To get this thread back on track...
While I personally have never rented an "exotic", I have rented a few of the more exclusive cars that you won't find at your local AVIS or Enterprise. Some of my friends have rented the more exotic cars like a Viper and a 911 Turbo so I can offer some explanations. Specifically, the two cars I rented were an S2000 and an MR2 Spyder. Both times I took the cars to Buttonwillow Raceway for an open track event. We covered this topic recently on VWVortex and I'm feeling kind of lazy so I will just repost what I wrote there.
The question there was basically "Renting sports cars and heading to the track..."
My friends and I have done it several times for open track days. My two times involved an S2000 and an MR2 Spyder. Other cars have included Boxsters, other S2000s, a 911 Turbo and an IS300. We've never received any grief when returning the cars for any kind of abuse when returning the cars even though the tires were showing quite a bit of wear.
The time that I took the MR2 Spyder, we actually rounded up 5 of them in total and took them to Buttonwillow. It was tons of fun. Even the instructors and track marshals out there said it looked like a lot of fun. We compared it to the MR Challenge in Gran Turismo.
Here's a shot of 4 of the 5:
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Then someone on Vortex asked where we rented from and another person mentioned your insurance doesn't cover you on a track - so I replied with this:
We have used Budget of Beverly Hills along with their location in Marina Del Rey as well as Midway Car Rental in Santa Monica. Both seem to have reasonable rates and a good selection of desireable, fun cars. Midway is one of the few that has cars with manual transmissions. I know my friend recently rented a TSX w/6-speed from them along with an RX8. Budget Beverly Hills often has very high end cars available, but the prices on those can be rather steep. You are providing your own insurance in these situations, and most insurance policies will cover you for educational track days/driver training as long as there is no timing and scoring involved. Check your policy before heading out. Also if you want to rent something exotic like a Ferrari or Lamborghini which can also be found at rental agencies around LA, make sure that you have adequate comprehensive coverage in your policy to cover the full replacement value of the car. Basic coverage is not going to cut it with these agencies and they will call your insurance company to verify that you have that coverage, so be prepared.
I think we paid $180 for two days for the MR2s which wasn't cheap, but it was certainly worth it. That included 300 miles I think and we went over by about 100 miles so there were some charges on top of that. Rolling in the track fees I think I spent about $350 total, but the MR2 is great fun on the track - much more fun than it's 130hp figure would have you believe. If it had the 180hp Celica engine and a more usable trunk like the last MR2, it would be the perfect car for me.
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The insurance part is really most important - get it wrong and you could find yourself owning the car that you wreck. If the two of you are going to rent the car I would make sure that each of you has insurance coverage that will cover the full replacement value of the car. You also need to be certain that your policy will cover you in a rental car, especially one that is of much greater value than the car you normally insure. Some insurance policies and laws in different states might change when/how you are covered so just call your insurance company ahead of time to make sure. Also, if you have low levels of coverage, it is possible with some companies to increase your coverage for a short period of time to cover you while you have the car. None of these rental agencies will sell you any kind of damage waiver, so if you break it, it's coming out of your pocket.
The last points I'll make is that if you do get yourselves behind the wheel of a car that has double or triple the power that you're used to, please be careful. Drive within your comfort zone until you get used to the car. I consider myself to be a good driver, but I never jump behind the wheel of any car I'm not familiar with and test it's limits right away. If you want this experience to be a fun one - take it easy at first. Also, since you'll be sharing the car make sure to set some rules for how much time each of you will get to drive the car ahead of time. When two of my friends rented a Viper for a weekend, they ended up fighting about who had the car longer. It was really childish, so just work out those details before you sign the rental contract.
BTW: Egz if you're reading this, I never answered your question on Vortex - No - the rental agencies did not know what are plans were for the cars. They just thought we were looking for a weekend of fun, which is exactly what we have had each time.
EDIT: I just remembered two other important facts - I should have mentioned them in the Vortex thread as well.
First, don't be surprised if these rental agencies want a security deposit of $1000 - $5000 dollars in order to rent the cars. They can do this by taking a hold on your credit card for the amount, so don't think you need that much cash. Just be sure ahead of time that one of the renters has that much free space on a credit card in order to rent the car. I know on the S2000 I rented from Budget in Marina Del Rey they wanted a $3000 security deposit. Luckily I keep my credit card balances low.
The other one - and this mainly applies to the high end exotics is that they will charge you for every mile you drive. Usually the charge is somewhere around .25¢ a mile and in some cases they only give you 50 free miles. As you can imagine - those charges add up fast especially if you are 'foot to the floor' so ask ahead of time about those terms. Some people think that if they can scrounge together the money for the daily rate that they are home free, but that's really not the case.
>8^)
ER
