Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 What are people experiences/opinions on these? Having looked around at hiring a drop top recently I've come across a few Supercar Clubs that look interesting. As far as I can see: Pro's: Zero maintainence costs such as Insurance, servicing, tyres etc Get to experience a range of cars that would cost you a few million to actually buy. No need to worry about depreciation Con's: No ownership, e.g once your annual usage is up, that's it. you have nothing to show for other than your 'experiences' in the cars. Cars you want may not be available when you want them Limited mileage The one I've been looking at is £9995+VAT = £11,994 An example of what you get would be: Lamborghini LP560 Spyder for 3 days Ferrari F430 Spider for 3 days Aston Martin V12 Vantage for 3 days Porsche 997 Turbo Gen II for 3 days Aston Martin DBS for 3 days Audi R8 V10 Spyder for 3 days Audi R8 V10 Coupe for 3 days Aston Martin DB9 Volante for 2 days Nissan GTR for 2 days There are 28 cars to choose from so not just limited to those above. I can't decide if it's a great way to experience some great car whilst avoiding lumping out hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy one of them or is a waste of cash. A part of me thinks the £12k would be better spent just buying a car outright Discuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
introspect Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 £12k for 25 days of car ownership sounds like a bit of a ripoff to me. It would be cool to try all those different cars, but there are bound to be some that you end up not liking that much which makes it even worse value for money to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu350z Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 That only covers you for 25 days of the year! (Or 9 fun filled weekends!) What gonna do for the rest of the year? Sweet list of cars though! (especially the GTR! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurrish Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Absolutely ridiculous! Its basically a "pretend to be rich club" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Naturally, your time in the cars is limited. The alternative is adding another £88k to the £12k and buying a car outright. And then paying for the insurance and up keep, added to the £15-£20k you are likely to lose in depreciation. Plus by doing that you only get to drive one car. But then it would be yours outright I've always thought these were a waste on money but I'm not so sure anymore...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Work out what a car would cost you for the year in depreciation and running costs. Divide it by the number of days you could use it (say every weekend, dont think you'd use cars like that every day) and see how that compares to the daily rate of the cars offered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 The full car list: DB9 Volante DBS V8 Vantage Roadster R8 V10 Spyder R8 V10 R8 Audi TTS Bentley GT Convertible M3 Coupe 599 GTB Fiorano California 430 Coupe 430 Spider 500 FX37 G37 Gallardo LP560 Spyder Discovery Quattroporte GTR 997 G2 997 Turbo GT3 RS 911 C 2S Cayenne GTS Cayenne S RR Sport Supercharged HST RR Sport TDV6 HSE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ. Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 My Boss was a member of Ecurie25 for a year... http://www.ecurie25.co.uk/ He had a pretty good selection of cars to choose from and I never heard him complaining about not being able to get the car he wanted when he wanted it. But that said, he does have a few very nice sports cars in the garage already. I think he joined up with the intention of buying which ever car he enjoyed the most. He bumped into Jimmy Carr when he was droping a Bentley off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Work out what a car would cost you for the year in depreciation and running costs. Divide it by the number of days you could use it (say every weekend, dont think you'd use cars like that every day) and see how that compares to the daily rate of the cars offered Ok: £100k car Lose £20k in depreciation and £5k in servicing, Insurance and tyres at the very least = £25k / 104 days (using it every weekend) = £240 a day. Via a Supercar club= £12k / 25 days = £480 But doing it via the supercar club, you drive a different car every month or so, AND you don't fork out the extra £88k needed to buy a car etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I love the fact Sarnie defies the fact that the entire mortgage industry is on its arse! Mate if you have £12k to jizz up the wall on not owning anything for 25 days and owning even less after then I say go for it. Adding another 88k may seem silly but at least you have something of value at the end of it. Was Brewsters Millions based on your life??