Imports Surpass Domestics in Rental Fleet Sales

So when the Asian automakers start relying on fleet sales we find out its a positive thing. Talk about spin and double standards. Relying on rental fleets has ALWAYS been considered a negative thing for resale value and brand equity. Dont try and change it up just because Toyota and NIssan are now rental crazy.

priceless.. they spin it as if rental sales are a good thing when in actuality toyota and the koreans are dumping cars their for sales like the domestics did.

last I checked korean cars don't have awesome residuals.

Wonder if the asian manus are decontenting cars for rental fleets too?

I have definitely tried to use my multiple rentals over the years to try out different cars. I rent primarily from Hertz.

In the past 24 months I have rented a Mazda3 5-door, a 4cyl RAV4, a CX9, a Toyota Corolla, a Nissan Versa, a PT Cruiser, a Subaru Forester, a Mazda5, a Sonata, and a Ford Fusion.

Hertz in particular seems to have a good mix of domestics and imports.

Hyundai and Kia are venturing into the "dumping" territory that the domestics have just (rightly) fled from. Despite all the hype on the Korean companies lately, I still think that their management is going to find a way, like this, to mess up that momentum.

While not necessarily a good move for Toyota or Nissan, it's not really a bad move by Hyundai/Kia since it's probably the best way to get people to try/drive their models (and hence, possibly get "conquest purchasers").

I would suspect w/ the upcoming next gen Hyundai/Kia models arriving the next couple of years, that Hyundai/Kia would roll back on fleet sales.

I wonder if this story is going to get widespread coverage. for years we have been hearing how only domestics due rental sales because they cant actually sell their cars to retail customers. We were told it hurts resale value which is another reason why the know it all import manufacturers shunned rental sales. Now we learn that rental sales are actually a GOOD thing. In fact the LA Times article makes it sound like a bad thing that Detroit 3 reduced fleet sales.

I think people associate rental cars with cheap cars they probably wouldn't buy.

The problem was that GM et al sold the least appealing versions of the cars (underpowered and underequiped) and so renters came away with bad impressions. Although to be fair I think this was as much the fault of the rental agencies who wanted the cheapest cars.

Hertz seems to do a good job of buying cars with medium equipement levels. I had a Fusion a couple weeks ago with the V6 and Synch.

Most rental cars are the base models, even the foreign ones. If rental agencies want cheap cars they are going to get base models. Several years back GM said they were going to sell higher trim models to rental agencies. I had a Lacrosse rental with leather and power seats a few years back.

I've found most rental are base cars but with some sort of "value package" of popular options on them.

I don't see any problem with imports being used as rentals. I've rented several of them myself.

I can't see the rental companies getting the big discounts they do from the big 3 though. At least not on the more popular models.

this is true, i've noticed it over the last 2 years. I rent a lot and I always use National so i can get points toward free rentals... i always take the premium class car. they used to have Impala SS - really fast, rumbling V8, leather, XM radio, and on-star. Every once in a while I'd get one with a sunroof. I never took the Lucerne. They had Pontiac G8 GTs for a short while - I even totaled one! But about 2 years ago, they started to phase the GM cars out. they bought Toyota Avalons, which was surprisingly good - it's crazy roomy (the back seat reclines), it's super-smooth, powerful, the ride is serene, and the front seats are wide, comfy, and supportive.
Now they have Maximas (base, sunroof, but no leather), Avalons, Chrysler 300s (I never take the Chryslers - they have the seatbelt chime that does not stop unless you actually put the seatbelt on - I hate that!). I was absolutely shocked and disgusted earlier this year to see Kia Optimas on the premium row. Never in a million years would I drive that crap.

Couple of points:

1. The rentals I have had (Cobalt/Impala/G6) have been fairly well equipped with power accessories and alloy wheels and so on.

2. An Altima rental return will hold its value much better than an Impala or Taurus would, IMHO. Perception for many is reality and Japanese cars are considered "more better" than American Brand cars. Not saying it is right, it just is. A drive through a Car Max lot would confirm this.

3. The Koreans are a different story. I would think rental return Kias and Hyundais would be toxic on a used car lot. New ones are discounted thousands off the sticker (at least here in DFW) and I cannot imagine any Korean car maker doing well dumping rentals on the market. I like many of the Korean cars, but there's that perception thing again... Again, all IMHO.

Selling cars into rental fleets can go either way. It depends on execution. The domestics harmed many of their brands because they: 1) dumped too many cars into the rental companies, 2) dumped them in there too cheaply because of the excess supply, and 3) built too many low-content vehicles. #1 and #2 led to low resale values. It's really just an issue of supply and demand, nevermind whether the cars were initially sold to fleets or private owners. The Japanese and Korean makers can avoid this problem but not building excessive supply.

Issue #3 led to poor brand perception. I think Dodge is the poster child for screwing this up. I've rented too many Avengers with hand-crank windows to ever recommend that model to anyone. The Chargers that fill many rental lots could be great ambassadors for that brand, but nearly all of them are equipped with the anemic base engine. Few potential buyers will see past that bad experience to understand that with a V8, or even the optional step-up V6, the car's much more interesting.

By contrast, my rental experiences with many foreign makes have impressed me. I rented a Hyundai Sonata and a Toyota Sienna, both with V6 engines and a moderate level of options. I now enthusiastically recommend both to friends who are shopping those respective segments.

Selling product into fleets is not bad. Selling bad product, and selling too much of it, is bad.

I'm not sure which rental company it was from, but a friend of mine flew in from CA and showed up with a loaded Impala rental. I was rather impressed that an Impala with that much equipment was offered. I believe it was an LTZ with leather, sunroof, nice wheels etc. He even mentioned the stereo sounded good. He owns a new loaded Passat, so if he was somewhat impressed with the Impala, then it definitely was not a stripped down model.