I think you read "beaten" literally. Nobody is saying people bounce off other cars and grind railings in the rentals. It's just rentals get more abuse: no break-in, often loaded with multiple people and luggage, door slammed, left under sun, small issues are not taken care off and develop etc. Not to mention they are already the special trims with all kinds of price cutting done from the factory.
Still, all of the above also gets applied to owned cars too. People use cars for multiple people; people slam doors, majority of personal cars have no garage, small issues and negligence.
Newer cars (rentals or not) have factory warranty, where service center takes care of minor issues without even asking.
I respect your opinion that rentals are bad than owned cars, other things like mileage same; but my opinion & experience is, people will be bad drivers, be it their own car or rental; & even bad drivers will be a bit more careful with a rental because chances of them paying for it immediately financially is more than paying for damages to their own car.
You quoted my comment that people replaced beaters they had with the rentals they bought, I figure you read it as the rentals are also beaters? That was not my meaning, if I thought it's an ambiguous statement I'd try to phrase it differently.
:-) oh ok. In the I would add my personal experience (might not be the majority of people who buy rental), I bought a rental from Enterprise because of no haggle price, factory warranty, low age, highest possible trim & about 10% cheaper than used car dealerships where I had to play & dance the negotiation dance; all this just pre covid.
I was an Enterprise rental customer for about 7 years before that, renting a car about 2-3 times, not preplanned; & decision based on rental cost & availability, flexible dates.
What do you mean by "highest possible trim"? You know that rentals are special low cost trim and it's possible to get a much better trim when buying a car made for retail sales, right?
I mean my personal purchase is everything a retail highest trim offered, same trim name, mechanical, electronics, accessories, brochure, warranty. Not all rentals fit into same mould, rental companies do have basic trim, mid trim & high trim of same models based on their negotiation with manufacturer/dealer, prices & many other things.
