[goddstream]

I was once told, by a car rental chap, that the rental companies don't make money renting out cars; instead, they make money by putting some miles on the cars in their fleet, and then reselling them at a profit.

He told me that the deals the rental companies have with the manufacturers are along the lines of "you will buy 5000 cars at a large discount, but you can't sell them until they have 5000 miles on the clock". So they buy lots of cars at a HUGE discount and then later sell them for MORE than they bought them for.

If this is true, then it makes sense for the rental companies to invest in EVs, because (a) there is customer demand for them, but more (b) because the market for second hand EVs is good.

[null_shift]

Supposedly Hertz is buying these at market price…

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-hertz-full-price-ord...

[Gunax]

If they can sell them for more than they purchased, why even drive them for a bit?

I think rental cars have a lower value/prestige compared to single-owner used cars (the idea being people are rougher and more careless with a rental they only use for a few days).

[notquitehuman]

So much of the “never buy a rental” stigma is ICE-specific. EVs don’t rely on hundreds of hard-to-reach soft parts that can disable the vehicle if you drive them too hard.

But I’ll definitely be checking the battery and motors before buying a used EV.

[piva00]

This is the business model of many rental car companies in Brazil.