Buying a car can be a big investment. Getting into the wrong type of car deal can also deplete finances in a lot of ways, from high monthly payments to sudden repairs.
There’s a secret that could make your next car purchase have more bang for its buck. Matt Jones, an independent auto expert based in Los Angeles, joined WBBM Newsradio’s Rob Hart on the Noon Business Hour the week to let us in on it.
Jones said car shoppers should keep their eyes peeled for formal rental cars – the vehicles people drive around for a week when they are on vacation.
“If you’ve got an eagle eye, you’ll occasionally see some of those rentals at traditional car dealership lots,” since they’ll have stickers that single them out as previous rental cars, he told Hart. Some rental car locations will also have lots where they sell their old vehicles.
What makes these former rental cars stand out compared to a typical used car? According to Jones, they are often in better condition because car rental facilities are held to different standards than individual owners.
“Eight times out of 10, a used rental car is actually going to be in better shape than a consumer driven car because rental car companies… they take better care of cars than, than regular people do,” Jones explained. “They have a lot higher liability – imagine you being on vacation and your rental car just failed.”
He said these facilities usually do services such as alignments and oil changes more often than individual owners, and they are often more careful to watch out for issues like rusting. When these facilities buy cars, they often get a better deal on them due to buying in fleets, which means they sometimes sell them for lower prices as well, Jones added.
There can always be exceptions. On the maintenance front, Hart shared his own recent experience of using a rental car when his own car was in the shop.
“That car had an odor that I still can’t shake many months later,” he said of the rental.
So, make sure you give any car a good sniff or two before jumping into a purchase.
“I would actually lean towards the rental car – with an expectation, those would have been in better shape,” said Jones. He also offered one more tip for those interested in buying these formal rentals: “there’s also occasionally cars that are made exclusively for rental car companies,” though they are hard to find and are “maybe missing one feature,” buying these “can save consumers real money,” Jones said.
