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Rental Purchase Advice

3K views 24 replies 11 participants last post by  Echo4papa 
#1 ·
Hey gang,

Looking at a 2016 GT Premium Convertible with the performance package. decent deal, but it was definitely a rental car.

30k Miles. I'm assuming I get the remaining balance on the factory warranty but I don't know this for certain yet.

Thoughts or advice?
 
#4 ·
I would do standard inspection of it and if it's good and good price (resale $ will suffer make sure that is accounted for). idk about wtty. Make sure to ask Ford. It MAY not because rental, it would with private/regular use). I'm sure it's been driven but who among us hasn't DRIVEN their Stang
 
#5 ·
My son owns an Explorer that was a rental car, and has had no problems with it. That said, an SUV rental is going to be driven differently than a performance car rental. Personally, I would not consider a Mustang GT, Corvette, Camaro SS etc. that were previously rental cars.
Now, if you can get them to throw in an extended warranty for the car, that might be something I would consider. At least you know that the GT you are thinking about was driven like they stole it. The 5.0 is pretty bulletproof as well. Good luck in whatever you are going to do.
 
#6 ·
I beat the everliving **** out of the 2 rentals I had from January to March. I would never buy a rental.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I live close to Palm Springs California. About 115 miles east from Los Angeles. I needed a car as it goes up to 100 degrees starting in the end of March out here, and my old car needed A/C which I was not willing to invest in. I WAS willing to order a car from Ford and pay cash for it up front, before delivery, to get just what I wanted, which was a 2017 (at that point) Triple Yellow, hard top, mustang 2.3L Turbo Ecoboost, automatic transmission. Every dealer tried to get me to buy a car off the lot, most in a different color. So I started looking for my car used. I found about 4 with the options I wanted, in a 350 mile radius, which pretty much covers all of southern California. EVERY ONE was a prior rental car being sold by a dealership. What I settled on was a premium package, leather interior, 9 speaker audio, automatic, in Triple Yellow. It had pretty cool machined face two color rims, 18". Heated and cooled seats. I can't remember how many powered directions my seats move in, passenger and driver seat are both like six way. LED lights, Pony Projector Package, dual climate control, and I chose the 2016 because it has the bigger touch screen in the middle of the dash vs. the 2015,( which I could have picked up for an asking price of $19,500. ) The model I chose has side impact air bags, toggle switches between drive modes, paddle shifters, automatic louvres in the front to act as an air damn when turbo cooling is not essential, my ECU tells me about boost, driver instrument cluster, multiple temperature readings from air inlet temps to transmission, boost, and TPMS etc, on the steering wheel I've got multiple functions for phone, radio, cruise control. I have power side view mirrors with turn signals, etc. It had 26,500 miles on a car that originally sold for $34,000. They wanted almost 27K. I knocked them down to 25.5K including tax title and tag, and gave them my 1998 Mercury Mystique with 58,000 miles on it, which was kept outside in downtown Philadelphia, and suffered through many rains, snows, freezes and thaws on heavily salted roads. What else they gave me, and the moral of the story is that since it was a ONE owner car, they gave me a 100,000 mile Ford CPO (Certified Pre Owned) warranty on the power train. Originally the warranty was something like 35,000 miles. That gives me about 4 years of driving under warranty. It has been stellar. The only things I've noticed is that the windshield is pitted. Out here in the desert you get a lot of blowing sand. So after about 6 months the dings in the front paint started showing from where the dealer touched it up. It still looks great, and someday I was going to have to paint it anyway. The windshield I will correct after I move out of the dessert. Other then that, my prior rental car has been flawless. If you can get a CPO car, I would say you have little worries.
Of course an extended test drive is in order, take it up to 80 mph to make sure there are no vibration problems. Ultimately, since Ford put much needed improvements in the 2018, more horsepower, they worked on the rear end hop which caused me to put in the street handling package from Ford Performance, (really helped) and I went with a CAI to try to help the lousy low end performance to no real avail. (Ford Performance to preserve warranty) I would wait to buy a used 2018. Unless you are going for a GT, which has all the power you will need on public roadways. By all means buy used, but get CPO.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the input everyone. Here's where I stand after talking to them about the car:

The factory power train warranty doesn't transfer, but I do get the remainder of the standard warranty from the factory. They are giving me a 12month/12000 mile warranty on the car and an extended power train warranty for 6 years/60,000 miles (to 90,000 miles total considering current mileage).

I work from home, so I don't commute and I put about 7-8k miles per year on my current car.

For the model/packages on the car, their price is decent, but I'd like it to be a little lower. However, as we talked about it, they came up significantly on what they are giving me on my trade in for my current vehicle which is effectively the same thing.

So I'm good with the numbers, I'm comfortable with the warranty etc. So today I'm going to pick up the car for an extended test drive, bringing it back Friday evening and letting them know if I want the car or not. That gives me time to push it around a bit, see how it feels, and get it checked out by a local trustworthy mechanic that has worked on other vehicles of ours and my extended family's.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Too bad,
It sucks to get excited only for it to fall through.
Take your time, I was hell bent on getting an 18 GT PP manual over the auto, and would have bought it on the spot.
But I have to wait until June and now I'm not too sure about skipping the 10r80 auto. Its wicked fast on the road, but some say it does gear hunt a little.
Gonna have to take one out before I sign off on the manual.

Sent from Samsung Galaxy S8+
 
#19 ·
Odd that the rental company (or the car lot that bought it from them) knew about the performance package and listed the car as having it. Most of the time they are pretty clueless as to the high performance options on the cars they sell unless they have the window sticker right in front of them.
Sounds like you did the right thing by just walking away....hope you do eventually find your dream car......and that it’s a Mustang.:thumb:
 
#22 ·
Buying a Used Rental Car

We bought a 2008 Mustang Convertible(was a rental in Hawaii and we bought it in NC!) and drove it daily for three years with absolutely no problems. We traded it for a 2011 Mustang Convertible in 2012 and it's been a totally trouble free - only routine maintenance - and it is a 90,000 mile daily driver garnering two silver awards at MCA Nationals and numerous other show awards. My wife and are are sold on owning rental Mustangs!
 
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