking out of the tires...was I lucky? perhaps..will I have the same luck on my next used car purchase..no one can tell..I guess with all used car purchases..dealerships, private sales, rental agencies....I guess it is all a gamble..you just have to know what to look for, what to ask, what to feel for, etc...25,000 miles later with my max...I'm still loving it..car still runs great..no one can tell it is an ex-rental...sometimes you just find the best deals in the places you just never even consider....just my 2cents.....

 

WOW!!! That has got to be the most periods (.) I have ever seen in one place none of which end a sentence!!

 

still to early here in the west coast....need to have my coffee....

 

I would never buy any rental after seeing that video clip that some posted awhile back.

 

not sure, but it kind of looks like you might already have had too much!!!

 

oh man...its 8:30 over on the west coast here...that just made my morning...i usually type like that.. like I am now. hahahahahaha.

 

wait till you see me all juiced-up.....

 

do you ever just burst into flame???

 

at times it does feel that.......

 

it reminded me of a nas rap song. it just told a story. good job eminem.

 

Well I don't think your 25 lbs. foot is that bad. Do you know what's worse then the sound of starting the car with the engine already running? Throwing it in Park at 30 MPH! How do I know this? Rentals! Granted, that is when I was younger but I still treat them like $hit.

 

what exactly happens when a car is put into park at 30? ive always wondered that but obviously would never try with the max.

 

 

Here is videos of rental abuse.

http://home.attbi.com/~danasn/maximaabuse.avi

http://home.attbi.com/~danekas/explorer.avi

 

former rentals arent worth it

check out the rental maxima video..its extremely negligent