HJ,
With regard to your article on the contract for Vauxhall Rental cars. 66,000 cars for £900M = £13,636 each average cost - as you say at list prices.
Any idea what ANC are paying for them? £500-600M?
They are to sell them at 6 months old. Will they sell them for more than they paid for them?
C
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During the summer months i did some driving for Enterprise rent-a-car. Most of their fleet is Vauxhall. According to the branch manager most of the companies profit came from reselling the cars to franchised dealers/trade after 12K miles or 6 months. He reckoned Enterprise got a 40% discount.The actual profit from rental is small (and is probably falling due to the growing competition). Enterprise are increasing their long term rental business (3 to 6 months mininmum) which is a alternative to contract hire. Turned out to be a good job ,driving brand new cars to a customer (anywhere in the UK) and bringing back the 6 month old car for deletion/remarketing. Just a shame it was all Vauxhalls !
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ANC probably won't buy the cars, just lease them direct from Vauxhall, and return them at the end of their 6 month lease, or whatever. Then Vauxhall will release them to Network Q dealers as Vauxhall Management cars. They'll be sold for more than the cost of building them but list price doesn't come into it. All car manufacturers do deals like this with the rental companies.
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Someone told me that large fleet purchasers are often negotiated between at least three parties - the buyer, the seller, and BCA (or similar), who are there to guarantee residuals for the buyer at the time of purchase. So the buyer KNOWS he isn't going to catch a cold when he sells.
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Talking of Vauxhall rental cars, I had a rental Astra for a couple of days when they first came out, (97/R reg), a 1.4 16v model with about 3,500 miles on the clock. It was to go on a 2-day course to Sheffield in, as at the time I had a company van and they needed to use it in my absence.
Now I'm quite sure even the 1.4 should be able to hit 110mph+, but the one I had behaved as though it was electronically limited to 99mph! It accelerated up to the red line in the first 4 gears but wouldn't quite go into 3 figures in 5th. Do the rental companies get the ECU "tweaked"?
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Sub-topic: Is it true that all ex-rental cars have been thrashed??
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Almost certainly not run in with any degree of mechanical sympathy as recommended by our illustrious host.
If I get a rental with only a few 100 on the clock can't say as I drive it anything other than normally. If I need to give it some hoof it gets it.
That opinion was developed after seeing how the rental jocks drove the cars round a few Hertz sites. Valve bounce on a cold engine inside 50 yds, you bet!
Then what about furriners brought up on a diet of autos learning what manuals (aka stick shifts) are all about.
Personally I would try and avoid ex rental or driving school cars, but that is personal prejudice I admit.
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Do the rental companies get the ECU "tweaked"?
Having previously driven Eurodollar, Avis, and Alamo rental vehicles, I would say no.
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I'd say its more a case of low power & high gearing, what speed did it get to in fourth?
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It got to 99mph in fourth as well, IIRC. The 1.4 16v had 90bhp, that ought to be enough to push it over a ton, oughtn't it? It went all the way up and down the M1 without once going over 99mph, even on the long downhill stretches! I think it was a National car rental vehicle.
Even my 68bhp Octavia SDi gets over 110mph with a tailwind and a run-up...! (In Germany, obviously!)
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Memorable quote from P J O'Rourke: 'What's the fastest car in the world? A hired one.'
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Fif/DD
Yes, I'd agree about rental company drivers, having seen many 'renters' disappear after return with a quick run to the rev limiter.
In my experience none of these cars have the ECU tweaked, and they sure can get a hard time. I recall one conversation at work about which cars had 'hard' and which had 'soft' rev limiters for example.
Regards
John S
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