If you can find the same car as a private, one owner sale, you would come out far ahead of a previous rental. Not only are you looking at a vehicle that has been driven by hundreds of different renters, that fact is that some significant percentage of those drivers have beat and abused it. Any maintenance history may, or may not be correct, or legitimately documented. There could be significant repairs done to correct crash damage that will NEVER appear on a car fax. Rental companies are famous for having repairs done outside of the normal insurance process, and will park heavily damaged cars until a shop will take them, during slow business periods, and repair them at greatly discounted rates. The repair is then a business expense, not an insurance claim, and is not reported. These repairs can be significantly inferior to those done by a competent shop, doing full rate, insurance co. reviewed work. A few years back I had a dealer try to sell me a loaner that they had on their lot. They had it posted as having an accident free Carfax. I laughed, since it was nearly new, but had obviously been hit very hard, on the side. They had replaced two doors, but the work done to the rocker panel literally looked like a toddler did it with playdough. At first the salesman tried to bullshit his way through it, but I asked if GM usually sent cars out with rocker panel finishes that look like they were done with a cheese grater, with deep grooves scalloped out of plastic filler?
Until you have a side by side comparison, it can be hard to believe how worn out a car with only 44K miles can feel, if it's been beat on, all of it's life. I dropped our CRV at the dealer for warranty work. It had 40K+ miles, and actually past the warranty, but still covered for an ongoing issue. I got a one year newer CRV for a loaner. The loaner had less than half the miles, but it was flogged. There was body damage to the hood, rear hatch and rear bumper cover, and one seat had a cigarette burn through it. The car also felt a whole lot looser than mine, and had some noticeable rattles. If both of those vehicles were offered on the dealers lot, it would be an interesting transaction. My car was obsessively maintained and never abused. One owner, one driver and a ton of documentation, that I would present to a buyer if I sold it myself. Sadly. all the maintenance docs. will hit the garbage can before the new owner would get a chance to see it, if sold by the dealer. The daily loaner will end up much like any other used rental car will. It will spend some time in the body shop for light repairs and detailing. It will be sold as a "program car" and bring a few grand more than mine would. Unfortunately, the new owner will end up with an inferior car, with a long history of hard use and abuse, for more money than mine would bring.
