He had previously done an analysis of used car prices in 2017 for his job and found, to his surprise, that rental car companies were selling their own used cars at much lower prices than other used car dealers. Depending on the specific model, buying directly from a rental company rather than a used car dealer could save anywhere from 5% to 15%, he found.

All of the major car rental companies — Hertz, Enterprise, Alamo Avis, Budget and others — list their used rental cars for sale on their web sites.

The idea of buying a used rental car makes some people uneasy.

Rental cars also often drive more miles in a year than cars owned or leased by an individual.

On the other hand, rental car companies have an incentive to maintain the cars well to preserve as much value in them as possible and to make sure their customers don’t have issues with them.

Rental companies do offer “certified” used car programs and promise thorough inspections.

Shoppers should also research vehicles just as they would before buying any used car, said Linkov.

He also recommends buying from one of the major rental car companies rather than a smaller operation.

That’s because smaller rental car companies may be selling cars that were already used when they bought them.