if when you took it for a drive you gave it a good flogging and it seemed to hold its own I dont see a problem. from what ive heard there are quite a few guys on here who have said bugger wearing in brand new cars and have flogged them from day one without many dramas. I personally would not buy a car without getting it checked thoroughly by a decent mechanic. I had a mate who fell in love with a forester gt once and the guy selling it offered an excellent price for him to drive it away same day no inspections. Me and another mate insisted he was an idiot if he took delievery wihtout at least a roadworthy but he insisted hed driven it and it was all good. Finally he caved in to peer pressure and took it to a mechanic who discovered the fuel tank had been drilled into when fitting a sub or something along those lines and the exhaust was completely rooted and the car was illegal. Being an ex lease I doubt youll have any of those problems but at the end of the day its up to you to decide wether you are confident with the car and the money saved is worth the risk (you gota remember in my case it was checked over and also it was a sh*tload cheaper then market value so I jumped on board). lol and yes I realise I probably havnt made your decision any easier haha.

At the end of the day, its under ford new car warranty for another 1.5 years, so if something happens, ford should have me covered. Anyone have any experience dealing with ford warranty if something happens?

Its a lucky dip really

I have a BF XR6 2007 ex Avis vehicle with 38,000km on the clock and it is like new,I am a mechanic and also work for a fleet management company and I look after the vehicle for 22 different goverment departments aprox 2000 vehicles and would have to say they are better kept and maintained than 80% of the private owned vehicles I have worked on in my 25 years in the trade,so if all checks out and the price is right go for.

It would be like marrying an ex pr0stitute, every man and his dog has given it a loadful!

Well said Envy.

You're all being too harsh though, rental cars are great because:

* You don't need to warm them up before redlining, doughnuts and burnouts

* No matter how much the oil light flashes, they never need oil

* They can go over speed bumps without any need to slow down

* They can carry hige loads of bricks in the boot

* They can perform U turns over median strips

* They can go over gutters at speed

* You can put the cheapest crap fuel in them

* No amound of axel tramp will cause the driver to lift off the loud pedal

* They can scrape over and into any driveway

* No matter what you do to it, you know you can hand back the keys and walk away

Funny that Tmac

Your list sounds just like how a lot of vehicles are treated from brand new before they even get to the dealers,do you think transporters,shipping and storage people that handle new vehicles warn vehicles up and treat with kit gloves I know not you wouldnt want to know how many people have driven that new vehicle even before it gets to the dealer,and what do you think the young son dose in dads car when just going down to the corner shop or the cool owner with his hot car. Buying any car is the same new or used go in with your eyes open and check over with a fine tooth comb as things may not be as they seem I have seen a brand new vehicle have 1000s of dollars worth of repairs done to it before it got to the dealer.if you think any vehicle has never been ill treated just because of backgrond you be kidding yourself.

And I wouldn't say thrashed...maybe just well run-in

Reminds of a near new Crumpledore we rented in the NT a few years ago.

On the first day it wouldnt go over 180, by the 4th day it was pulling 210 easy.

Just well run-in.

And pulling hand brake turns are all part of the rental car experience.

That's only true to a point. Of course any car can be thrashed, but all of your examples are of one off general thrashings. Ex rentals are more likely to have been mistreated on a regular basis.

Also, if an owner driver takes their car for a thrash, they're not likely to bash it over speed bumps and gutters, etc. They'll also take notice of oil warnings etc.

I have a friend in the rental business and one of their most common damage issues with cars is drivers ignoring oil, water, temp warnings and driving the cars until they fail, simply because there is no care for the longevity of the car. The rental companies generally don't use the best servicing techniques either. To them the cars are just tools, and cost can be saved with cheaper oil and infrequent servicing.

Knowing the history of the car is a great benefit to a potential buyer, at the least it hepls you pick the odds on which car is more likely to have been treated better. As yourself, would you perfer a T that has been looked after inside and out, had one owner who gave the car the odd thrash, but serviced it more frequently than Ford recomends. Or an ex rental that was given the bare minimum of cheapest bidder servicing, only repaired for major damage and driven by hundreds of drivers in all sorts of conditions?

One of the best stories comes from a mate that works at one of the hire companies here in Brissie, couple of tourists returned a brand new falcon with a dead emu on the back seat.

They hit it somewhere and didn't want to leave it on the road. They ended up selling the car as it was easier than replacing the entire interior.

You mean like mine serviced every 10,000kms not 15k as per book by Gen Ford dealer with full log book history not all hire companies are the same the smart ones know how to look after there cars and get the best possible price at change over its called preventive maintance sure not all are good buys but nor are private owned what im saying you cant paint everyone with the same brush.