*HELP* Ex-hire car history seems odd?

[Dave H]

Hi Arnold Clark are currently selling ex-hire 11plates with 35k miles.

I happened to pop into Enterprise with the reg plate and asked about service history as there are no stamps in the logbook. The assistant pulled up the maintenance records to confirm service. I had a quick read and jotted down some figures

Reading the Enterprise history gave v.interesting reading -
28/03/11 Car was registered
29/03/12 Car was first recorded on Enterprise maintenance log
21/05/12 Serviced at 19792 miles (seem big miles to me eg 20k in 2 months)
26/10/12 Serviced at 33971 miles (14k in 5 months)
30/10/12 3 tyres replaced under 3mm
19/11/12 deleted from active file

Any thoughts out there?
Is it likely to have sat for 1 year doing nothing in a carpark somewhere?
It has covered 34k miles in effectively 5 months - should I be concerned?
What should I make a good point in checking for?

Cheers

 

[David101]

My advise on ex rentals is that there is a good saying " don't be gentle it's a rental" so my thoughts are it may be low mileage but that's questionable, but also it's probley been screwed all its life.

 

[m0rk]

Who had it for the first year? Another rental company I suspect.

I'd be a million miles away from a rental

 

[invisiblekid]

Don't Arnold Clark have an awful rep on here anyway?

Let well alone.

 

[generationgav]

I would never deal with Arnold Clark again...my 2c

 

[CharlieRCupes]

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole personally, chances are its been ragged to sh*t and not looked after.

 

[kazand]

It could be an ex Channel Islands rental motor, I know Colliers had a few a while back, saw them before plates where changed.
I think Northgate had a few FR's on the fleet maybe they passed them on to Enterprise. Had dealings with lots of hire companies at previous job and iirc Enterprise were , at times, useless. Vehicles would turn up in poor condition, had one with illegal tyres another with a totally missing front indicator bulb (but it was checked sir!)
As M0rk says, I'd walk away........

 

[Dave H]

I was thinking the majority of mileage is motorway, and once up to running speed I dont expect to be too much abuse. the car has covered a lot of miles in a short time so must be sitting at speed on motorway. 34k in 5 months = 226 miles every day!

Some other history details at the start:
29/03/12 Tates Faxed
16/04/12 Tates Radio Seathud
Also 19/11/12 A&S Fleetcare is referenced (possibly settlement of the 2nd service)

I dont mind a fairly new car that is booted, what can honestly go wrong that would not have gone wrong already? (touch of death maybe)

It just seems odd? Does Anyone know someone who works at enterprise that could shine some light regarding no use within the first year after being registered.. (was it lost at a back of a carpark?)

 

[Masterkm]

Mate is a manager and another also works there, they rip the **** out of these rentals trust me and i have seen them do it, walk away is my advice

 

[JamesL]

Unless its an absolute bargain I would walk away as well. Its not really about the mileage, its about the booting it from cold, about the fact you KNOW its not 'one careful lady owner' and you know that it could also have done who knows what else in amongst all those motorway miles. Its bad enough that you don't know how good/bad a second hand car is treated - let alone in a situation where you know the likelihood is its been mistreated

 

[jmc1976]

don't they say the fastest cars in the world are rentals , ive rented lots of cars over the years and ive abused them all ,don't buy it (unless it is realy realy cheap)

 

[Jarre]

My 1.2TSi is an ex-rental vehicle. Bought it at a year old with 12k on the clock, owned by Europcar, although we didn't know that until we received the logbook. Salesman told us it was 'Ex SEAT owned'. Won't make that mistake again - I'll ask for the logbook in future!

Anyway mine has been fine, touch wood, apart from a leaking injector recently, which was replaced under warranty. Other things such as air con compressor etc have also been replaced but no big issue really.

Although the mileage is substantially higher than on mine when we got it, and 34k miles in 5 months really is extortionate!

 

[Benjic2]

Wait, there is obviously another owner of the vehicle ( The first owner).
It will have done 19k in the first year with another rental company before Enterprize got their hands on it. From then on it has done 14k in 5 months which is 100 miles a day, which is probably expected from a rental car.

 

[Benjic2]

Or, Enterprise only enter the cars onto the maintenance log when they actually need some maintenance. E.g it could have been a blow bulb or something (29/03/12) So they are the only owners but it didnt require any work during the first year.

 

[marks_leon]

I find cars that have been raged drive the best, if I had a choice between 1 lady owner who drives 30mph everywhere or a car thats been used well I would go for the car thats used well, either way if there gonna go wrong they will go wrong regardless.