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How to Sign Up for a Car-Share Club (with 4 of Our Favorites)
By Chuck Tannert
Published on: August 10, 2007
If you think hot-to-trot, high-performance, high-dollar hardware are play toys only of the rich and famous, think again. Thanks to the growing number of time-share car clubs popping up in cities all over the country, even the average Joe can climb behind the wheel of a sleek exotic like the new Ferrari 599 GTB, a drop-top classic like a 1957 Porsche Speedster, or infamous Detroit muscle like the 1969 Chevelle Super Sport without having to mortgage the homestead. “Compared to luxe car rental places that charge, say, two grand or more a day for a Ferrari 348 GTB, these clubs are actually quite economical,” says Tim Kintzel, a young emergency room physician and charter member of Classic Car Club Manhattan. “CCC members can borrow the club’s cars for a fraction of that.” And they can do so without any of the hassles or cost (insurance, maintenance, repair, storage, etc.) of actually owning one of these temperamental, yet fun-to-drive rides. All CCC members have to do is pay for the gas.
Brothers David and Philip Kavanagh pioneered the club concept by opening the first Classic Car Club (CCC) in the Soho section of London in 1995. Today, they have three locations across the pond, and last summer opened the first CCC here in the United States. As popular as the concept is in the U.K., Philip Kavanagh says it’s going to be even more so here: “Since opening the Manhattan location last July, we’ve already signed up 175 members and expect to reach max capacity of 500 within the next 18 months. That’s way ahead of our projections.” And CCC isn’t the only outfit on the block that’s booming right now. “We currently have 200 members, and are adding about 10 to 12 members per month,” says Torbin Fuller, owner and operator of the Bay Area’s Club Sportiva, the first time-share car club to open stateside, in 2003. Although there are a number of smaller regional clubs servicing car enthusiasts, there are only two clubs other than Classic Car Club and Club Sportiva that can claim national aspirations: Exotic Car Share and the Van Horssen Group. Currently, these four clubs have outposts in a total of six major cities. But all plan major expansions during the next year. Though each club offers its members an eclectic selection of sports cars, classics and luxury saloons, each attracts a slightly different type of car enthusiast, from young professionals looking to get behind the wheels of rides they’ve read about but never driven to hard-core gear heads who love the smell of unleaded in the morning to blue-bloods looking to drive the best of the best. Here’s a taste of what our four faves have to offer, who they attract as members, and where you’ll be able to find them down the road.
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Equal Opportunity Operation Classic Car Club, Manhattan classiccarclub.com
Coolest Rides Initiation Fee Basic Fees Expansion Plans For the Guy Who ...
1998 Ferrari 355 Spider; 1967 Chevelle SS $1500 $7500 for 750 points (worth about 40 days of seat time per year) Los Angeles and Miami in 2007 Wants to roll with the big dogs, but not necessarily get his hands dirty doing it; specializes in good old Detroit muscle.
Looking for Drivers Club Sportiva, San Francisco clubsportiva.com
Coolest Rides Initiation Fee Basic Fees Expansion Plans For the Guy Who ...
2004 Ferrari F360 Spider; ’05 Lamborghini Gallardo $500 $3500 (worth about 10 days of seat time per year) Nationwide; no cities with definite plans Feels the need for speed and can wax poetic about the nuts and bolts too; the fleet has a very high-performance bent.
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Renter’s Paradise Exotic Car Share, Palatine, Ill. exoticcarshare.com
Coolest Rides Initiation Fee Basic Fees Expansion Plans For the Guy Who ...
1998 Ferrari 355 Spider F1, 1969 Corvette Stingray, ’06 Corvette Z51. $250 $990 for a three-day weekend and $1280 for a full week. Miami by the end of 2007 Doesn’t want to go for the cost or make the commitment of joining a real club; more of a "member’s only" rental agency.
Money Matters Van Horssen Group, Phoenix vanhorssengroup.com
Coolest Bentley Continental Flying Spur; Aston Martin Vanquish Roadster Rides Initiation $2000 Fee Basic Fees $8000 minimum deposit. The per-day price for each car differs. Total cost for the loan is deducted from your deposit. Expansion Plans to place collections in Palm Beach, Tampa, Dallas, Plans Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Boston, Baltimore and the Connecticut or New Jersey area by the end of 2008. For the Guy Who...
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Can’t Choose Just One? Join the Club! DFW Elite Car Club, Dallas/Fort Worth, TX dfwelitecarclub.com
Coolest Rides Initiation Fee Basic Fees Expansion Plans For the Guy Who ...
’07 Bentley GTC, Ferrari F430, Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster, ’65 Corvette Stingray $750 Starting at $750/mo get access to the entire fleet. Nationwide; no cities with definite plans
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