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Ive also looked at these and come to the conclusion I'd still rather have my own. On the costs, then yes it looks that over a 12 month period I will have spent perhaps a fair bit more owning mine than I would have had I just had one of these club memberships for a year. However - If I decide that Im going to take mine out this weekend, and then it decides to rain, I can leave it in the garage and do something else and take it out next weekend instead. I dont have to worry about making sure I use it on pre-selected days and I dont have to worry if I decide to go a bit further than I planned that weekend/evening either and paying for excess mileage. If I get home one evening after work and I just fancy a quick blast out just for the hell of it, I can. If I want to spend an afternoon on a lazy sunday giving it a wash and wax then I can. You've had a gallardo before, and I bet it felt great just having it sat there when you got home. You could decide to go out for a blast whenever you wanted, it was yours. Sure there is the extra worry about the insurance and the maintanence etc, but so what - having it at your disposal whenever you want it to be makes up for all that. I bought mine because its something Ive always wanted. One of my bucket list items if you will. It will probably depreciate by about £40k in the next 3 years maybe. If it does, so what. Will I look back on my life when Im on my deathbed and wish I hadn't wasted as much on a ridiculous flash depreciating assett? I doubt it. The same could be said about "wasting" money on being in a car club for a year - will you regret it 50 years from now? Not a jot. So if its something you fancy doing and you wont miss the £12k - do it, and dont forget to review the cars as you go along! The daily rate on the above is about £480. Daily rate on owning is say £15k in depreciation, insurance and running, but you can have say 20 weekends a year, plus evenings whenever you like - say 50 full days driving minimum - £300 daily rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbadman Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Doesn't sound to bad if the 12k you have is spare tbh and you have that spare each year, I wouldn't do it myself I would rather own a second hand V8 Vantage, 360 or GTR but obviously these are not as knew as what you could be borrowing. Try it for a year and see how it goes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Lose £20k in depreciation and £5k in servicing, Insurance and tyres at the very least = £25k / 104 days (using it every weekend) = £240 a day. Via a Supercar club= £12k / 25 days = £480 But doing it via the supercar club, you drive a different car every month or so, AND you don't fork out the extra £88k needed to buy a car etc etc. Think you are being conservative with the ownership numbers, but factor in the time your "owned" car would potentially be off the road and in the dealership, and I think its not a bad price. If you can afford a £100k car, £12k a year to dick about in all sorts of other exotic metal isnt such a bad deal. I think it costs £500+ to hire those cars out normally, so there is a saving compared to just hiring a different car each time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 think how many brummy strippers you can get for 12k liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 I love the fact Sarnie defies the fact that the entire mortgage industry is on its arse! Mate if you have £12k to jizz up the wall on not owning anything for 25 days and owning even less after then I say go for it. Adding another 88k may seem silly but at least you have something of value at the end of it. Was Brewsters Millions based on your life??? I'm not just a Mortgage Broker though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Think you are being conservative with the ownership numbers, but factor in the time your "owned" car would potentially be off the road and in the dealership, and I think its not a bad price. If you can afford a £100k car, £12k a year to dick about in all sorts of other exotic metal isnt such a bad deal. I think it costs £500+ to hire those cars out normally, so there is a saving compared to just hiring a different car each time. The hire costs on the top end of those cars can be a lot more than £500 per day, so the club is definitely better than renting on an individual basis. Though the ownership numbers depend an awful lot on the car bought. An Audi R8 for example is just about the fastest depreciating car in its class, with the V10's a years costs including depreciation will easily be £25k. Buy a car a couple or so years old thats £100k now and the depreciation is much less. A whole years running costs is still probably more than the £12k club membership, but nowhere near as bad as a brand new supercar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I'm not just a Mortgage Broker though I wish I had a single ounce of entreprenurial (can't even spell the frigging word!) spirit about me.........it might save me from turning to mulch in this chair listening to morons 5 days a week. Me personally........I like to own things. In 3 years you'll still have whatever Supercar you buy and it will be worth 'something'. Driving someone elses toys for the princely sum of 12k a month seems a bit like a REALLY expensive experience day to me (which I despise but I know some of you love). I know its difficult to talk about your personal weath without sounding like a knob but if you can afford a supercar then you surely can afford to run it? If you can't then in my book your stretching too far over what your wallet can handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainSensible Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Sarnie - forgive me for perhaps stating the obvious. But you have owned a Lamborghini before, so surely you are better placed than (almost) anyone else on this forum to judge the value of one of these super