Rental EV rant

[Darkpriest667]

Hertz found they are more expensive to maintain so they are selling off 30k EVs in their fleet during 2024.

which means they arent maintaining their ICE cars at all. The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires. No oil changes, no filters, no belts etc. Yeah you have to replace the battery every 300k miles, but they would sell the car before that.

 

[Lonesome Dove]

which means they arent maintaining their ICE cars at all. The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires. No oil changes, no filters, no belts etc. Yeah you have to replace the battery every 300k miles, but they would sell the car before that.

Tires wear fast on electric vehicles. Weight and HP are notorious tire wreckers 40- 50,000 electric cars x 4 tires per every few months is Bank.

 

[Darkpriest667]

Tires wear fast on electric vehicles. Weight and HP are notorious tire wreckers 40- 50,000 electric cars x 4 tires per every few months is Bank.

It's the HP a Model 3 doesnt weigh that much more than a standard sedan (3200 pounds I think). People pushing the pedal down and speeding around in them cause why not it's a rental will definitely wear the tires down. I think they were saying some Teslas were burning through tires every 15000 miles. That's about 3 times faster than my corolla. I'm wondering what the cost differential is between that and all the maintenance you SHOULD do on an ICE.

 

[robertc1024]

I went to AZ for a wedding and pre arranged my car rental. A small SUV and when we got there they had an EV
I took one look and said NO!
They got butthurt when I explained why.
Took 20 minutes for the Management to ok a regular SUV.

Turns out they were pushing them to entice people to buy them. Hmmmmm who started that shit?

Just had a similar experience. Pre-arranged and paid for a rental, I show up and they try to give me an EV. I refused and said I wanted a gas car. Charged me another $100, but I didn't want to have to try to find a charger and wait around for 30 minutes for it to do its thing. Pissed me off. At least I learned the lesson to require a gas vehicle when renting.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

It's the HP a Model 3 doesnt weigh that much more than a standard sedan (3200 pounds I think). People pushing the pedal down and speeding around in them cause why not it's a rental will definitely wear the tires down. I think they were saying some Teslas were burning through tires every 15000 miles. That's about 3 times faster than my corolla. I'm wondering what the cost differential is between that and all the maintenance you SHOULD do on an ICE.

Google says 3,800 to 4,000 pounds.

 

[dsgrey]

which means they arent maintaining their ICE cars at all. The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires. No oil changes, no filters, no belts etc. Yeah you have to replace the battery every 300k miles, but they would sell the car before that.

While EV maintenance is less expensive, it's the repair costs that are higher.
Hertz Costs

 

[Tnhawk]

While EV maintenance is less expensive, it's the repair costs that are higher.
Hertz Costs

Hertz wouldn't be dumping their ev fleet unless they were losing money on them.

 

[no2gates]

which means they arent maintaining their ICE cars at all. The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires. No oil changes, no filters, no belts etc. Yeah you have to replace the battery every 300k miles, but they would sell the car before that.

Blinker fluid refill

 

[Grumps21]

which means they arent maintaining their ICE cars at all. The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires. No oil changes, no filters, no belts etc. Yeah you have to replace the battery every 300k miles, but they would sell the car before that.

Isn’t there a battery coolant that needs to be changed? Seems I read that somewhere, but I could be wrong on that note.

 

[kbaxter60]

The only maintenance on an EV is to replace the tires.

You left off brakes and blinker fluid.
Oh, and firmware updates...

 

[Darkpriest667]

You left off brakes and blinker fluid.
Oh, and firmware updates...

Firmware updates would be the biggest concern for modern vehicles, but I think that is going to affect all vehicles in the future not just EVs, though EVs were the first to jump on that train.
I'm still a big believer that those updates should be applied manually at the dealership and not OTA (over the air)

 

[Tnhawk]

Firmware updates would be the biggest concern for modern vehicles, but I think that is going to affect all vehicles in the future not just EVs, though EVs were the first to jump on that train.
I'm still a big believer that those updates should be applied manually at the dealership and not OTA (over the air)

The firmware updates should be included in the original price of the vehicle. They are recalls for proper operation of the ev.

