Ever rented a racecar?

[911]

I rented a car once for an SCCA school at Daytona in '92. I only paid $600, but it didn't run very well. I was black flagged many sessions. Put it this way, I didn't even get a time in to qualify for the race!

Luckily, though, he brought a second car and I did the race with that. I started 26th and finished 13th. If I would have had that car all weekend it would have been a wonderful experience.

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally posted by cstreit
Both good ideas. Chuck, I wonder if the cost of insurance wouldn't eat up most, if not all, of the renters fees.

It would be expensive I'm sure. But someone is going to carry the risk of damage to the car; either an insurance company, you, or the renter. And if your contract says it is the renter, you are carrying it to the extent the renter might not make good (non performance of the contract). Don't discount that risk unless you've taken other steps to mitigate it, such as a HUGE deposit.

Yes you have legal remedies, but trying to enforce the contract may be costly, drawn out, and you may never get all the money you're owed. Your attorney will win, you'll lose.

In other words if you don't have a policy, you are self-insuring to some extent. If you had lot's of cars rented to spread the risk, okay. But if you have just one car, that is very risky for you.

You rent the car out for a fee. What is the fee for? Building the car, consumables, risk of damage, service and maintenance, depreciation, delivery to the track, etc. You can decide which of those things that you want to provide yourself, the rest can be outsourced (like risk).

The fee has to be high enough to cover all costs, and still make it worth your while. Seems like you'd have to charge easily $1k / day. Maybe $2k depending on what is included.

[rich22]

Originally posted by JackOlsen
My gut reaction is that race car rental only makes sense with relatively disposable cars. $4-500 a day for a Miata is not a crazy amount of money, for newbie enthusiasts, and it's hard to do too much damage in/with/to a Miata. Anyone with a reasonable amount of track experience should be able to drive the car at what feels like 9/10 all day and still not be in a dangerous place.

Exactly. Write off a spec Miata and you're talking 10 grand. Wrinkle a fender and you're talking a hundred or two.

Out here, you can rent a new-generation Viper for $900, but you've got to pretty much sign over the deed for your house in order to get it out the door, liability-wise. I'd think you'd have to price a daily 911 rental in the $600-700 range, to be reasonable, and it's hard for me to imagine the income from that being worth the risks.

I've rented a Ferrari and the insurance issue was not that big a deal. My car insurance basically covered me because it's a street car. The rental agency offered supplemental coverage for the holes in my policy and it was well worth the $100 a day for it, imo.

If you rent that Porsche, you'll probably have to eat any mechanical damage short of an obvious over-rev. Suppose the renter comes back complaining of tranny noise and balky shifting? How can you prove it was caused by his crappy shifting?

Insurance is a must. You have to find a provider and offer it to the renter in lieu of a huge deposit. If the guy has 60 grand lying around you shouldn't force him to buy the insurance. You need to find the insurer so he doesn't have to go out and find it, but also to be sure a renter doesn't come in with some fly-by-night policy. Regardless of the renter's good intentions at the beginning, if some guy punts him in the rear and send him into a wall, or somebody oils down the track in front of him and he writes the car off, he's not going to be in the mood to buy the car. Then there's the question of mechanical damage. I don't know if anyone sells mechanical insurance, but imagine the guy does screw up and over-revs it. Not many people will just write you a check when you tell them it's 16 grand for an engine rebuild for a car they don't own.

As for how much to charge, forget about 10% of the value. Who's going to rent a car for 6 grand for a weekend? You can pick up a pro race weekend for not much more than that. Just because the car may be worth 6 times what a spec Miata is worth doesn't mean people would pay 6 times the rental.

[jluetjen]

As a note, Chris I wonder if the configuration of the black car is a bit too radical for a rental. For a rental you want it to be reliable (as 911 pointed) and then you want it to be reliable. It might make more sense to put a stock 3.0 in there and save the good engine as a back-up for your car.

That will both reduce the value of the car and engine (in case of damage by the rental driver) and in an accident. Body work is body work and as long as it is solid and looks good from 20-30 feet it's fine. This is where fenders held on by Zuez fastners is a good thing. To be honest you almost need to configure the car as a rental from the get-go. Another detail is the drivers seat. In your own car you might bolt it to the floor for the strongest mount and the lowest center of gravity. In a rental it's much better to have it mounted on runners for easy adjustment to the driver's size.

[69911e]

I rented a SCCA spec racer years ago for a weekend. I think the price was $1K. It was a well set up car( I won the race) which my sponsor bought, and they took the rental price off the price of the car.
There are standard contracts for the rentals but I would have your lawyer look it over to be sure it covers you.
There was a guy here in CT, Ralph Pepe, started a bussiness renting out for DE and racing, a 944T and 911; he stopped doing it because he was not making any money.

Chris,
Shall I say more!
PS
You never responded to the sale of your parts that I needed?

[cstreit]

LOL Joe...

Are you saying it might get abused?


I sent you an e-mail about the parts... Sorry I've been swamped.

[Tim Stevens]

Check out trackshedules.com. They rent 911's as well. Hope that helps - Tim

[carnut169]

I've thought about renting my car out as well...

but open wheel would have to be a bit more expensive. A race weekend eats up $700 worth of tires alone. I'm thinking about $2000 for the weekend and a test day with support.... you would get to drive this:
http://www.motorsportsimaging.com/SCCA%20Racing/VIR_04/open/pages/VIR04_0536.htm

[Tim Stevens]

Hi Sean,

I rented out TGPR and you and two other open wheel guys came. To all that are interested in this car - it is a great car that is very fast. For 2,000 it would be a lot of fun – Tim

[cstreit]

It wouldn't make sense for me to rent it for less than $2000 a weekend I think. While I believe the engine is fairly bulletproof, I'm not sure I want to delay with the hassle's of credit checks.

I'd have to do it only with someone I know, or that was vouched for by a personal friend. I'm sure I won't have a problem selling it though. BOY am I tempted to keep the motor for myself, The motor alone is worth half my asking price of the whole package... ...but my 993 beckons...

[carnut169]

Thanks Tim.

Unfortunately, you guys did not see the car at it's best... the engine builder forgot to seal a part of the carb so every time I took a right hand turn (almost the whole track) the fuel would dump in and flood the motor.... come see it at Barber next weekend. Should be running in the mid to high 20's.

When I've seen a car rented, the renter pays the rentee an agreed upon value of the car prior to rental... then after the event the rentee refunds the renter after deducting for damage and the rental.

[greglepore]

Chuck hit all the salient points. Big deal would be getting someone to pay off on a total, unless you bought on track insurance, factored it into the cost of the rental, and made sure that the policy covered a "for profit" user of your vehicle (bunch of stuff to trip over there).

If you're willing to take those kind of risks, and still want help putting togehter a rental agreement, send me an email and I'll slam something together for you.

[Danskman]

I helped a buddy go through SCCA driver's school in March. There were so many Spec Miatas, it was crazy. I started getting interested in the rental scene, and this one rental caught my eye;



Less than ten minutes later, I saw it again...



The driver was sitting in a chair with a sick look on his face...

[john_colasante]

I rented a Spec Miata for an SCCA Regional race weekend. It was about $1000 total arrive and drive. I had to give a sizeable refundable damage deposit (like $5K) and I had to sign an agreement that if the car was totalled I was liable for the whole value of the car (I think around $15K).