The reasons for renting a luxury car are endless: to have a taste of the fast life without paying tens of thousands of pounds; to impress friends, colleagues and loved ones; or perhaps for a special occasion, particularly at the weekend. Whatever the reason, those wishing to splash out for a few days are not content to settle for second best when it comes to requesting a certain model, and car rental companies have reacted to this demand.
Neil Cunningham, general manager of Hertz UK, explains the driving force behind its luxury fleet: "One of the main aims of our Prestige Collection was to eliminate the frustration encountered by some higher-end customers with the normal Hertz booking service. When booking a car in the H Group (the highest car grouping) it could be a hit and miss affair, as the exact car model couldn't be guaranteed. Customers felt this was particularly important if they were turning up to a wedding or important business meeting, so we recognised this frustration by launching the Prestige Collection, where customers book by model rather than group."
Chris Domoney, business development manager for Avis Prestige, agrees, and says this approach has eliminated confusion among online customers.
"The problem we found is that when a customer sees the picture of a Mercedes on a car rental website, with 'or similar' written underneath it, all they remember is the Mercedes, and are therefore disappointed if they don't get one. Customers are willing to pay more to guarantee themselves a certain make or model – so it's all about managing people's needs and expectations."
To this end, Avis Prestige has separated its operations from the main Avis reservations centre in order to provide a dedicated helpline for prestige customers. Customers who call the general number requesting the type of car held in the prestige collection will be redirected straight to its offices in South Kensington.
Says Domoney: "Our staff are extremely knowledgeable about our cars, and have experience of working in the prestige marketplace. We find that our customers take a lot longer looking at the options than if they were renting a standard car, but that's fine, as the more time we spend with them, the more likely we are to get repeat business."
Of course it's not just the car itself that defines its prestige status, but also the extras that come with it. Satellite navigation and leather interiors are standard in most models, and Hertz goes one step further, offering a raft of products to help the hapless driver, as Neil Cunningham explains.
"Some of our models are fitted with mini cameras to aid reversing, and even under car chassis cameras to help with uneven surfaces – not that we encourage our drivers to go off road of course."
A hi-tech spec increases the demands on the consumer, and the car rental companies recognise the need for knowledgeable staff to be on hand when the customer arrives to pick up the car.
"Every customer receives a personal handover of their vehicle, by full time staff who are able to go into miniscule details about the workings of the cars," says Chris Domoney. "This is of course if the customer requires it. There are many – maybe regulars – who are happy to just get in their car and go, and that's fine as well."
The majority of the prestige vehicles are automatic, which as well as making life easier for the average consumer, means that they are normally adaptable for mobility impaired customers – an expanding market for car rentals.
Customers also have expectations about the age and condition of the vehicle they are renting, and this is particularly important at the high end of the prestige brand. At Guy Salmon, the luxury collection which forms part of the National Car brand, vehicles are replaced after six months or 15,000 miles, whichever comes first. Keeping the fleet up to date is important not only to maintain a spotless fleet and a fresh choice for customers, but also to minimise breakdowns.
The major car rental firms are keen to point out that their prestige fleets receive the same high level of breakdown and replacement cover as the main brands. However, they admit that it is almost impossible to guarantee that customers in a breakdown will receive the same model of replacement car, due to the smaller quantity of models available at the top end and the reduced number of depots for the prestige fleet.
Previously operating from just four London locations, Hertz UK has recently expanded its prestige collection to include Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow airports, while Guy Salmon and others will collect and deliver to individual addresses, although there is a charge for this.
Demand for the prestige collections seem to be broadly in line with general rentals, with corporate rentals taking up the bulk of midweek demand and consumers taking over on weekends. The specific nature of some of the cars means that convertibles feature strongly during the summer months (along with larger executive cars for weddings), while vehicles like the Land Rover Discovery are more popular in winter.
So what sort of vehicles are available in the prestige collections? Guy Salmon splits its fleet into five groups – fun, executive, luxury, utility and performance. Fun cars include the Mini Cooper S, with weekend rates starting at £224, with the BMW Z4 among the choices in the performance range (£560 per weekend).
The luxury group includes the Mercedes-Benz CLS Class Coupé, from £748 for a weekend rental. As with general car rentals, the prestige firms offer discounted rates over weekends, with Avis Prestige offering savings of around 15 per cent for a weekend rental, which lasts from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
Chris Domoney is keen to promote the addition of several "sexy" new cars to the Avis Prestige fleet this year, including the Aston Martin V8 Vantage (which has been on order for over two years), the Jaguar XK8, and the Range Rover Sport HSE. Of course, with increased luxury and power comes greater risk and responsibilities, and because of this most of the prestige rental companies have a minimum age limit of between 25 and 30 depending on the car model. Not surprisingly they are also extremely insistent on knowing who they are renting to.
