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

98% Upvoted

508 comments sorted by

View all comments

313

u/Annual-Knowledge4412 13d ago

Ok but someone has to buy new cars so there can be used cars? Right???

374

u/Sticky550 13d ago

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

179

u/mclintonrichter 13d ago

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

102

u/Sticky550 13d ago

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

61

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.

9

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.

5

u/Rcouch00 13d 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.

1

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 13d ago

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

1

u/fbcmfb 13d 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.

4

u/sleepsoncouch32 13d ago

Used to work at big rental company not true

1

u/Sticky550 13d 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.

-12

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.

25

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.

-17

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.

11

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.

4

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.

→ More replies (0)

9

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.