Be careful with ex-rental cars. These things have been abused to hell and back; think full throttle on a cold engine, the cheapest fuel available and a lot of unavoided potholes. On the other side, you know they have been maintained, but expect a lot more wear. You can buy one, but you should know why they are as cheap as they are.
The worst part about rentals is that they simply get used more than personal cars. They're always being driven by different drivers, in unfamiliar places, loading and unloading a full load of people and baggage. All the knobs and adjustments repeatedly adjusted. Every threshold scraped and scuffed by repeated shuffling of passengers and bags.
And while they have a policy of maintaining vehicles, nobody who touches the vehicle has any personal investment in it. Due for an oil change, and it's booked out? Out it goes!
I can't imagine how many tires people pop by running into stuff. When I rent with one of the big brands that lets you pick a car off the lot, I usually try to find the car with the best set of tires. It's amazing how many rental vehicles with ~10k miles on them already have 3 or 4 different brands of tire on them. Usually they're the cheapest of cheap brands too.
