Rental cars can be driven into the ground but, by and large, they are no worse than most six-month-old motors, writes Donal Byrne
The American satirist, PJ O'Rourke, once described the fastest car in the world as "a rental car", which goes some way to reinforcing some prejudices about buying a car that has spent the early part of its life as part of a hire fleet. As the tourist season slackens off for another six months, there are plenty of these ex-hire cars being sold by dealers around the country, who promote them as good-value, low mileage options. In short, bargains. But are they?
Well, that depends on the car. Some cars survive better than others but generally speaking they have a hard enough life as a rental. One reason you will always know a rental car is because it won't have hub caps - they are taken off by the hire company at the beginning because they don't last very long, and they help to restore some of the car's profile when they are replaced before it is sold on.
While most drivers renting cars tend to be careful and don't want to end up paying for any damage, many simply don't care.
"We have had people who managed to damage the car before they even leave the airport. It's not just a question of bad driving either. Most people have problems driving on the opposite side of the road that they are used to and poor signage adds to the confusion.
"Then you have some people who just don't care - it's not their car and they seem to feel they can get their money's worth by abusing the car," one rental company executive told me.
So the key factors in making a choice are condition and mileage. Rental cars are usually sold on after six or eight months, but some bigger or more unusual models can be held for longer.
A close inspection will reveal just how harshly a car might have been treated, but there are plenty of rentals around that are in very good condition. And it should also be remembered that nearly new cars still have their manufacturer's warranty.
In the case of a six-month-old car with a three-year warranty, you will still have a two-and-a-half-year warranty to reassure you. In fairness, much of the damage done to rentals is caused by minor bumps and scrapes and serious damage is not really the norm. However, things like clutches can take a fair hammering from auto-transmission-oriented Americans.
Dealers usually have a selection of these cars in stock, so don't rush into buying the first one you see and visiting a number of dealers is also a worthwhile exercise. Average mileage on a non-rental car these days is still about 15,000 kilometres a year, so you can calculate what the acceptable sort of mileage on a rental is for yourself.
Ex-rentals usually come from the distributor to the dealer, then on to the rental company and back to the dealer again. These cars might find their way on to fleets in April and then come back on the market in September and are known as "buy backs".
Dealers are usually keen to move them on as the year progresses and, because they might have several, they are keen to do good deals. You could save about €3,500 on a small average sized ex-rental as compared to the price of a new car, or do an even better deal.
There is another type of nearly new car option available these days. Dublin dealer, DG Opel, Chevrolet and Honda, is offering cars that are almost new but have not been part of rental fleets. They are cars supplied as replacement cars for people whose own cars are out of commission for whatever reason.
"We have a growing business in replacement cars under various schemes and this is allowing us to offer cars that have not been driven by people used to left-hand drive, or who have problems with clutches. Instead of someone driving from the airport to the west coast we have people who might be using the car to get from their home to work and we have lower mileage as a result.
"Also people are more careful with a replacement car, and look after it more as they would their own," says Richard Cassidy of DG.
He is quoting prices of €17,450 for a new model Opel Astra, for which the new price is €21,400, and quotes €21,450 for an almost new petrol Vectra, for which the listed price is €25,820. These cars would have about 15,000 kilometres on the clock, and would have been used as replacement cars and still have 18 months of warranty left on them.
Manufacturers often put pressure on dealers to take on rental cars, so more and more dealers are likely to be looking at this replacement car option. It is not the only way in which distributors apply pressure to boost their sales figures. Many companies pre-register cars and then sell them on through dealers as almost new second-hands. Pre-registering cars makes the figures look good but it is an expensive way to get business. When Fiat stopped pre-registering cars it lost market share.
"It looks good for the sales people who seem to be increasing market share, but then the finance people come along and ask how come these cars are reported to have been sold but they have not been ? It is a silly way to try to make your figures look good and it costs money. And it's just not good business and it is not worth the hassle," says one industry source. Very often when a particular model is under-performing, a company will pre-register cars to build the model's profile. "That puts the car on the road eventually but the fact is that people were obviously not opting to buy the car in the first place. You can't buy popularity like that," the source added.