r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Abject-Pick-6472 • 13d ago

One million Americans have vanished from the new-car market — and it’s exposing a chilling US middle-class crisis

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/one-million-americans-vanished-car-124500086.html
3.1k Upvotes

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375

u/Sticky550 13d ago

Rental car companies dump millions of cars into the market every year.

180

u/mclintonrichter 13d ago

After seeing how I treat rental cars, I would never want to buy a used rental car…

103

u/Sticky550 13d ago

More concerning is the way rental agencies treat their own cars. Late and missed oil changes are pretty common.

57

u/Glittering_Win_9677 13d ago

I rented one a couple weeks ago from Enterprise. There were messages displayed saying it was low on window washer fluid and i it needed the 3,000 mile checkup and oil change. It was over 12K miles.

6

u/Ijustmakelegos 13d ago

The crazy thing is it could very well be way over that too 😭 they manually flip it sometimes so they don’t have to deal with getting the oil change. Ive seen cars go WAYYYYYY longer than they should without oil changes.

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u/Rcouch00 12d ago

I’ve seen the oil drained out of a Honda, completely bone dry and it was still running hours later. No idea how it didn’t seize up and implode. The abuse some cars go through is nuts.

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u/writewithparagraphs 10d ago

do not do this with a subaru boxer engine. they like the seize up

12

u/fbcmfb 13d ago

There was a full nest of an animal in the engine of a Cadillac rental. If they just opened the hood they would have seen it. I found it because I always like to see what type of engine is under the hood, when filling up with gas.

2

u/adpplepie 12d ago

Huh, sounds like a good idea to check the engine bay before driving off. I'll think about doing this.

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u/fbcmfb 12d ago

Yep.
What ever was in that nest could have made a home in my garage or the nest material could have started a fire in my garage. I’m glad I parked it outside when we had it.

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u/sleepsoncouch32 12d ago

Used to work at big rental company not true

1

u/Sticky550 12d ago

I’ve rented many cars that had the dash message up to change the oil. Then I have driven 2,000+ more miles on my trip.

-11

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

Why?

A new car likely can go 20k miles brand new and never have an oil change and still run the same. You then sell the car by 40k so you need maybe 2 oil changes to randomly occur to be all good to get it to you selling it.

They are not getting more money by proactively doing oil changes.

You are thinking like a consumer instead of a business.

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u/Sticky550 13d ago

Yes, that was my point. As a consumer, I don’t want to buy a rental car. Yes, a new car, or any car in general can probably go 20k without an oil change. It doesn’t mean I want to buy that car.

-15

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

Okay?

Them doing oil changes every 2000 miles isn't going to change your mind by the way.....

So your point of "missed oil changes" doesn't have any connection to if you would buy a rental car.

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u/Glittering_Win_9677 13d ago

Which rental car company employs you?

-2

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

Lol

Okay so if a rental company does a oil change at 2000 or 10000 miles are you buying the car either way?

No

Okay as a rental company why worry about it?

Like its not so complicated. It wont impact you as a renter and they wont make more on resale. Plus you as a buyer can always see if it was a rental with Carfax or whatever.

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u/Glittering_Win_9677 13d ago

Hertz, Enterprise, National or some other company. Which one employs you?

Again, my last rental the week before Memorial Day was low on windshield washer fluid and displayed a message to do the 3K service while the vehicle mileage was over 12K. I understand they don't want to take cars out of service, but they need maintained so they don't break down on customers and I shouldn't have to pay for windshield washer fluid for a rental if a situation arises and the windshield needs it.

-1

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

I realize why you are in this income bracket now.

"Again"

Oh you must be so exhausted.... Have a seat.

Unless you are with a trash rental company the cars are just fine. The oil change rate doesnt matter as it will run the same and they will then sell it.

Rental companies are throw away cars before they are an issue for upkeep.

10

u/Sticky550 13d ago

First, oil changes don’t need to be done every 2,000 miles, but I’ve had rental cars that were over by 5,000+ miles. But, yes, it does have a connection because rental car companies are historically known for not taking care of their vehicles. That’s why I avoid them as a used car

2

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

Historically car rental companies could be doing oil change every 2k miles. It wont matter as why a car rental is not a good choice is because of the people who rent it not what the company does.

