Thinking of getting a new kid hauler, and it seems that the popular consensus is that a used Grand Caravan is probably the right tool for the job. Most of these are ex-rental cars anyway, so is there a downside to going straight to the source? It seems like they take them out of rotation around 50k miles, which is just about when the warranty expires. Any wins or horror stories to share?
Mine ( 14 T&C) came from enterprise, it's been as trouble free as a used car can be.
We bought a Mini-Van from Enterprise many years ago it had 29K when we got it and had 189K when w sold it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one from them. Only reason we didn't is the wife wanted a brand new car.
In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :
Right now Hertz is very close to bankruptcy. They might be unreasonably hungry and accept offers they'd otherwise walk away from. If you can play hardball now is the time.
I bought a Mazda 626 from Hertz years ago. They had their own little used car lot in my town. Good car, good price, and it still had factory powertrain warranty remaining. I agree that you can probably get a great deal on a used car from Hertz right now.
Oh, and I recommend the Grand Caravan for sure!
In reply to frenchyd :
They are no haggle so probably not going to happen there. They do usually provide a good price.
There are a ton of rentals out there so you may have already bought one and not know it.
So all those "No Haggle" prices listed on hertzcarsales.com - can you just ignore those?
I successfully haggled quite a bit at a no haggle dealership when we bought the company van. Anything is possible.
My parents owned a Caravan from Hertz for a while, although this was well over a decade ago. It held up as well as the other Caravans they'd owned, if not better.
The Hertz web site has one of those fine-print disclaimers that they are going to add a "dealer fee" to the published "no-haggle" price. So I would say, yes, it is open season for haggling, if you want to shop there.
My neighbors buy exclusively from them and have not had any issues. Of course, it is dependent on the individual vehicle but overall it seems like a very good option
Cool! They are doing 2 hour contact free test drives right now, so that's probably enough time to throw it up on ramps and make sure there isn't anything obviously bad going on.
I was looking at Carvana and CarMax, but my guess is they're getting the vans from Hertz anyway, and a lot of them are coming here from places with snow and salt.
Now I just have to figure out why our Mazda 5 has a check engine light on so we can get that thing out of here for good.
The 5 probably has a CEL because you haven't plugged your scan tool in and reset it around the block from the dealership. 
In reply to Tom Suddard :
That's one solution 
Tom Suddard said:The 5 probably has a CEL because you haven't plugged your scan tool in and reset it around the block from the dealership.
Good luck getting them to take a trade in. Many of them are running out of storage space.
Auctions are shut down. Some dealers are even refusing to accept end of lease returns.
That worked in my favor last month. Got my WRX wagon from the original owner for $2000 after he bought a new SI.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
I highly recommend trying to sell the Mazda5 yourself. You probably do not have to give it away. There is a supply/demand problem in the market too. There are not that many privately sold cars in the market right now. The low end of the market (like under $6k) is just the shaddy used lots with their high prices and their high interest rate financing.
My prediction is that the price of New-3 yr old cars will come down which could mean former $25k prices come down to $20k prices but I predict prices at the low end of the market will come up in price.
It used to be that $3k could get you something drivable and not too old and not needing too much. I think that low end will become $5k for what was just recently a $3k car. With more people unemployed and under employed, the demand for "affordable" transportation will increase. People will be forced to accept options that have more miles than they really want in order to get the price palatable. Or, they will be required to pay more for the fewer miles they desire.
John Welsh (Moderate Supporter) said:In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
I highly recommend trying to sell the Mazda5 yourself. You probably do not have to give it away. There is a supply/demand problem in the market too. There are not that many privately sold cars in the market right now. The low end of the market (like under $6k) is just the shaddy used lots with their high prices and their high interest rate financing.
My prediction is that the price of New-3 yr old cars will come down which could mean former $25k prices come down to $20k prices but I predict prices at the low end of the market will come up in price.
It used to be that $3k could get you something drivable and not too old and not needing too much. I think that low end will become $5k for what was just recently a $3k car. With more people unemployed and under employed, the demand for "affordable" transportation will increase. People will be forced to accept options that have more miles than they really want in order to get the price palatable. Or, they will be required to pay more for the fewer miles they desire.
That's also my expectation. Cheap used runners are going to be the big sellers, and that will inflate the prices at the bottom.
As long as you don't get one used on the east coast you should be good. Race vans lead intersting lives. Captdownshift has an amusing anecdote regarding testing a Grand Caravan's, er, structural rigidity with the sliding doors open 
I've been thinking the exact same thing -- I've got two growing kids and want something bigger, but don't want to spend Sienna money and don't care much about "fit and finish." (Anything will be better than my 2001 Ford Focus.)
I just want something to haul the family and some gear, and recent model Caravans seem to have worked out most of the reliability issues they used to have. I've mainly been looking at the SXT models, which seem to have most of the extra goodies, without costing much more when buying used from a rental company.
I'm interested in hearing what you end up getting and your thought process in choosing that particular model.
Check with AAA. They offer something like $300 off a Hertz purchase. A Hertz Gold Account might give benefits too.
Thanks now I'm looking at a bunch of all wheel drive, heavily deprecated, 5 series BMWs...
I have to imagine haggling is very much possible in our current reality. Businesses need cash flow.
I live north of the boarder and I'm guessing we have different vehicle tax depreciation rules because former daily rentals tend to go up for sale after about 9months/15-30k miles. In a past life I sold cars for a bit. In my experience, rentals tend to have rougher interiors and a few more scratches than other used cars. My wife's car was a former rental, but had much lower mileage, a few scratches and it was a excellent price.
Supposedly newer Caravans have decent reliability, which might make sense since the design has been in production for a long time. On a per dollar basis, I don't think you can buy more sheet metal.
Read this today. You might want to wait a bit longer before buying. https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a32434545/hertz-bankruptcy-would-flood-used-car-market/
In reply to Snrub :
Interesting. Seems like it's worth waiting a few weeks to see what happens.
In reply to cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) :
My guess is it's better to negotiate with the company before they are in bankruptcy. There desperate before the bankruptcy; during it, an administrator will be in charge.
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