Good or bad idea to buy an ex fleet car?

edwardcasbon1

edwardcasbon1

edwardcasbon1

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Joined
29 Mar 2004
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593
Location
Cambs, UK
Hi all,

I've seen a BMW 320d m sport that I really like, and am going to go have a look at when I get some time.

I rang them to find out some more details, and they told me it's got full service history and it's coming from a fleet company they work with.

Now, in your opinions (I'm not sure yet), is it a good or bad idea to buy an ex-fleet car? On the positive, the car will always have been serviced and maintained, however, "nothing's faster than a company car", and could have been ragged around.

What's everyones thoughts?

Cheers,

Edward
 
The Mazda 3 I bought a few years ago was a fleet car - I got it with around 140k on the clock and took it to nearly 170k with no problems whatsoever. It had been leased by a construction company as well, so I doubt it was particularly well treated. It had however been serviced regularly and always had any advisories on the MOT fixed.

I paid around 2k less than I would have for a lower mileage example, and sold it for exactly what I paid for it.
 
My 320d was an ex-fleet car. Bought it with 58k on back in July and it's got 87k on it now. Not had to pay for anything beyond decent tyres and servicing. So it's just the same as any used car really. Worth checking out I'd say.
 
Depends what you mean by fleet. There's a lovely Juke being sold by arval if you want it. I think it's at Blackbushe Camberley
 
Depends on fleet and especially if it was somebody's company car or a pool car.

I had an ex company car 318i, I bought it on 125k miles and chopped it in for my e38 @175k miles, it had been well looked after and was a reliable faultless car to own.
Conversely, at work we have a number of 11-14 plate Fiesta vans that are used by management on a pool basis and used for fetching stranded drivers and travelling around the country collecting paperwork from various depots, some have> 250k on the clock and are pristine, others less than 50k and are complete wrecks!

I would happily buy an ex fleet car so long as it wasn't used as a pool car and at least looked like it had been cared for by its regular driver.
 
I bought my car at less than a year old with 8k miles on it, was ex europcar fleet. If you listen to some posters, that means its going to explode as soon as you drive it away and will be completely knackered.

It did have mismatched tyres but I sorted that quickly enough and it's immaculate. No issues to report 30k miles later.

Go on the condition of the car, the service history etc just like you would with any other used car. Making assumptions about how it was driven -positive or negative - wont help at all.
 
I bought an ex-fleet car many years ago, it was just under a year old with 17K on the clock at half list price IIRC. I owned it for 14 years before flogging it, the rot was getting in & it would've been uneconomical to keep it any longer.
 
I dont really see any reason to treat this any differently to any other second hand car purchase. Look at the condition and service history against the age and mileage and go from there.

If its been abused it will show in the condition of the car.
 
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