Mechanic urges drivers to stay away from buying these used cars

A mechanic has urged motorists looking to a buy a new car in 2024 to 'steer clear' of certain second-hand cars so they aren't caught out. Sherwood Cooke Jr, who owns Royalty Auto Service, has told potential buyers to avoid old rental cars - despite potentially better deals.

He warned that while you can secure great rental cars for low prices, they could run the risk later down the line, as reported by the Express. He said while the vehicle maintenance would likely to be up to scratch, he said customers were likely to have done damage to the cars over time.

Speaking on the garage's TikTok channel, Mr Cooke Jr said: "Generally speaking, and I know there’s going to be a thousand people saying you bought one and it was great, but generally speaking I wouldn't buy a used rental car."

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He continued: "Why is that? The rental car companies tend to take care of them and they are going to do the services on them, they are going to do the oil services and stuff like that. So the maintenance part of it is going to be done.

"Unfortunately, the drivers of the vehicles don't know the vehicle. You're getting in a car that you may not know really well. You're trying to mess around with it, you're looking at stuff while you’re driving down the road, you're hitting potholes.

"Your attention is not 100 per cent on the road like it would be in your car. You know where everything is in your car if you need to turn the radio up you know where it is in your car. This car you’re like looking around."

Mr Cooke Jr added: "You're somewhere where you don't know the city or the area that well. That’s why you're renting a car you’re probably in an area you don’t know. So when you drive around your town you know where all the rough roads are and all the potholes are and stuff like that and you stay clear of that stuff.

"You’re in a strange city and driving down the road, traffic is horrible and you're just driving along and you hit things all the time as far as potholes and stuff like that."

As reported by the Express, Sherwood also stressed it was likely customers would be rougher on rental vehicles than their own car. Sherwood added: "I would say you know maybe steer clear of that. Sometimes you can get good deals on them but be aware they are maybe a little rough around the edges on those cars."