Comments on: Avis Rents ‘Vettes

By: blautens

blautens — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:07:33 +0000

Much better headline…kudos. That’s why I love this site…

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:38:41 +0000

The point has already been made, but I’m going to go ahead and make it again. Yes you can rent any number of exotic cars in Vegas and other touristy spots, for a price. At $165/day, an Avis Corvette rental is significantly less than even a Porsche Boxster, ~$250, and considerably less than the more exotic cars from Ferrari and the like that can top $1,000 per day. Given the choice between a Hertz Mustang and an Avis Corvette, I’ll go Avis.

By: threeer

threeer — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:42:33 +0000

Great..so places like Vegas and Beverly Hills get the Vettes and Ferraris…but here in Charleston, SC it won’t be likely that I’ll be able to pop down to the rental fleet and find anything remotely resembling this kind of fun. Heck, I was really only looking to find a local place that would rent a Wrangler for a weekend…

By: whynotaztec

whynotaztec — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:26:31 +0000

I’m impressed to see the headline change! No bias implied on my part, just thought that “fleet sales” never means something good. I think the meat of the original post is as Justin points out, esp. #2 and #3. Have given up trying to rent the Hertz Mustang, it was never available. Maybe we have a better shot with the Vette now, and at a great price as mentioned.

By: Justin Berkowitz

Justin Berkowitz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:02:17 +0000

A few things to mention, as the author of this post.

1. Yes, Corvettes (and Ferraris and whatever else you like) have long been available through specialty rental companies and in places like Beverly Hills. What’s significant here is that it’s Avis, which has a very strong relationship with GM.

2. Also, it’s $165 a day. Check out some of the independent places’ prices and you’ll find that it’s a lot more expensive to rent a Corvette from them than $165 bucks. 300 a day seems to be the norm.

3. The theme here isn’t “bad on GM.” We’re talking extremely low volume. The theme is “I’m excited.” It’s a great price to rent this car. And as it says in the post, more and more people are giving up on fun daily drivers in the name of mileage. It’s great to give them the option (and I mean great in a business sense) of driving something outrageously powerful and fun on vacation.

By: Robert Farago

Robert Farago — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:52:50 +0000

Normally, I delete posts which accuse this site of anti or pro-domestic (yes pro) bias. In this case, point taken.

I’ve changed the headline from:

The Chevrolet Corvette Begins Fleet Sales

to:

Avis Rents ‘Vettes

By: whynotaztec

whynotaztec — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:50:33 +0000

As said already, this is really nothing new, so the headline is misleading. At least it did not headline another GM Deathwatch though.

By: thetopdog

thetopdog — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:24:50 +0000

As others have said, this is nothing new. Vette (and other $50,000+ sports cars) rentals have been around for a long time, especially in warm, touristy areas. That said, $165 a day is a pretty cheap price

By: blautens

blautens — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:08:27 +0000

This is news? I can’t remember when I couldn’t rent a Corvette at a number of Palm Beach County rental outlets…

By: Mike Solowiow

Mike Solowiow — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:48:43 +0000

Lumbergh,

Go for the Aston Martin, its worth it, I know for a fact!

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:37:14 +0000

I know what I’m renting next time I go to Vegas.

By: frontline

frontline — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:32:46 +0000

California circa 1990 : I rented a 300Z from Budget in Beverly Hills. I remember I could have rented a 355 Ferrari and various other neat cars.

By: Qusus

Qusus — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:31:50 +0000

At 165 a day, that’s a steal. Can’t imagine this availability extends beyond vacation hot spots like Florida though, which is too bad…

By: CarShark

CarShark — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:18:59 +0000

I think it shows that car rental companies realized that people would pay more once they injected some fun into their line-up. I hope they get a good deal on tires. They’ll need to stock up.

By: Buick61

Buick61 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:17:04 +0000

Much to do about nothing.

This isn’t fleet dumping. It’s a few cars to a few locations. There are a lot of high end cars on various rental lots around the country.

Rental companies are scrambling to raise profits, and this is just one more way of doing so.

By: Jeff Niman

Jeff Niman — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:14:50 +0000

What are the chances any of these will have a manual transmission? At 0%, I’d still take the under.

By: GS650G

GS650G — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:11:42 +0000

tank full of premium fuel: 75 dollars
Rental of corvette: 165 dollars
Speeding ticket on the turnpike: 185 dollars
Doing donuts in parking lots all over florida and returning the car missing a 1/4″ of rubber and a clutch: priceless

By: AKM

AKM — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:09:12 +0000

Hey, it’s much cheaper than renting luxury cars or track time!!

But given that most corvettes I see are driven UNDER the speed limit by the geriatric crowd, maybe they won’t even take that much abuse.