 

[Younggun]

It's the HP a Model 3 doesnt weigh that much more than a standard sedan (3200 pounds I think). People pushing the pedal down and speeding around in them cause why not it's a rental will definitely wear the tires down. I think they were saying some Teslas were burning through tires every 15000 miles. That's about 3 times faster than my corolla. I'm wondering what the cost differential is between that and all the maintenance you SHOULD do on an ICE.

I’m kind of surprised rentals don’t have some kind of modified throttle response curve implemented given how punching it in an electric has the same effect has revving a gasser to and throwing it in to gear.

I guess the EV manufacturers might not want to do it because it would hurt the chances of someone driving a rental and wanting to buy one.

 

[Tnhawk]

I’m kind of surprised rentals don’t have some kind of modified throttle response curve implemented given how punching it in an electric has the same effect has revving a gasser to and throwing it in to gear.

I guess the EV manufacturers might not want to do it because it would hurt the chances of someone driving a rental and wanting to buy one.

Rental car companies should be concerned with providing a trouble free rental at a profit, not pushing bidens agenda to replace gasoline powered vehicles. I don't rent vehicles to determine my next purchase, dealers offer test drives. A poor experience in a rental doesn't make me want to own one.

 

[TheDan]

And here I am 3 days later…the rental doesn’t even show up in “past rentals” on the app or website, they didn’t charge the card, and the invoice that’s typically emailed immediately upon return is nowhere to be found.

Score!

 

[Younggun]

Rental car companies should be concerned with providing a trouble free rental at a profit, not pushing bidens agenda to replace gasoline powered vehicles. I don't rent vehicles to determine my next purchase, dealers offer test drives. A poor experience in a rental doesn't make me want to own one.

I agree.

I actually googled (yeah, I know) to see if I could find anything about rental companies getting gov incentives to buy electrics but came up empty. didn’t spend a lot of time on it though.

And I don’t expect people to rent a car for a test drive. But I’m sure people who drive rentals for various reasons for an opinion that can influence future purchases. My sister used to end up with minivans due to her work and it gave her a very different impression of them after driving across the state. Someone who just happens to end up in an EV and has a good experience is far more likely to buy one for various reasons, regardless of their initial intent or it not being a test drive. A poor experience obviously wouldn’t have the same effect.

Maybe I misunderstood your post, or you misunderstood mine. Just trying to clarify.

 

[Tnhawk]

I agree.

I actually googled (yeah, I know) to see if I could find anything about rental companies getting gov incentives to buy electrics but came up empty. didn’t spend a lot of time on it though.

And I don’t expect people to rent a car for a test drive. But I’m sure people who drive rentals for various reasons for an opinion that can influence future purchases. My sister used to end up with minivans due to her work and it gave her a very different impression of them after driving across the state. Someone who just happens to end up in an EV and has a good experience is far more likely to buy one for various reasons, regardless of their initial intent or it not being a test drive. A poor experience obviously wouldn’t have the same effect.

Maybe I misunderstood your post, or you misunderstood mine. Just trying to clarify.

Two of my three vehicles are the result of favorable impressions of those vehicles in daily encounters, the other, my wife had to have her camaro.

 

[pronstar]

I agree.

I actually googled (yeah, I know) to see if I could find anything about rental companies getting gov incentives to buy electrics but came up empty. didn’t spend a lot of time on it though.

If we dig into the business model for rental companies, it made sense for them to put EVs in their rental fleets.

They make money buying cars cheap, renting them to cover depreciation, and selling them before major/$$$ service is required.

When EV resale values weren’t in the toilet, they were getting fleet pricing + $7500 tax credit per car.

But when values dropped, they were completely underwater on 20,000 units and had to dump them all before values dropped further.

 

[OutlawStar]

But when values dropped, they were completely underwater on 20,000 units and had to dump them all before values dropped further.

I'm wondering how much they actually lose on each EV sold. Last I heard it was $25,000 no haggle firm on price for every Tesla being dumped. I figure buying that many got them a discount, plus the $7500 government credit, plus they can write-off (I know its not free money) losses on each one sold, made a few dollars on each rental BUT had to spend probably millions putting in chargers at the airport parking lots. Who knows if those chargers were subsidized by some government program?

All in all, if they basically broke even on each car sold off they're still losing millions on paying all the employees to deal with it all, plus the executive bonus packages to execute such a foolish venture.

 

[dsgrey]

Why rent when you can buy a used $100k EV with just 31 miles for $154k?