TheBen

OK, it was a slight exaggeration...but thought some of you guys might get a kick out of it.

An automotive journalist friend (his personal site http://www.keepitwideopen.com) of mine asked me if I wanted to drive to Daytona this week. He met famed Porsche driver Hurley Haywood a couple of weeks ago at the Detroit Auto Show, and thought if he ran into Hurley again it should be a Porsche. I'm the only guy he knows, and asked if I'd like to do the roughly 5000 mile round trip drive in my 993 C4S. I'm not against the miles but it seems an awfully long way, not to mention the mileage, wear & tear, etc that I'd be inflicting on the car...not to mention myself.

He then asked if he could rent my car. I said I would have to charge him $1000's of dollars. At least a set of rears is going to be gone through, 5000 miles of driving is about 1.5 years of driving at my current rate (and will make my car worth less given my car only has 43,XXX miles...not that I'm going to sell).

Oh! He drives a Viper Daytona Coupe. A beast of a car...but he refuses to joing for AutoCross because a known problem with the Viper is 'yellowing brake calipers' if the calipers heat and cool too quickly. Yeesh.

So, my question is (just for fun) what number should I toss at him...and secondly how wimpy are Viper owners?

Quadcammer

If you wouldn't want to do the drive yourself, why would you want someone else to do it?

Charging your friend multiple thousands of dollars to rent your car just seems weird to me.

quite frankly, I'd avoid the issue entirely

Mike J

Let see:

- Depreciation from mileage from 43,000 miles to 48,000 miles -> $5000
- Wear and tear, tires/brakes/clutch/lighting/engine/transmission -> $2000
- Additional insurance -> $500
- Stress factor -> $3000

Ok, that adds up to $10,500. Now DOUBLE it because its just not worth giving your car to him - so ask $21,000.

I think if you got a cheque for $21,000, and the car was well insured, and you got him to sign a waiver to fix anything that is broken, and the car is PPI's when it gets back to check the engine, you got a deal.

I think what I am saying is its not worth it unless you get such a ridiculous amount of money that you cannot say no.

Or better yet, sell it to him for $60,000, and promise to buy it back for $40,000 when he returns IF it passes a PPI.

Cheers,

Mike

race911

Here's the critical part. It's certainly easy enough to run into anyone, famous or not, in the paddock at the 24. You've got universal access pretty much anywhere in there. But you're gonna be at least 1/2 mile away from where the car is parked.

TMc993

On average, they're probably about as wimpy as the typical Porsche owner.

Holytin

Hell, NO...

Your buddy wants a to drive Porsche - nothing wrong with that - tell him there are plenty of luxury car rental places available that are offering everything his heart desires...

TheBen

I wasn't going to rent it to him unless he paid me circa $20,000. That amount of money could buy some nice upgrades!

pcarrera993

You can always have him pay for transport from cali to fla and back as well as cover all expenses for car and yourself if you do decide to go. Personally i would not drive and would not lend the car.

TheBen

Meh.

Now what about his fear of 'yellowing brake calipers?' Even we lot aren't that finicky I think. That is what the car was made for - sad that it is just pottering about so the brake calipers don't yellow.

JDHertz11

Is there a metamorphosis when he meets homeboy and he's driving a Porsche? Does HE become Hurley? With all do respect, I could care less if I'm seen driving my Porsche or a rental Kia. Famous people do not make you famous. The same can be said for hanging out with rich folks. Have you ever heard of someone becoming rich or famous because of the above?

Kein_Ersatz

First is the trust factor, can't speak to that, but given you posted, it may be there between you two.

Then shipping the car vs driving cross country seems to address 90% of the "wear" concern.

As with JD, not sure why your renter thinks it will make a difference to Hurley what he drives up in.

And as others have commented, in FL, there are a lot of exotic car rental options (though I have not seen a 993 for rent in passing). I have in the past used a rental firm in SF that rents non typical cars and exotics when I was doing costal road trips in the area. Though Hertz of late seems to have raised the bar a bit on "fun cars" for rent in sunny locations.

Allen

this...

RudyP

Tell him to spend $3K on a Porsche Driving Experience at Barber. If he times it right, he'll get to meet Hurley (who is the chief instructor - and was my in-car instructor when I went), drive a Porsche, on a track, not yellow his Viper calipers, and it will be cheaper and simpler than the weird plan he has in mind.