Buying a used car : 3 things to look out for (car brahs GTFIH)

[Konster]

Buy private so you can cheat on taxes.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

You do know people can still roll back their miles, right? They don't service the car and there is no record of how many actually miles the car has.

Basically stay away from used cars. They are bad news.

I agree but I don't think that the risk is so high on a car which is barely a year old and which I am buying from a reputable dealer.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I just went through this with the wife. I am in the states so it may be different but....if you are already financed through your bank DO NOT let the dealership talk you into their financing. We left multiple dealerships because they wouldn't take no for an answer.
They said "we can beat your rate"
We said "don't care, we are going through our bank."
They said "we can finance you through us from your bank (some program they have)"
We said "don't care, we are going through our bank."
One guy even told us we were dumb for not using their financing so we got up and left.
Just be prepared for an ungodly amount of underhanded tactics to get you to finance through them. Beyond that if you are buying certified pre-owned the car should be in good shape.

In the states there is a program called "cuddle" (or something) where the dealership can write the same loan your bank approved you for (if its a credit union). Sounds good, doesn't work...they will get you with BS stuff like way over priced GAP insurance and the like. It should be like a cash buy, if you are already financed.

I am getting a personal loan from the bank so I am essentially buying the car cash.

More expensive but I couldn't be fucked to go through the headaches and restrictions of an auto loan/leasing.

I usually pay a premium for more flexibility in all things.

 

[usmctanker242]

FYI, former rental cars are actually not that bad. The reason for this is that most rental companies do all the required maintenance at the proper intervals for their fleet of vehicles.

Agreed... my first car was a Toyota Corolla with 12,500 miles from Budget Rent-A-Car. It was in incredible condition, like new, and I abused the hell out of that car for 15 years with very minimal maintenance. Personally I would look for a car from a rental place rather than shy away from them.

 

[Pwent]

Just so you know, something like 80% of used cars at dealerships that are 2 years old or less, used to be rentals

Most people don't return cars that quickly and rental companies go through millions and return them all within 2 years, so yeah

 

[Pwent]

Rental companies dont sell their vehicles until its 2yr/50k miles at least

Rental companies buy them at fleet rates, then sell them i.e. hetrzcarsales,enterprisecarsales.

Sounds like it's an owner lease trade in

Many rental companies don't buy cars because the cars would be titled to the rental company and when they sell them they have to be disclosed as a rental car. They lease cars at special deals from the manufacturers on one or two year leases through a middleman which many be another part of the rental company like a finance division. Since the vehicles were never titled to the rental company, they can be sold as leased vehicles. The lease will show them being leased by a finance company. GE Capital is one of the big ones in the US and Canada.

A few of my employees used to work for enterprise which is the largest. They aren't so much of a rental company as a used car wholesaler

Basically they buy the cars by the 10s of thousand for almost nothing, then they rent them out until a dealership or some sort of car sales business asks for a model car within a year or model range I.e. We need 60 ford focuses between 10k and 20k miles. Then they pull them from the fleet and sell them

Enterprise actually usually breaks even from buying and selling the car, so the whole rental revenue is profit minus he costs of running the branch that rents them out

I think their max they try to keep it under is 40k miles but it can be any mileage less than that, it just depends what dealerships want

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Just so you know, something like 80% of used cars at dealerships that are 2 years old or less, used to be rentals

Most people don't return cars that quickly and rental companies go through millions and return them all within 2 years, so yeah

Txs for input.

The dealer I am going to buy from is affiliated with Volkswagen.

There is a thing here at big car companies where employees get to lease a new car for a year and give it back. This is basically where all the < 20K cars are coming from, as far as I understand.

 

[El_Dyablo619]

A few of my employees used to work for enterprise which is the largest. They aren't so much of a rental company as a used car wholesaler

Basically they buy the cars by the 10s of thousand for almost nothing, then they rent them out until a dealership or some sort of car sales business asks for a model car within a year or model range I.e. We need 60 ford focuses between 10k and 20k miles. Then they pull them from the fleet and sell them

Enterprise actually usually breaks even from buying and selling the car, so the whole rental revenue is profit minus he costs of running the branch that rents them out

I think their max they try to keep it under is 40k miles but it can be any mileage less than that, it just depends what dealerships want