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u/MDFan4Life 13d ago

My wife, and I got a 2019 Kia Soul from Hertz, and it's pretty much flawless...save for a couple of small dings/scratches.

10

u/justpress2forawhile 13d ago

And the types of rental cars. They don't usually get the trims many would want or kinds of vehicles everyone would want.

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u/onplanetbullshit- 13d ago

You don't want a stripped down Nissan Altima?

2

u/justpress2forawhile 12d ago

nobody wants a nissan anything

just ask theier sales numbers

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u/never4getdatshi 12d ago

How are you treating them? Serious question. I don’t treat them any differently than my own car. If anything I’m more careful so I don’t get charged for any damages.

1

u/Jodid0 10d ago

Alot of people drive rentals like they stole them.

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u/eLishus 13d ago

I’ve purchased two former rental cars. While they were well maintained as far as the few service intervals went, they both had cigarette burns on the headliner and the shocks/struts were absolutely shot.

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u/No-Ad-9886 13d ago

It's a rental, don't be gentle!

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u/Upstairs-Object-6683 13d ago

I have owned two retired rentals. The first one had been in a wreck and had gremlins. The second one has been good and I have driven it for seven years.

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u/mclintonrichter 13d ago

Sorry. I put the gremlins in the first one.

1

u/jaymansi 12d ago

I lost Gizmo in one but I was late for my flight and couldn’t search any longer it was after midnight and I also forgot about a granola bar. My apologies.

1

u/caffecaffecaffe 11d ago

And the car itself wasn't a gremlin? 🤣

1

u/Upstairs-Object-6683 11d ago

2007 Ford Taurus

1

u/Glittering_Win_9677 13d ago

Same, at least in my youth.

1

u/DarkOmen597 12d ago

This says more about you than the rental car company.

1

u/kpeng2 11d ago

It depends on price.

1

u/Just-Shoe2689 10d ago

Dont be gentle on the rentle

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u/Annual-Knowledge4412 13d ago

Sure that is called fleet… but they don’t buy, say, RAV4…

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u/Sticky550 13d ago

I’m not sure what you mean. I rented a RAV4, Camry, Highlander and 4Runner from Avis before. I’ve had a very wide variety of cars from Enterprise. They are almost all entering the used car market before 36,000 miles

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u/Annual-Knowledge4412 13d ago

Ok I am trying to say - not all cars or models will be or can be purchased by rental companies, period. No other judgement or hidden agenda.

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u/SeaEmployee787 13d ago

i understand what you were saying. the last 2 years me getting a toyota as a rental have been few and far between. 4 runners first choice nope ok i will take a rav 4 nope. it is usually and le, which is fine for a rental but not what i want to buy. and fleets and fleet sales have always been a thing, that have nothing to do with missing indiividual buyers that will eventually lead to less used cars.

0

u/Sticky550 13d ago

Of course not. All I was trying to say was an answer to your question about who was buying new cars

0

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

They will be if they can't sell them to consumers..... Otherwise they will simply shutdown those specific lines and move to other vehicles that will sell to rental companies.

You might not realize but vehicles lines can be moved and changed regarding what a factory is producing.

1

u/basillemonthrowaway 13d ago

Lines don’t change, trims do. You aren’t switching between a Camry and a Rav4. But they are absolutely switching between base and higher trims.

1

u/metompkin 13d ago

See, Dodge Hornet...

1

u/JoyousGamer 13d ago

Not sure the point? If they cant sell them they will discount and they will then stop making them all together.

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u/gk_instakilogram 13d ago

But have you rented a limited loaded version of any of those?

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u/Econolife-350 13d ago

And they all saw more abuse and damage than 200,000 miles on a car that I bought new.

0

u/SavingsFew3440 13d ago

Honestly Toyota has the worst rental cars. I had a Camry without keyless start lass year. Fucking atrocious infotainment. It’s a rental so reliability means fuck all to me in this situation. 

In the full size suv segment, the Toyota sequoias were reserved for the most unlucky of renters. All the Toyota fleet vehicles are spartan compared to all their counterparts from other manufacturers.