sarroj

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy an '08-'10 HHR, and in my search for one I'm finding a lot of them are ex fleet or rental vehicles (mostly from Enterprise it seems). My first thought is to stay away from them, thinking renters beat the hell out of them, because they're just rentals. But on the other hand, most rental agencies are very meticulous about maintainence schedules and keeping them running properly, so it might be a good deal. What are your opinions ? Has anyone here had experiences with such things ?

Thanks
Jim

nacademus

There are many many MANY users on these boards that have purchased ex-fleet/rental vehicles. I also believe that a lot of the rental cars can be modded to have an AP3 option-remote start. That's nice.

I'm sure its like buying any used car really. Whenever I rented a car, I wouldn't go out of my way to destroy them. Sadly, I can't speak for the possible 500-1000 people that used that vehicle over the course of its duty.


https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/how-add-gm-remote-start-without-option-ap3-28551/

11BlueJ

I have bought a few rentals... a '95 Astro, '99 Safari, '03 Taurus, and a '05 Malibu all were rentals and had no issues from them that I thought were from prior abuse. And I put another 100K on each before trading.

I never beat on retals, usually I'm extra careful cause they are not mine... but that's me. I have also heard all the horror stories.

I would buy a rental again, my HHR is new but the incentives were so good it didn't make sense to look for a used one. now I think most are gone, used may be the only way to find one.

Mike Fortin

My 2010 HHR was a fleet vehicle, the service records were impeccable and the car only had 30K on the odometer when I got it so it was still under the bumper to bumper and of course the 100k mile.

It also has all the options and came with a Free XM Radio subscription courtesy of the company that it was used for.

Runs like a boss now!

I've upgraded to HID lights and kept the oil fresh, no issues.

843de

Rentals are like any used car, you can have some really nice ones and then you'll get the occasional clunker. As long as you do your research and have a thorough look at the vehicle, I wouldn't have a problem with an ex-rental or fleet vehicle. Two of my favorite former cars were ex police cars bought at auction, they were well used but well cared for too.

As has been pointed out, you can probably get a super deal on an HHR as the rental companies unload the 2010's and some of the 2011's when they hit about 30,000 miles.

DwHhr2LT

In July 2000 i bought a '99 Cavalier Z24 vert that was a rental

got it with some where around 18k. Drove it to bout 80k with no issue's

of any kind. Just 2months ago i traded a vehicle for the 2011 HHR i have.

Only issue that i have had with it is they should have rotated the tires. But other wise

nothing so far. I got the HHR with 11,625 on the odo. It went from a rental to a

delivery vehicle

Krash Kadillak

A lot depends on whether you would be satisfied with a rental as it is equipped. After totalling out my Focus wagon, I got a HHR rental, which got me to liking it very much. I didn't want a 'rental' HHR though - not enough equipment for me. The Enterprise HHR I had was a 1LT with cloth and the
2.2. I wanted a 2LT with leather and a moonroof.

Whatever the rental companies are selling, they are basically going to be equipped the same, except for the color (I.E. - all HHR's the same, all Ford Fusions are the same, etc...)

As to pricing, I'm not so sure there's any real savings from a 'rental' dealer vs. the used car department of a new car dealer. Hertz and Enterprise advertise in the papers around here and I'm not seeing anything that says 'deal'.......

ThatChevy

My 2010 Chevrolet HHR was a rental and I love it. It's actually the 2nd car I have had that was a rental. My first was my first car which was a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero. The HHR was from National and the Alero was from Avis. I would actually prefer to buy rentals over other used cars for one of the reasons you said. Rental companies take care of the cars and make sure they are regularly maintained. Plus you don't have to worry about to many renters beating on them just because they are rentals these days. That's mainly because rental companies will fine you for any damage done to the vehicle while you were renting it and I'm pretty sure most people don't want to pay extra money for a car that isn't theirs just to beat on it. Now if you have rental insurance the damage will still be covered and will still be fixed by the rental company. So either way pretty much any damage that is done to a rental vehicle gets fixed. Like I said my Alero was a rental too and we had that car from 38k miles in 2002 til 207k miles in 2011 with no problems out of the car at all. So I say go for it, but just like any other used car you would buy look over everything yourself first and check the Carfax.

donbrew

Do not trust a Carfax on a rental!! Carfax only reports what has been reported to Insurance companies AT The TIME of the REPORT. If the rental agency did not report an accident to the insurance company until after you buy the car, then it will not appear on the report. That happened to me, my GM Certified Used HHR turned out to have been in a large accident that took 6 months to report.

And Do Not think that Enterprise cares one bit about maintenance, they only care about "days rented". If the car is due for an oil change, but they have a customer that needs the car NOW, take a guess which wins. And I have never seen an Enterprise lot not in motion.

If I did it again, I would force the deal on a rental. In my case I did finally get the dealer to give me $700 back, after I complained to BBB

Fox Hat

I grabbed an '09 LS former rental in March '10 with less than 29,000 km and will soon pass 77,000km. I paid about $14,000 AFTER taxes etc.
I have switched to synthetic oil the first change after purchase.I have a few mods in mind for the next few allowances.
I just went from the Toronto ON area to Halifax NS and back with a side trip to Ottawa. 4270km 310 litres of fuel $387. I did the same trip 5 years ago in a Chevy Venture cost better than double even though the fuel was cheaper. If my wife has her way and another similar deal appears I will have four h's and two rs in the driveway.