‘This is why you never buy a used rental car.’
To any reasonable car enthusiast, there’s an instinctive recoil at the sound of a cold engine running near its maximum RPMs. It’s a situation that provokes alarm and concern as a reflex, even if the vehicle is an unfamiliar one.
That’s the big reason why a viral TikTok showing a woman aggressively revving what she claims to be a rental Jeep pretty much caused a comment war over purposeful engine abuse and whether rental cars deserve any kind of sympathy.
The clip from creator Revvingfeet (@revvingfeet) couldn’t be more simplistic and unrefined. The video opens on manicured feet wearing high heels, with the right foot pressed all the way down on the accelerator of an unidentified vehicle that is audibly running near its maximum RPMs. A camera pans up to the instrument panel to confirm that we’re inside a Jeep, where everything is running in or near the red.
“Redlinemaxxing Jeep rental” reads the text overlay on the video, which has been viewed more than 1 million times. The rental detail adds a note of “not my problem” disregard and carelessness to the whole spectacle, which helped to stir up viewers offended and outraged by the clip.
Commenters didn’t waste any time jumping in, reacting with equal parts disdain for the driver and concern for the car. Next came plenty of automotive advice and internet vigilante energy. After a while, one got the feeling that some viewers were on the verge of assembling a search party to administer some garage-style justice to the creator.
“You don’t warm it up by hitting the gas genius,” one commenter wrote. “That’s not how u warm up the car,” added another.
Others were even more blunt.
“You’re [expletive] the engine,” one viewer scolded, while another wrote, “No respect for people’s [expletive].”
The creator’s account appears like its main purpose is stoking outrage and getting under the skin of automotive-minded keyboard warriors. Revvingfeet specializes in “redlinemaxxing” clips showing vehicles being aggressively revved while parked. This causes viewers to pour into the comments section to argue over engine wear, offer mechanical sympathy, and debate whether the behavior is rage bait designed purely for engagement.
In automotive terms, “redlining” refers to pushing an engine toward the upper limit of its RPM range, represented by the red section of the tachometer. The redline range is the maximum engine speed you can reach without damaging the car. Operating in the redline range will not harm the engine, and driving normally will not get you into this range.
Modern engines include electronic safeguards that generally prevent drivers from catastrophically over-revving under normal conditions, but many commenters were especially upset because the Jeep appeared to still be relatively cold while being repeatedly revved near its limit.
Revving a cold engine at high RPMs is almost universally discouraged by mechanics and auto enthusiasts. Before engine oil fully reaches operating temperature and circulates throughout critical components, aggressive throttle inputs can potentially increase wear inside the engine. Modern fuel-injected vehicles also generally do not require long warm-up periods before driving, unlike many older carbureted cars.
“Modern cars don’t need to be ‘warmed up’ before driving,” one commenter wrote.
“Most modern cars warm up as you gently drive it,” another added.
For many viewers, though, the bigger issue wasn’t even the engine itself. It was the possibility that the vehicle being abused on camera was a rental.
“You are aware that rentals have a data logger…” one commenter warned.
Another added, “You do realize they have the evidence this happened during your rental.”
The creator appeared genuinely surprised by the suggestion, responding, “Wait, what?”
There’s not a whole lot of solid evidence or standard practices for car rental companies when it comes to how they monitor usage of their vehicles. Warnings from commenters aside, most rental fleets are not actively monitoring every throttle input in real time to try to punish customers for hard acceleration or other overzealous usage. What’s more likely is that usage data that is typically stored may be referenced in cases where the vehicle is damaged or exhibits a mechanical breakdown shortly after a rental.
In online forums, self-identified rental fleet workers and automotive technicians discuss the unlikely cases where vehicle telemetry could be studied for outlier cases, like taking a rental car to compete at a drag strip. The conventional wisdom among those in online forums is that rental companies are generally unlikely to care much about isolated hard acceleration events unless there’s a telltale crash or failure that requires deep investigation.
There is some evidence that rental companies specializing in exotic vehicles are likely to keep a close eye on usage to make sure that it falls within standard guidelines, since exotic vehicles are more prone to higher speeds and racing-type behavior by renters.
Motor1 reached out to the creator via direct message and comment on the clip. We’ll update this if they respond.
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