I've found a '99 Contour SE, Zetec ATX , extra clean , but I ran a Carfax on it & found out it was a rental ( major company )..do rental companys do a good job with maintenance ?.....I had to let my '96 GL go due to tranny failure & have been looking for a replacement......I might be able to get this '99 for $2800 - $3000.....does this sound like a fair price??......TIA

dude, that sounds like a damn good deal to me, i'd take it

Almost nobody rented the Contours - who even heard of them.

It is likely that it also has low miles - if so, buy it.

beautiful car , took it drive for a drive, wouldn't run......told dealer to get it running & I'd try it again.....was surprised by it having 100,000 miles on it...

Keep looking
I found a '97 with 70K for $5k.

My Tour was a rental before we got it, with 27K. We bought it anyway because we knew these cars are checked out after each rental and are well kept.
We love our Tour. I would take it if you really like it, or see if you can't find a Tour a little cheaper.

find one with less miles, even if it's a little more expensive (that's what i'd do at least) if you can't find another one though, go for this one, but personally, like 'em to be no more than let's say 70K max.

There are about seven contiques for sale throughout different dealerships in fort wayne, including two svt's. Since you don't put where you are from in your sig, then I don't know how far away you are. So for that reason I guess I can't help you. But I would steer clear of rental cars. Everyone beats on rentals. Check out the classifieds here. There is sure to be a pre 98 SE for sale somewhere. Those are going to be your best buy IMO.

Move on. You should be able to find a 99 with less than 50,000 miles for about $4500, perhaps less.

If bottom line is a big issue, here's what I'd do:
If the dealer calls you & says they got it running. Tell them you're not interested in such a high mileage car - especially if it won't run. They'll do a song & dance & you can then agree to test drive it again.

Drive it hard & if it runs PERFECT, let them know you're worried about the no start thing & would only consider buying it for $2000. See what happens, you might get it for less than $2500.

Mine was a rental for 13 days, and had 13 miles put on it, then it was sold, I laughed when I saw that on my carfax. my post was pointless but you should be able to see how many miles were put on it when it was a rental through the carfax, and maybe go from there

"Everyone beats on rentals"

Common myth, most people who are renting cars are not teenaged joy riders. Rental companies don't loan cars to drivers under 25, anyway. Mostly business people who go a short distance from an airport or families on vacation rent. And the major firms keep maintenance records. I've had two former rentals and there were no problems that could be traced to "being beaten".

There's the "Jackass" movie with the guy who took a rental to a race track, but that's one out of millions of regular non-joyriding customers per year.


RE: Hi mileage cars, one good thing is that the depreciation cost is past. The $2800 '99 will not lose as much money as a lower mileage car. Just make sure it was taken care of and has had things fixed.

Originally posted by MrsFurby72:

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My Tour was a rental before we got it, with 27K. We bought it anyway because we knew these cars are checked out after each rental and are well kept.

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I used to drive rental cars at least once a month, I'd say half the time they were filthy. I would ask for a clean car and then beat on it, big time! This was the norm for most of the guys I worked with. None were spared! I was especially hard on Contours. There is a black Eclipse out there somewhere that aged years in two weeks.