Buying a former fleet vehicle, too risky?
01-27-2019, 10:42 AM
#21
Le Mans Master
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If the car was at auction, there are more downside possibilities of the history than benign... add that GM was the owner? That could be a lemon buyback. If it comes with a better warranty than a normal used car would come with (the kind that lemon buybacks get from the manufacturer) then run Forest, run!
01-27-2019, 11:03 AM
#22
Le Mans Master
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There are truly some misinformed comments in this thread. Over several decades I have purchased thousands of factory owned vehicles including a very large number from GM. By far, there have been fewer problems with this classification than any other classification of used cars I have handled.
While there are several ways these vehicles wind up at GM sponsored auctions, most of them were assigned to high end GM salary employees. These folks are governed by a code of usage far more stringent than the average owner. They are not giving the car to the kids for Prom, some random intern to learn on, or taking them to the Friday Night Drags...not if they value their high end job!
In addition, these drivers are generally arriving at service facilities daily. Whether they are calling on dealers or working in home office, these cars are meticulously maintained with all scheduled service and kept spotless while in service. I serviced and detailed thousands of them for manufacturer employees every time they hit the door.
There are a myriad of ways cars become used cars. I have bought and sold tens of thousands of them coming from all of these originations. If it is my money buying a used vehicle, unless I personally knew the previous owner, my choice for peace of mind on a used car would be a factory owned one. I can't speak to the savings of factory owned versus new but if I could save a substantial amount on the 2500 mile one, it would be a no-brainer!
While there are several ways these vehicles wind up at GM sponsored auctions, most of them were assigned to high end GM salary employees. These folks are governed by a code of usage far more stringent than the average owner. They are not giving the car to the kids for Prom, some random intern to learn on, or taking them to the Friday Night Drags...not if they value their high end job!
In addition, these drivers are generally arriving at service facilities daily. Whether they are calling on dealers or working in home office, these cars are meticulously maintained with all scheduled service and kept spotless while in service. I serviced and detailed thousands of them for manufacturer employees every time they hit the door.
There are a myriad of ways cars become used cars. I have bought and sold tens of thousands of them coming from all of these originations. If it is my money buying a used vehicle, unless I personally knew the previous owner, my choice for peace of mind on a used car would be a factory owned one. I can't speak to the savings of factory owned versus new but if I could save a substantial amount on the 2500 mile one, it would be a no-brainer!
01-27-2019, 11:06 AM
#23
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With only 2-5 thousand miles you could beat it like a rented mule and not hurt it. Buy with confidence but make sure it has warranty and hasn't been tuned.
01-27-2019, 11:23 AM
#24
Instructor
Thread Starter
There are truly some misinformed comments in this thread. Over several decades I have purchased thousands of factory owned vehicles including a very large number from GM. By far, there have been fewer problems with this classification than any other classification of used cars I have handled.
While there are several ways these vehicles wind up at GM sponsored auctions, most of them were assigned to high end GM salary employees. These folks are governed by a code of usage far more stringent than the average owner. They are not giving the car to the kids for Prom, some random intern to learn on, or taking them to the Friday Night Drags...not if they value their high end job!
In addition, these drivers are generally arriving at service facilities daily. Whether they are calling on dealers or working in home office, these cars are meticulously maintained with all scheduled service and kept spotless while in service. I serviced and detailed thousands of them for manufacturer employees every time they hit the door.
There are a myriad of ways cars become used cars. I have bought and sold tens of thousands of them coming from all of these originations. If it is my money buying a used vehicle, unless I personally knew the previous owner, my choice for peace of mind on a used car would be a factory owned one. I can't speak to the savings of factory owned versus new but if I could save a substantial amount on the 2500 mile one, it would be a no-brainer!
While there are several ways these vehicles wind up at GM sponsored auctions, most of them were assigned to high end GM salary employees. These folks are governed by a code of usage far more stringent than the average owner. They are not giving the car to the kids for Prom, some random intern to learn on, or taking them to the Friday Night Drags...not if they value their high end job!
In addition, these drivers are generally arriving at service facilities daily. Whether they are calling on dealers or working in home office, these cars are meticulously maintained with all scheduled service and kept spotless while in service. I serviced and detailed thousands of them for manufacturer employees every time they hit the door.
There are a myriad of ways cars become used cars. I have bought and sold tens of thousands of them coming from all of these originations. If it is my money buying a used vehicle, unless I personally knew the previous owner, my choice for peace of mind on a used car would be a factory owned one. I can't speak to the savings of factory owned versus new but if I could save a substantial amount on the 2500 mile one, it would be a no-brainer!
It could be an internal database, access restricted to GM employees only. Do you know of any such database? You can PM me its name, i can see if any of the GM salaried folks i know can look it up.
01-27-2019, 03:52 PM
#25
Is there a way one can look up the usage/history of a GM fleet vehicle using the VIN number? A company as big as GM should obviously have a well maintained database of their fleet vehicles and its usage.
It could be an internal database, access restricted to GM employees only. Do you know of any such database? You can PM me its name, i can see if any of the GM salaried folks i know can look it up.
It could be an internal database, access restricted to GM employees only. Do you know of any such database? You can PM me its name, i can see if any of the GM salaried folks i know can look it up.
There actually are a very limited number of uses that a car with miles would have been used for. They use vehicles primarily for employee cars. They use them for display vehicles often either at events, shows, or at their facilities. Generally those do not have miles to speak of. They use them as event courtesy cars for such things as golf tournaments. Those are loaned to the participants for a short period of time during the event and are often distributed to local dealers after the event.
There are vehicles used for press testing but they will normally have a higher mileage accumulation. There are technician training vehicles but they often have very few miles. You are not going to be offered a Lemon Law vehicle or other "branded" type vehicle without it being disclosed.
I can imagine the dealer offering the vehicle for sale would gladly offer the source if asked nicely. They are not going to give you the persons name and location but should be able to give you the actual use. Contrary to popular opinion, dealers are not going to automatically lie to you about such things that can be easily tracked.
01-27-2019, 04:12 PM
#26
Melting Slicks
There's a dealer in NE Wisconsin (Jorns) that bids on the GM management Corvettes regularly. There's a guy in my Corvette club that bought a C5 and C7 that were in the GM fleet. No problems and good deal on price. Cars were in great shape.