jasaveli

Hello

New here, looking for a 2014 e350. I have found one with 20k KM and was a Hertz rental car. Would it be safe to buy this kinda of car from a car rental place? Also how much can I expect to spend yearly on this car on maintenance/issues.

Thanks!

DFWdude

A rental car has a history of 100+ users with not a care in the world about "using" a car for a day or two at a time.. I'd prefer buying an off-lease return with only one previous owner, who at least lived with the car and gave it some care.

There are several dealers who specialize in off-lease Mercedes-Benz cars purchased from MB Financial. I bought my low-mileage 2016 from this place and couldn't be happier... https://www.texascarsdirect.com/ They offer a free CarFAX report, too.

Mud

Way too many other choices out there to even consider a former rental shlub.

Ariesfamous

Just a few things I've done in a rental:

Took a mustang 4 X 4 ing in Hawaii
Pulled an e brake on the highway doing 100k /hr just to see what happens (limp mode happened)
Jumped some Toyota over giant speedbumps in an alley
Drove down steps
Rockfords
Parking lot donuts


Ya, I wouldn't buy a rental..

Jabberwock

Aries has one up on me with the driving down steps....

But yeah, don't buy a rental car, ever.....

dn325ci

Same. I travel constantly for my job for > 20 years and so do most of my colleagues. The things done to rental cars are simply hideous. From what I've witnessed, I would personally never buy a rental car (or a flood car, BTW) under any circumstances.

VegasE

The only positives of buying a 4 year old rental is that you can be assured that the car received all required maintenance and it is low mileage. The negatives include:
1. While most rental drivers don't abuse the cars, there is a significant fraction that do.
2. Rental drivers are more likely to have filled the tank with regular gas instead of premium and non-top-tier gas.
3. The paint will have been abused by too many car washes/waxes. Look for swirl marks.

I'd expand my search distance using web sites like cars.com and autotrader for better deals.

thefisch

This. Although it depends if they are giving you an incredible deal or not. What's the pricing?

ghlkal

I totally agree; buying off-lease is a great way to go.

LemonSqueezy

My only concern would be that rental agencies use regular gas on all their vehicles and the hundred of users driving habits on the vehicle may shorten the lifespan of that vehicle.

cetialpha5

I guess it's true what they say, the best off road vehicle is a rental car.

My friends use to tell me the stuff they used to do to rental cars. Pop it into reverse while driving forward. Hit the hand brake to have the car fish tail.

Mud

Mine came from nxcess motors Houston but same general scenario. I like being the second owner and I get vehicles still under original warranty. If you check them carefully it's a good way to avoid the initial depreciation. Especially check MB on past warranty and to ensure they will continue warranty on the car. I did this for the oem warranty and also for ELW before commiting to purchase and wrote same conditions into my sales contract. Life is a gamble, including buying cars, but I would not put further odds against me in looking at a rental sale. Way too many drivers and the cars are processed to meet minimal maintenance standards to just keep them on the road. I think almost any car today can go to 100k miles even with negligence, but I don't want to be the guy to pick up the slack after that. There's exceptions of course and I'm sure somebody out there got a car dirt cheap and drove it for a zillion trouble free miles. But it's just not for me.