"LJ909" (lj909)
02/06/2018 at 11:46 • Filed to: None
1
11|
"LJ909" (lj909)
02/06/2018 at 11:46 • Filed to: None | 1
| 11 |
With Valentines day coming up, I’ve been wanting to rent a luxury car for a San Diego getaway. My girl doesn’t (annoyingly) really care for the Mustang, so I’ve been thinking about something comfortable and luxurious. And with a lot of Turo owners on some !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I looked into something I had no idea was offered: Exotic Car Collection by Enterprise.
Its exactly what it sounds like, an exotic car collection, rather what they think exotics are, offered by national rental company Enterprise. Only offered in 19 states and Canada (Toronto) in major cities or metropolitan areas, they offer luxury rentals. But as the name suggest, many of the models they have aren’t “exotic”, but rather mainstream luxury cars that many people making good money own. IN fact, the only exotics they have are the Lamborghini Huracan, Maybach S600, Maserati GranTurismo Ferrari California, Audi R8 convertible,BMW i8, Bentley Continental GT, and the Aston Martin DB9 coupe and Convertible and the Rapide. Everything else is nice but hardly exotic:
Audi : A5,A6,A7,A8L,Q5,Q7,TT
BMW : 640 GC and Convertible,740Li/750Li,X5,Z4
Cadillac : Escalade and ESV (because of course they would. No V series cars at all)
Chevy : Camaro SS,Corvette coupe and convertible
Ford : Mustang GT
GMC : Yukon Denali (why?)
Infiniti : QX80 (another why)
Jaguar : F Type Coupe, Convertible and SVR in both coupe and convertible (surprisingly),XF (they make it a point to say that its the 4 cylinder model for some reason) XJL (and weirdly, the XKR is still on their site)
Jeep : Wrangler Sahara (another why)
Land Rover : Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover and Sport
Lexus : GS and LS
Lincoln : Navigator and L
Maserati : Ghibli, Quattroporte
Mercedes : CLS,E class sedan and convertible in bother E350 and E400, GLE,GLS, G,S ,SL, Sprinter Van
Porsche : 718, 911 Carrera, Cayenne,Cayman,Macan, Panamera and Panamera S,
Tesla : Model S and X
Toyota : Land Cruiser
Its an ok list. Nothing to get floored over if you’re a car guy. I was surprised at the availability of the Lambo and Maybach S600. But to rent any of these, you cant just go down to your local Enterprise or airport and go from there. Nope. Like anything pandering to people with money, to give off some attempt at exclusivity, you have to reach out to them for a quote.
So to start, you can choose however many cars you want a quote on and their rep will respond back to you by email with prices and mileage. So I reached out to my nearest location for quotes on the A8L,both the Escalade in standard and ESV lengths, Range Rover Sport and the GLS. I reached out to them with the cars I specified and a rental length of 4 days. Here’s where I got turned off.
The pricing is terrible for one. The A8L and the ESV were $375 bucks. The RR sport was $350/day. The standard wheelbase Escalade is $300/day and the GLS is $250/day. The real kicker? All the cars get only 150 miles a day with the exception of the GLS which for some reason gets a whopping 175 miles/day. There’s also qualifications that you as a driver have to meet.
While Turo will have coverage provided by the owner of the vehicle that automatically comes with the rental, you, the driver, have show proof of full coverage insurance. Why that is I’m not sure but it could have something to do with the higher end nature of the vehicles being rented. On top of all this, you have to have a security deposit plus the total rental cost on your credit card. But security deposits vary based on the vehicle. That tells me a Mustang GT isnt going to have as a big as a deposit as a F Type SVR.
Suffice to say, I wont be renting from Enterprise and their so called exotics.
Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 12:12 |
|
Solved your problem. Chevrolet Express (or similar) for only $210/day at Sixt. No woman (or man) can resist the raw passion of a full sized 12-passenger van.
Ok but seriously check out Sixt. They have quite a few luxury options that are pretty ok. C-class, GLC, CLA, etc. I rented a CTS from them once and it was nice. I also rented a A3 from them once and it was terrible, but that wasn’t Sixt’s fault.
fintail
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 12:16 |
|
I rent now and then and keep up with this, as the industry is fascinating for some reason.
From what I have seen at Enterprise (via National), some of this material at the lower end (mainstream model BMW and MB, Escalades, Infinitis, etc) will sometimes trickle into the normal fleet for a paid upgrade, or maybe even free, if conditions support it. These cars will often be fairly sparse in terms of options. I’ve never seen or heard of a Lexus in this fleet. For some of the more exotic models, I suspect there’s only one or two cars in the entire fleet.
Hertz has a similar “dream car” program, often with onerous charges, but I think better mileage allotments. I have seen AMG cars at Hertz, especially C63.
Or just go to Germany (yeah I know, a bit of a haul) and rent from a mainstream fleet, especially Sixt. You can get a lot of this material, while not cheap, still a lot less expensive. They have numerous S-RS/AMG/M cars, and other specialty cars. My last rental there was an F-Type S Roadster, which I obtained for a roughly $30/day upgrade from the 4er coupe I had reserved (around $50/day). An easy decision, as the 4er was basic spec. Sixt in the US sometimes has some higher models too, but nothing compared to Germany.
AestheticsInMotion
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 12:20 |
|
You make it sound like turo isn’t ALWAYS good. Where else can you rent a hellcat for less than a 5 series, with zero paperwork? And have someone drop the car off st your door?
|
LJ909
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/06/2018 at 12:23 |
|
Nah shes gotten enough big van kicks from our high roof Nissan NV3500.
But I totall forgot about them. I think there is one at LAX and a few other places in the area. I could go for that GLS.
|
LJ909
> fintail
02/06/2018 at 12:26 |
|
Thanks for this. Yea Hertz has a dream car collection and in certain areas its way better than others. I rented from them once at the Beverly Hills location and it was like a candy store.
But I have heard that in some instances these cars will be an upgrade from a standard car. But its rare and usually only results in something like a 3 series or an E Class. But I have been meaning to check out Sixt though. Like I mentioned to someone else there’s a few here locally.
|
LJ909
> AestheticsInMotion
02/06/2018 at 12:30 |
|
True. But other than that, between the low millage allotments, people charging based off of the badge alone, it can be terrible. You have to really search for good ones.
|
Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 12:31 |
|
Yup. One in LAX, Downtown LA, and San Diego Airport. They’ve got SoCal pretty well covered.
|
fintail
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 12:34 |
|
The last time I rented from Hertz, I was given a 300, and offered a Q50 for $25/day extra. It was a zero option car in far from perfect condition, so I passed. I think I recall being offered a C-class upgrade from National a few years ago for $25/day too, but as I had a 10 day rental and it was another basic car, I passed. That’s a key issue in most NA fleets, the cars are often sparsely optioned.
I’ve had a few E-Class from Sixt in Florida, along with an X5. Still pretty basic cars, but the prices were amazing (all were under $50/day inclusive of taxes). I know they are at least at LAX, definitely worth a look, just remember the cars probably won’t be loaded.
|
LJ909
> fintail
02/06/2018 at 13:04 |
|
Yea the downside is that you often get a shitty base model. I remember once I rented from Hertz and got a super base last gen C250. It was horrible. I will check out Sixt though. The prices look appealing as hell.
|
fintail
> LJ909
02/06/2018 at 22:33 |
|
That was the National C I refused, base. The loaded new style Impala I was able to choose without extra cost was just fine for my needs.
Good luck with Sixt, you’ll have to post about it.
|
LJ909
> fintail
02/07/2018 at 01:11 |
|
Thanks and yea I will. Especially if it goes bad.