Hire purchased

Last month I purchased an 18-month-old Avensis Tourer TR 2.2 D-4D from a Toyota Dealership after reading your car-by-car details about them and also your own road tests reports. The salesman told me the car was “ex Toyota Factory Management “, and extolled the virtues of such a car by telling me how the Toyota staff were under strict instructions to treat them kindly, etc. When the V5 arrived yesterday from DVLA the first owner is shown as a well-known Rent a Car firm using an acronym. I Googled this acronym and found someone with a similar problem on your forum a couple of years ago. I know the prior ownership is a subjective subject but do you think I should ask for some sort of recompense for this? If so, what should I aim for? I am happy with the car but just feel that the salesman should have been more honest. The manager of the dealership will be contacting me next week about this matter so any advice would be much appreciated. The service book does not have the first two service stamps. The selling dealership did a oil change and safety check service at 35,000 miles. The dealership gave me a letter saying that two oil change and safety check services were carried out at 20k miles and 32k miles and were registered on the Toyota system. They used the acronym used by the Rent a Car firm as the servicing dealer. This means the vehicle has not received the full service needed at 20,000 miles. The selling dealership letter assured me that I was still covered by the Toyota Warranty for 3 years/60,000 miles.

Asked on 21 November 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
There is no longer any stigma attached to ex-rental apart from blind prejudice. They are more effectively run in than single driver cars. And the penalties for damaging rental cars are now so huge that drivers generally treat them very carefully. (Completely different matter for ex-driving school cars, though.) The servicing is another issue. You need to check with Toyota Customer Care (not the garage) that the warranty is still valid. If it isn't, return the car for a full cash refund.
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