Neil Cunningham of Hertz UK explains: "All car rental companies will stress the need for qualifying customers. If we are handing over an £80,000 car, we need to be sure who the customer is. Because of this we ask for two forms of ID and two credit cards as guarantee – the size and value of the cars also mean we have a minimum age limit of 30 years across our Prestige range."
Naturally, the more expensive the car, the higher the insurance excess – typically around £1,000, although in many cases this can be reduced by paying a daily extended liability waiver. Customers may also be surprised to hear that the luxury vehicle they are renting may be fitted with a device to keep track of its whereabouts.
"The more expensive the car, the more attractive it is to thieves," admits Chris Domoney. "We do put trackers on some of our cars so that they can be traced if they are stolen, although I should add it is definitely not so that we can play Big Brother – customers are free to drive where they wish."
In the majority of cases this extends to foreign soils, although customers must obtain prior permission from the rental company, and take out additional cover to protect against any damage occurring overseas.
The vast majority of customers are happy to stay within the UK, says Domoney, but many do embark on tours of the UK, taking in places as far and wide as Bath to Scotland.
While Avis, Guy Salmon and Hertz have developed dedicated prestige collections, and Europcar uses specialised firm City Inter-Rent for customers seeking luxury rentals, Budget has decided to keep all its cars within one collection, while still offering certain prestige models to its customers.
Says Des McCann, Budget's director of UK network and operations: "Budget and prestige are two things which a business traveller might not immediately connect, but we are surprisingly strong in the prestige markets in the UK, Germany and the Middle East, where we have several specialist cars such as the Hummer."
There is no doubt that Avis, Hertz, and Guy Salmon all have impressive fleets of prestige cars, but for the customer who wants the crème de la crème of car rentals, they can do worse than consider Bespokes, an all-out luxury service with models such as the Lamborghini Gallardo Roadster and Ferrari 430 Spider. Established in 1995, the London-based firm has a fleet of over 40 classic and modern sports cars available for self-drive hire, activity days and corporate incentives.
It is partly the philosophy of incentives for employees that has led Guy Salmon to launch its Driving Dreams gift package, as Tracey Wraight explains.
"Driving Dreams enables customers to give something tangible to friends and relatives, rather than just saying 'We've hired you a car'. The gift voucher comes in a presentation box, and we have found that this has become a popular way of rewarding employees, rather than a monetary bonus, which they will probably just use to pay off their credit card bill. This way the experience lingers with the individual – 'Do you remember the time our boss hired us a Porsche for the weekend?', which can only improve employer-employee relations."
As well as the growing market for corporate rewards, companies like Avis Prestige recognise that an increasing number of customers are renting prestige vehicles with a view to buying a similar model in the future, a sort of 'try before you buy' method.
Says Chris Domoney: "Some customers will come to us through recommendations from dealerships because they are only able to offer limited demonstrations, whereas we can rent them the cars to test for a few days. As far as selling our cars goes, the answer is no. We are a car rental company, not a sales forecourt. Interestingly though, when the Mercedes SLKs first came out, there was a waiting list for them, so customers would come to us asking if they could buy our models for over the asking price, simply because they could not get them elsewhere."
Guy Salmon echoes this point, adding that customers have requested particular models such as the BMW X5 3 litre, specifically to test drive them with a view to buying – a practice that has only been made possible by prestige car rental companies offering their vehicles by model rather than group.
It seems the market for prestige cars is here to stay, with customers eager to experience a life in the fast lane previously reserved for the elite. Customers are becoming increasingly picky about the specific car they desire, so the next time you see a Porsche 997 Carrera gliding through your local high street, don't be fooled into thinking it must be Posh and Becks behind the wheel.
Factbox
Avis Prestige Car Rental
avisprestige.com, +44 (0)20 7591 0444
Bespokes
Bespokes.co.uk, +44 (0)20 7833 8000
Budget
budget.co.uk, +44 (0)870 153 9170
City inter-rent
cityinterrent.com, +44 (0)800 358 3061
Europcar
europcar.co.uk, +44 (0)845 758 5375
Guy Salmon
guysalmon.com, +44 (0)870 600 7006
Hertz Prestige Collection
hertz.co.uk, +44 (0)8708 44 88 44
