Feature: The Spice of Life
08/01/2007
All you need to know about the level to which exotic car-share clubs have evolved is encapsulated by Club Sportiva’s posh bathroom. The polar opposite of a suspect rental-agency WC, this cozy cubicle whispers luxury, from its sculptural sink to its faux-finished walls. Forget Gold Club status, this is platinum.Put simply: It’s more about the client than the cars.
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If that sounds like a country club pitch, it’s deliberate.
With membership dues at many clubs frequently nudging $30,000 for, on average, 30 days of seat time in an array of high-end sheet metal, it’s much easier to lure folks back year after year if the cost of bowing out includes losing connections to a world where people speak your automotive language. And the value of that is obvious to anyone who has ever launched into song about the technical beauty of a Ferrari V-12, only to have dinner guests glaze over in ennui.
Club Sportiva member James Gassel likes to stop by the warehouse-housed club, located in a somewhat sketchy part of San Francisco, for events such as cigar nights or scotch tastings. Not long ago, electric-supercar maker Ian Wright dropped in to talk about the future of speed.
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The Van Horssen Group not only provides members
with luxury automobiles, they also offer exclusive tours, VIP events, and
instructional programs. (Click image to enlarge)"The cars are certainly central to why I joined, but ultimately it’s the social aspect that has me hooked," says Gassel, an ex-Porsche 911 owner, who now squires his young family around in an Audi S4. "I have a job, I have kids, and I’m extremely time challenged. Being a member here gives me a focused outlet for my passion."
And it’s not just camaraderie that seals the sales pitch. The all-important financial figures also add up. Check in with a range of top players in this market and you get the sense that a growing number of upscale consumers have come to see cars much as they do second homes or jets: why buy when you can borrow?
While automobiles are perhaps the latest luxury category to join the fractional-ownership craze, evidence indicates that the principle obstacle to success—pride of ownership—is being chipped away, as prices for exotics continue to rise and the nature of the hobby shifts. Whereas boomers typically grew up dedicated to a handful of makes and models, today’s up-and-coming car lovers seem to prefer variety, and the newer the better.
"We appreciate the passion many of our members have for vintage cars, but we’re also trying to offer them unlimited access to the best of modern technology without the hassles associated with owning those cars," says Ron Van Horssen, founder of the Van Horssen Group. While based in Scottsdale, the company also serves members in Southern California and Las Vegas, and has plans to expand across the country.
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Collexium claims it will house 100 automobiles when the club is fully subscribed. Members can also advise the club on new acquisitions. (Click image to enlarge)With a focus on state-of-the-art vehicles, Van Horssen asks for $2,000 for a lifetime membership fee, which then gives way to four levels of annual dues—from $8,000 to $40,000. The higher the dues, the greater the discount on a given car; an $8,000 member will pay $675 to blast around in a new 911 GT3 for 24 hours, while the upper tier member will pay 25 percent less.
"A decade or more ago, a $100,000 car was really a rarity, but now it’s commonplace," says Van Horssen, a car fanatic who made his fortune in shared medical services. "You don’t want your assets owning you, and that can easily happen if you start collecting modern exotics."
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In addition to constantly shifting between the finest from
Aston Martin, Bentley and Ferrari, Van Horssen members can avail themselves of
driving school programs as well as custom trips that combine supercars with
fly-fishing, golf and other recreational activities in the northern Rockies. "It
might seem like an odd mix, but people love it," says Van Horssen. (Click image to enlarge)But offering a mix—of cars and experiences—is indeed key when trying to seduce car lovers whose universes tend to orbit around their own garage beauties.
"Pushing variety is absolutely crucial in this business," says Blas Garcia Moros, a former Microsoft executive who runs Collexium, a Fort Lauderdale-based car-share club that capitalizes on both the area’s car-friendly weather and its well-heeled residents. "What we like to say is, you wouldn’t drink the same bottle of wine all year, no matter how good it is, right?"
Collexium stocks cars with the lofty average price of $200,000, and membership runs $10,000 plus another $10,000 in annual dues. That gets you about 30 days behind anything from a Ferrari F430 to a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, depending on the type of evening you’ve planned.
"Who we attract is no different from who a high-end country club attracts," says Moros, "it’s really an exclusive driver’s club." Join and you might find yourself sipping rare scotch with the likes of racing legend Derek Bell, just one of the special events coordinated by Moros for members.
