Close
Conde Nast Traveler Concierge.com
PERRINPOST.COM
Travel tips from Condé Nast Traveler magazine's Wendy Perrin. 
CODE OF ETHICS
Freebies forbidden here! You can trust me because I accept no discounts or payments from any travel company. Learn more.
GET IN TOUCH
Questions: Ask Wendy
Email: wperrin@cntraveler.com
Twitter:
perrinpost or wendyperrin
UPDATES ON TWITTER
RECENT COMMENTS
ARCHIVES
FAVORITE TRAVEL TOOLS
SITES WORTH SEEING
Alltop
Boarding Area
BootsnAll Today
The Cranky Flier
The Cruise Log
The Daily Traveler
Delicious Baby
Don's Place
Ed Perkins (Smarter Travel)
Family TravelLogue
Flyertalk
Freakonomics
The Gate
Going Places
Peter Greenberg
High Anxiety
Hotel Hotsheet
Itineraries on Portfolio.com
Joe Sent Me
Johnny Jet
Killing Batteries
Lonely Planet Travel Blog
The Middle Seat
Middle Seat Terminal
Nerd's Eye View
One Mile at a Time
Rick Seaney
Rick Steves
Seat2B
ShipCritic Blog
Soul Travelers 3
Today in the Sky
Travel Deals
Travel Savvy Mom
Treehugger
Upgrade: Travel Better
Viator Travel Blog
View From the Wing
WorldHum
TOPICS COVERED

« Golden Parachute Around the World | Main | Turn Your Travel Videos Into Cash »

November 29, 2007

Renting an Exotic Car? Be Careful What You Wish For

Ourfleet_2
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. I'll take that one.
Photo: Gotham Dream Cars

by Stephan Wilkinson

Car-rental services that offer Ferraris, Porsches, Aston Martins, and the like are proliferating, particularly in L.A., New York, Miami, London, and a variety of other trend centers, so the Manhattan-and-Florida firm Ppost_logo_2 Gotham Dream Cars has  offered us a list of cautions for would-be fancy-wheels renters. Obviously, Gotham has an agenda in doing so, which is that they want you to rent Ferraris from them and not the competition, but their warnings make a lot of sense in what is still a largely unregulated, minuscule industry.

And here they are.

* Avoid casual operators. There are small companies that simply rent out a private owner's Lamborghini or Bentley and take a commission, which for them avoids a lot of insurance and financing hassles. But it means that if you crash it, you bought it, since neither your insurance nor the owner's will cover the damage. Another problem with such fly-by-nights is that the owner can suddenly decide he needs the car more than you do and capriciously cancel the "rental."

* Beware the stock photo. Anybody can put up a fabulous photo on a Web site, but the beautiful Ferrari F430 roadster you see depicted (a shot probably cribbed from Ferrari) can turn into a tired, mistreated old F360 coupe when you pick it up. Some small rental agencies even trade cars back and forth, and the new Lambo you thought you were renting can end up being a Corvette. Explain that to the prom queen.

* Ask for a thorough briefing before you drive off. I once borrowed a press Ferrari that was given to me with a quarter tank of gas. When I finally stopped to refuel, the low-fuel light glowing, I couldn't for the life of me find the fuel-door release, and the car had no owner's manual. It took me 20 minutes to find the toggle switch, and nobody else could help, because cars like this can be configured totally differently than anything one has ever driven.

* Know the rental's limits. How many miles are you allowed, since exotic-rental companies never offer unlimited mileage, and how much does the extra distance cost? What happens if the car breaks down? Are you out big bucks if an overstressed Aston Martin engine decides to swallow a valve on your watch? Who do you call for roadside service? What if the freelance tow truck carelessly breaks the $15,000 carbon fiber front air dam? What damages are you responsible for? Remember, these aren't bulletproof Chevys or Toyotas. They're in some ways delicate; that's why they're called exotics. Don't believe it? Noah Lehmann-Haupt, the founder of Gotham Dream Cars, recently had his own $170,000 Ferrari F360 burn to cinders on the verge of a New York parkway when some fuel leaked and ignited.

* Be careful what you sign for. Like cowboys' ponies, high-performance cars get ridden hard and put away wet. Clutches are abused, tires are spun and slid, engines are regularly run to the redline just to hear the exhaust wail. Small rental agencies don't have facilities to keep these cars well-maintained, and often they're simply brokers borrowing the car from another firm or a private owner. You may have just signed for a 505-horsepower Corvette ZO6 with a clutch two shifts away from turning into a grenade.

Here's one warning I'll add to Gotham's. Because ground clearance is minimal and soft alloy wheel rims often extend outward farther than do high-performance tires, a driver unaccustomed to supercars typically does two types of damage: whacks an expensive front spoiler against a driveway lip, or rubs a wheel on a curb. And these wheels can easily set you back $1,000 or more each.

Comments

I'd add another one: Beware the Gift Certificate.

My little brother gave me the gift of a weekend in a Sunbeam Tiger, in the form of a certificate good for a year. By the time I got around to using it (10 months in), the company had shut down.

Why? Too many accidents! One E-Type bonnet and 2 successive prangs with their Big Healey put them into the red.

It's unclear at this writing whether my brother will ever get his money back. At least they're still answering the phone ... but our lesson is, No more than a small deposit down.

This is all very good advice. Car hire should always be straightforward, but there are plenty of pitfalls to be aware of if you want to avoid disappointment or hidden costs. I work for Auto Europe, and we've just written a jargon-busting guide to car hire, including what all the small print means, and how to make sure you definitely end up with the vehicle you want. It's on the 'Specials' page of the website: http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/showspecial.cfm?specid=1015

click to post a comment >
Prices and other information were accurate at press time, but are subject to change. Please confirm details with individual establishments before planning your trip.

EXPRESS SIGN-UP Sign up for one of our exciting panels and receive the latest news, travel offers, and event invitations from Condé Nast Traveler and our valued advertising partners.

http://www.cntpromo.com/ex.asp
Traveler Magazine

My Concierge.com

Advertisement

Advertisement

I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Mobile Terms and Conditions.

 
iPhone App:

Create personalized postcards out of your favorite travel photos!

Learn More ›
Subscribe to our free RSS feeds:

Get the latest destinations picks, hot hotel lists, travel deals and blog posts automatically added to your newsreader or your personalized homepage.

Learn More ›

Special Advertisement

Contests & Sweepstakes