Ex appeal

Back in the April 2018 issue, I mentioned the case of a franchised dealer who was fined for selling an ex-rental Peugeot as having had ‘one owner’. This is something that many dealers are guilty of. The joke in the trade is that it means ‘One owner. Daily.’ Most ex-rental cars are absolutely fine in my experience. That’s because rental companies are in cahoots with the manufacturers, who lease the cars in the first instance. In many cases, they take the cars back to fettle them under an ‘approved used scheme’.

Many of these cars are sold via auction and passed off as ‘ex-management’ to the public. However , you can identify an ex-daily rental or lease vehicle by where it was registered. It’ll have good spec, be less than a year old and the mileage will just by shy of when the first service is due. The service book won’t contain the details of the first owner. The previous keeper on the V5 (before they were removed recently) will usually be listed as ‘Securities, Facilities or Holdings’ – Rover Cars used to be listed as ‘Rovard Facilities’ and were described as being ex-employee cars. Rarely will you see the name of the rental or lease company, although it is possible.

I’ve sold loads of ex-rental cars without issue. I’ve gladly put family and friends into them, safe in the knowledge they’ve been properly run-in. I’ve even bought them for myself. There is nothing to be scared of. They are nearly-new cars that are readily available and affordable.

The exception to the rule is Enterprise Rent-a-car (ERAC) vehicles. Uniquely in the business of daily rental, Enterprise owns its fleet outright. This means it often buys used to get good value. I’ve bought and sold a few EX-ERAC cars for punters who wanted something modern but cheap.

EX-ERAC cars must be assessed on their own merits. Some will have started life as a rental car under a different firm, then sold to ERAC, who put it to work on their fleet. The age and mileage will be around two years old or 45,000.

I’ve bought Zafiras, Clios and C1/aygos direct from the company’s very keen trade rep. Each one had, as American traders would say, “covered city miles”, a euphemism for a hard life. But given their cost and the fact they’d been serviced, who’s to argue? If I’ve not liked what was delivered, I’ve sent it back. Unloved stuff goes to auction.

Really, the only way to ensure you’re not getting an ex-lease car is to buy new. For me, that’s a very costly way to avoid what can be a great value nearly-new car or van. What is naughty is lying to a customer about the car’s origins.

That’s what gets us all a bad name.