"We want to offer the kinds of experiences that you simply cannot buy," he adds.
That could explain why clubs that once featured a range of older American cars—all the rage if you spend a few minutes watching car auctions on cable TV—are starting to unload them in favor of vehicles that, chances are, your neighbor has never set tush in.
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"We recently divested of a lot of our older muscle cars, mostly because they had rough rides and people weren’t as interested in them as they are the new Ferraris and Porsches," says George Kiebala, who in 2000 founded Exotic Car Share in Palatine, Ill. He’s since added Curvy Road to his business mix; where Exotic essentially runs as a high-end rental agency (after $250 to join, $1,440 gets you a new Ferrari for a three-day weekend), Curvy Road allows members to buy a $15,000 annual share of one particular exotic, and trade that out for access to other pricey beasts.
When a friend told Ron Sturgeon how much he could charge someone to rent the Bentley he tooled around Dallas with, a lightbulb went off. Early last year, he started DFW Elite Car Club, which operates on the same monthly membership fee (from $750 to $3,000) and daily rental principle (spend $2,000 on the membership fee and the daily cost of taking out a Lamborghini Gallardo is halved to $875). So far, the appeal of having someone else deal with the headaches often associated with exotic car ownership has folks buzzing around Sturgeon’s door.
"This concept is a compelling value proposition," he says. "Say you buy a new exotic. You swear you’ll drive it every day, but, of course, you won’t. And if you really total the number of miles driven per year and square that with the cost of ownership, suddenly joining clubs like ours seems like a good move."
Over in Glastonbury, Conn., Lane Brunner is counting on Mother Nature to help spur interest in Px3 Country Club, the area’s newest car-share club. "We get winters here, remember," he jokes. "So, you have a nice Maserati and it’ll be sitting out of sight from October to April."
Px3 has corralled a handful of members to date, each of whom pays around $15,000 for 50 days of access to a fleet that includes a range of mid-level sports cars, such as the Porsche Cayman and Maserati Spyder. By not opting for $200,000-plus gems from Ferrari and Lamborghini, Brunner says he’s able to offer a lot of great driving for less money.
"I hang around with guys who between them own 40 Ferraris," he says. "You just look at what they’re paying for oil changes alone and that can cover a year membership."
That refrain is echoed so often in discussions with car-share club leaders that even the most die-hard enthusiast is forced to reconsider the wisdom of ownership. Eager to forward an experiment, Club Sportiva offered access to its fleet over the course of a week.
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For a die-hard Porsche fan and owner, the prospect of driving—but not permanently parking—any one of a dozen exotics seemed appealing, with an asterisk. What about those moments after the kids are in bed and you sneak into the garage, flip the light switch and simply stare at your baby? What about the hours spent buffing silver paint to a mirror shine?
What about them, indeed.
First up is a Ferrari F430. Arriving at the club, a sign bares my name in elegant script, set on a stand next to the red demon from Maranello. After 24 hours of incalculable fun, time for a romp with a 15-year-old grande dame, a Bentley Turbo R. A few days later, it’s track-like nirvana in a Lotus Elise. Akin to an automotive mirage, the back-to-back borrowing experience immediately impresses with its merits.
Sure, the cars aren’t yours, but what a thrill to completely change automotive personalities so quickly. In the Ferrari, you contend with constant looks and the occasional sneer. In the Bentley, gliding on cushions of air, the world seems miles away. In the Lotus, everyone from kids to grandmas are curious in the way that they’d be with a flying saucer.
Then, there’s the positively breathless relief felt upon hearing that the Ferrari’s sprung a transmission leak. As the owner, you’d have to deal with a fretful trip to the dealer, a sour experience regardless of warranty coverage. But as a car-share club member, you shrug, hand in the keys and ask when the car will be ready again.
Enzo Ferrari might be rolling in his grave at this slight, but you’ll be sleeping oh-so-soundly.
Club Sportiva, www.clubsportiva.com
Collexium, www.collexium.com
DFW Elite Car Club, www.dfwelitecarclub.com
Exotic Car Share, www.exoticcarshare.com
Px3 Country Club, www.px3countryclub.com
Van Horssen Group, www.vanhorssengroup.com