Man Is On The Brink Of Buying A Toyota. Then Something On The CARFAX Report Catches His Eye: ‘Seems To Be Happening More And More’

A car salesman says a customer walked away from a low-mileage Toyota RAV4 at the last minute because the Carfax said the vehicle had once been a rental. When the salesman asked whether the buyer would trust a repossessed car instead, the answer surprised him enough to turn it into a video and a question for his viewers.

His 1-minute, 18-second clip has drawn hundreds of comments arguing over the trustworthiness of a former rental, a repossession, or a rebuilt title.

The video was posted by Iain (@iain.sells.cars), a salesman in Amarillo, Texas, whose channel is built around car-buying advice. His caption laid out the matchup: "Rebuilt title vs repo vs rental."

The Customer Who Walked

Iain tells the whole story from the front seat of his car.

"I just had a customer leave the dealership because of one thing on the Carfax," he says. "A lot of dealerships buy cars from Enterprise and Hertz to put on their lot. This vehicle was a RAV4. It was a previous rental vehicle. He said he wouldn't purchase it because it was a rental. He doesn't care how low the miles are or how new it is or how well maintained."

The part that surprised Iain came next. He asked the man if he’d trust a repossessed vehicle. “And he said, yeah, I think I would trust a repo over a rental,” he says.

"That kind of blew my mind, because I feel like rentals are usually taken care of pretty well,” Iain continues. “Yes, they can also get driven really hard, but usually they got great warranties." He closes by putting the three options—rental, repo, and rebuilt title—to the comments and asking which people would trust most, "assuming it was priced accordingly."

Why There Are More Rentals, Repos, And Write-Offs

Iain's aside that this "seems to be happening more and more" is grounded in the current used car market, where all three of the histories he named are showing up in larger numbers.

Repossessions have surged according to a January report from Cox Automotive, that put yearly auto repossessions up about 43% between 2022 and 2024, to 1.73 million units repossessed, the highest total since 2009. This is partly due to buyers who stretched for expensive loans in 2022 and 2023 and fell behind.

Rebuilt title cars are multiplying for a different reason. Insurers are declaring more damaged vehicles total losses because repairs have gotten more expensive. Total loss frequency rose to a record 23% of auto claims in 2025, according to CCC's Crash Course report, driven by an aging fleet, tariff-inflated parts prices, and the cost of recalibrating the sensors and driver-assistance systems on newer cars.

Every one of those totaled cars can be bought at auction, repaired, and retitled as rebuilt.

Rental fleets, meanwhile, have long fed used lots through Enterprise, Hertz and dealer auctions.

What Each Designation Actually Means

The three histories carry different risks, and only one draws a blanket warning from consumer advocates.

A rebuilt title, also known as a salvage title, means an insurer once declared the car a total loss and someone repaired it and it passed a state inspection. Nevertheless, Consumer Reports advises against buying rebuilds: "Generally, most car shoppers should stay away from rebuilt titles," its auto-data leader Steve Elek told the magazine, noting that the cars commonly sell for 20% to 50% less than a clean title equivalent, are hard to insure beyond liability coverage, and are difficult to resell.

A repo and a rental say nothing directly about the car's condition. A repossession means the previous owner stopped making payments, and the recurring worry in Iain's comments was that someone who could not make a car payment probably skipped maintenance too.

A rental means the car was driven by many people, though it also means it sat on a corporate maintenance schedule.

Which Option Do People Prefer: Rental, Repo, Or Rebuilt Title?

Iain's audience could not agree on a preference.

Many commenters ranked rentals first on the strength of service records. "Rentals equal on a maintenance schedule and took care of mechanically. Would buy easily," wrote The Monologue, who drew the line at the vehicle type: "Nobody is going to be hard on a RAV4 rental. It's a different story if the rental was a Mustang."

Others cast doubt on rentals based on their own previous treatment of other people's cars. "Oh yes. We used to jump them, and off-road rally style drive them," wrote myrickwd. "Beat on a rental, not your own car."

Others sided with Iain's customer. "Repo is the only one I would consider," wrote Curzon Dax, reasoning that "rebuilt was usually wrecked or flooded" and "rental could mean the vehicle was abused by multiple people."

A self-identified veteran of the trade offered the contrarian take that all three are fine at the right price.

"I've been in the car business for many years and I'm noticing these days that the salvage titles are the extremely low mile cars, and they total cars these days for some of the most ridiculous reasons," wrote a commenter posting as Dave's, who said he now buys salvage over rentals "that beat the crap out of them."

Iain, for his part, clarified in a reply that his dealership does not sell rebuilt titles and that he was only canvassing opinions.

Motor1 reached out to Iain via TikTok direct message for additional comment. We'll be sure to update this if he responds.