car clubs offers. Seems like a bloody waste of money to me, but what do I know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 On a calculator it is cheaper to be part of the club for one year than own one for a year, and as you are wondering what it would be like to live with a convertible, rather than buy, tax and insure a convertible, why not scratch your itch for supercar driving and satisfy your convertible curiosity in one go? If you were only going to own a supercar for a year and sell it, and only drive it for 25 days, then it makes financial sense just to be part of a club. If you are wanting to have the flexibility that owning gives for the extra £2-5k a year, then buy one. Only you can know what feels right for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 On a calculator it is cheaper to be part of the club for one year than own one for a year, and as you are wondering what it would be like to live with a convertible, rather than buy, tax and insure a convertible, why not scratch your itch for supercar driving and satisfy your convertible curiosity in one go? If you were only going to own a supercar for a year and sell it, and only drive it for 25 days, then it makes financial sense just to be part of a club. If you are wanting to have the flexibility that owning gives for the extra £2-5k a year, then buy one. Only you can know what feels right for you. It's a difficult one. Especially as I've always been against these sorts of clubs in the past. But now I'm starting to lean towards them. My thinking is that I can scratch a lot of itches in one go. The fleet covers almost every type of car you 'dream' of owning. You can get a long weekend in a 430 Spider, R8 V10 Spyder, LP560 Spyder, a GTR, a GT3RS, DBS etc etc. My thinking is that once I've been through them all, I might know which one I really really liked and buy one, rather than buying one outright and then about 8 months later wanting to swap it and taking the depreciation/cost of changing hit every time...... One thing that I do like, is that you can pay a payment of £2500 and then the rest in 10 monthly installments, which makes it seem like less of a commitment, plus it lessens the risk factor should the company go bust, which is not unheard of..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 If you have a scratch to itch then why not I can see the advantage of driving lots of different cars at a minimum cost...i.e not buying each one and having to maintain them. I guess if you have that much money to spare over 1 year then why not....... if it was me then I would rather put it towards something I could own over a few years. My boss know some one who was a member of a club owned by a ex F1 driver.... he had a 911 Turbo for the weekend, took his mate out for a drive . when they got back they decided to go to the pub for a drink, he left the keys on the side, the Mates nipper came home, seeing a flash car in the drive decided to take said vehicle for a spin round the block. I guess you know what's coming....... ....... an accident occurs, nipper does a runner, insurance company wont pay out, bloke has to pay the list price to replace the 911 + compensation....= just under 250K I know he's a nob for leaving the keys on the side and for having a mate who has a son who would "test drive it" with out permission (I believe it was in the news a few years back) If you do join.... read the small print VERY carefully and don't take the keys out of your pocket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Tbh most of those cars you could blag a couple of days worth of test-drive at a friendly dealer, so probably no need to shell out that way at all. I'd rather buy a car outright and sell it after six months and move onto the next. Do it correctly and you'll lose very little too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I'd rather buy a car outright and sell it after six months and move onto the next. Do it correctly and you'll lose very little too. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srobrien Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Why not give it a go for a year and see if you like it..even if it's doesn't seem to make financial sense then at least you can have some fun. You will (probably) never be able to afford all that sweet metal but you can taste it for a few days. At the end of the day you only live once so enjoy your money while you still can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Tbh most of those cars you could blag a couple of days worth of test-drive at a friendly dealer, so probably no need to shell out that way at all. I'd rather buy a car outright and sell it after six months and move onto the next. Do it correctly and you'll lose very little too. Correct, but to do so you have to shell out and tie up, at least £100k, if not a lot more for some of the cars......this way my money stays in the bank. I'm not saying this is a better proposition than ownership, far from it, but it may be an ideal solution for someone like me. I cannot for the life of me decide on what sort of car I should buy, this may help to scratch a lot of itches without the hassle of having to buy, insure and maintain a load of cars in short amount of time etc. I dunno, just exploring options at the moment, gonna see what the other clubs offer....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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