Disclaimer why I don't have many posts on this forum: I joined to snoop on this section for some fun driving routes. I aspire to be a Ferrari owner one day but am on the sidelines right now. Quick backstory: Last spring my older brother graduated college and next spring I will too. My dad has always always been a car guy, but two active kids limited him to the more practical "Poor-Man's Ferrari" (93 MR2 Turbo). For Father's Day a couple years ago, my mom bought him a Groupon to rent a 458 at the Blackhawk Farms for a couple laps and he loved it. In fact, he loved the whole experience so much that we have done it as a family the past 3 years trying virtually every car the they offer at both Blackhawk and the Autobahn Country Club. Even after trying so many other supercars he still refers to the 458 as his favorite (with good reason). Last spring my brother graduating and has become self reliant. My dad is also getting closer to retirement. With those two reasons, I told him he needed to find a hobby that would keep him busy and hopefully be something the whole family could be a part of every once in a while to stay close. Without too much hesitation he decided on cars since the whole family was already pretty fond of our MR2. After some research and quite a few pitches, early last summer I sold him on getting a Lotus Elise. At first it was him and I with most of the interest in the Elise, but very quickly the whole family was hooked. Every morning was a race to the garage to see who took it to work for the day. Honestly, I don't think any of us have looked back and regretted a single mile of owning it. While my dad does enjoy the Elise, I know his dream car is still the 458. Their prices are starting to fall and the Elise market has slowly be appreciating over the past few years, but the gap is still too large for any of my sales pitches. His birthday is quite soon and I wanted to do something special of him, or at least try to. (I bet he won't mind if it's a little after his birthday once its out of the 50's.) So here is my sales pitch to any 458 owner in Chicagoland: Do you, or someone you know, have a rosso corsa over tan 458 that might be interested in trading for Lotus Elise just for a day to help a son give his dad a day in his dream car? The Elise is a totally different experience if you haven't driven a sub 2000lb car with a great 6 speed manual. I'm happy to sweeten the deal as much as possible, but I'm a senior in college so my resources are limited. Thanks for the time and I hope to see some of you around Chicago this summer. (Pictures of him during experience with the 458 and of the two family cars) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the kind words! The least I can do is ask around and see if any owners are interested. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I applaud your thoughtfulness, but I think it would be difficult for anyone to just loan you a $250,000 car for a day. I understand your Dad is hooked on the 458, but a 360 may be affordable and it's still a Ferrari.
Very fair point and my expectations match this difficulty. This can be structured any way an owner would be comfortable with. If they are interested in having fun in a Elise for a day, that could be collateral? If they are only comfortable with being with him for a 15 min drive, he'd still love that. I'm very happy to discuss anything I can do to ease their worries. I may just get him the experience again at the Autobahn in August when the rent-a-supercar company comes again, but asking local owners costs me nothing so I might as well put the feelers out incase someone is interested. Thanks again for anyone considering this and everyone's kind words.
Why not just rent one for a day? Can't imagine an owner letting someone borrow that high value of a car they don't even know. Renting is by far the easiest route...
Gotham Dream Cars Rental might be able to work something out with you. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
BMW.SauberF1Team, I've looked into this and I agree it would be much easier, its just renting from a company is very pricey for my budget. Like I said early, I am a college kid without much free cash to spend. I was hoping to barter some of the "renting price" with allowing the owner to have the Elise for the day. Exotic rental companies are not too interested in bartering so if an owner was a little more open then I'd be in luck. Obviously its not an even trade so my idea was to do my best and add value in the form of service(s) instead of assets. ideloera, Gotham Dream Cars' rate is about $1.5k minimum, and a $5k refundable security deposit, plus they don't seem to have a Chicago fleet so adding a delivery fee wouldn't help. I've looked into a couple other companies, but they have similar prices and/or they require a renting age to be 25 (and I'm only 21). Thanks for the advice and I'll reach out to them anyways and see if I can make that work. I'd be happy to meet with anyone considering this and go through a "vetting" (dinner is on me) so they would be more comfortable instead of just handing keys off to someone they don't know. I know I'm asking a lot and I don't take that lightly. I really appreciate the feedback and advice. Thank you for your time.
