So are we sure the new Malibu’s on rental lots weren’t bought at full retail, considering how short of supply there currently is.

Of course we aren’t positive, but there are several things that seem to disprove this as being likely. First, rental companies aren’t going to pay top-dollar because of “demand.” They’re going to see if you have a competitive price (this goes for manufacturers and dealers), and if not, they head down the road to the lowest bidder.

Second, the vast majority of non-Enterprise fleet cars come directly from manufacturers as part of “guaranteed buyback” plans – it’s sort of like a fleet lease. You get a mileage cap, an age cap, and set points along the fleet life of the car that have their own mileage limits. Hit any of these, and the car goes to a manufacturer-approved auction to be inspected by a manufacturer rep and then sold to a dealer – with the money going to the manufacturer. The other type of rental car is a “risk” car, where the rental company buys it fully from a dealer or manufacturer (this is how Enterprise operates, mostly with local dealers) and sells it on their own – thus, Enterprise’s constant parking of cars with big “BUY ME!!” signs on the windshields outside their offices. Avis/Budget, Hertz, National/Alamo, and the rest take the vast majority of their fleets from manufacturer buyback programs, and even the few risk cars are very seldom from local dealers (i.e., sales that could be counted as “retail” when they aren’t really). This is why you get more loaded models and widely varying nameplates at Enterprise than you do at any of the other major rental companies – more options means better resale (which is Enterprise’s responsibility then), and they’re widely varied because they find the low-ball local dealer and take whatever they can get.

SkiD666 :
February 11th, 2008 at 11:25 am

Just because Honda doesn’t have ‘fleet’ sales, doesn’t mean they can’t end up on rental lots. It just means the rental companies have to pay full ‘retail’ price.
Higher resale value on a Honda would make up for the higher initial price paid.

I realize this more than you know. I’ve worked in the rental car industry for two years, and have seen plenty of Accords (the run-out of the old model from July ‘07 through the end of the year was monstrous – we saw more Accords at our offices locally than Malibus, G6s, or almost anything else). However, Honda does not have a guaranteed buyback program, and deals almost exclusively through local dealers. I assume Honda Corporate subsidizes these firesales by giving sustaining kickbacks to dealers for getting rid of excess inventory to rental fleets while still allowing them to count retail sales. It’s sort of cheating, really.

In the town in which I currently life, I’ve seen three: two were rentals (though I’ve spent the past two years working at two rental offices, neither was “ours”). One was a retail model on a test drive from the Chevrolet dealer.

I drove to Washington, DC, a few weeks back (about 3 hours away) and managed to see one on the highway. I don’t know if it was a rental or not, as it was heading in the other direction. So, one “maybe.”

I spent a week in Detroit for NAIAS, and counted three there, as well – astounding, as it’s logically enough the American car capital of the world (our rental ‘07 Camry stood out starkly). Two were rentals, and one was a consumer-owned LTZ.

This doesn’t include the ones at the show.

So, in summation, I’ve seen two retail cars (one of which wasn’t even sold yet), four rentals, and one that could go either way.

Meanwhile, yesterday alone, I saw at least five new Accords, 0% of which were rentals.