How to rent an exotic car in San Francisco for Labor Day

Photo Credit: Courtesy Gotham Dream Cars

By now you’ve noticed the increased number of flashy supercars cruising around the Bay Area. The next time a haute red Ferrari zooms by you, there’s no need for you to look on in envy because you can rent an exotic car in San Francisco and turn heads too. If you’re looking to rent a set of haute wheels to escape this Labor Day weekend (or any other time), here are a few exotic car rental companies in San Francisco worth checking out:

Gotham Dream Cars

Gotham Dream Cars just delivered a Ferrari to Napa and a Maserati to a client at San Francisco International Airport. Although the company, founded in 2004, doesn’t yet have an office in San Francisco, cars are transported here on-demand from its Los Angeles office. Rentals can be done on as little as a day’s notice, assuming there is availability. It should come as no surprise that Gotham’s most-requested car is a convertible red Ferrari. Renters don’t care which model. It’s all about that prancing horse badge. Still, Gotham aims to have the the latest model, hence the Ferrari 458 Italia Spider pictured above.

If you spend most of your time in the back of an Uber sedan, you may wonder if you can handle one of these babies.

“In many ways it’s easier to drive a supercar because they handle so well,” says Gotham’s Founder and President Noah Lehmann-Haupt. “They corner well and just stick to the road like glue. The special driving skills come into play with the full-on race cars (i.e. Formula One cars). Those are designed to be driven by professionals only at very, very high speeds and are almost impossible for a normal person to drive.”

Like its name implies, Gotham is about fulfilling dreams. So much that it once purchased a specialty car for a customer who needed a very specific model. Now that’s service!

Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car

With an office in the Hotel Nikko in Downtown San Francisco, Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car boasts a Dream fleet that includes a 2014 Bentley Flying Spur (starting at $1299 a day), Ferrari 458 Italia Spider ($2499), and Lamborghini Gallardo LP550 ($1999). Red Ferraris are in demand here as well and one client rented one for a month. Reserve up to a year in advance or on a few minutes notice. The company delivers to your door, hotel or wherever you choose. Clients love to pick a car up in San Francisco, drive along the coast to Santa Barbara and then continue on to Los Angeles, where they drop off the car at that location.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Club Sportiva

Club Sportiva

Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins and Porsches are among the supercars available to rent from Club Sportiva, a Silicon Valley-based company with locations also in Menlo Park and San Francisco that offers membership. You don’t have to be a member to rent but membership ($1,500 initiation fee and monthly dues start at $150) does have its privileges, starting with 30 to 40 percent off rentals. Car rental ranges from $349 a day for a 2005 Lotus Elise to $2,495 a day for a 2012 McLaren MP4-12C.

Members also have cool outings, like hanging out on a 41-foot yacht in San Francisco, exclusive car events, complimentary access to its four Club Houses and exotic rental cars only available to them, such as the 1963  Shelby 427 Cobra. While it’s recommended that you book three weeks in advance, Club Sportiva has had people drop in and drive off in an exotic car an hour later.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Hertz

Hertz Dream Cars

Even Hertz (yes, Hertz!) lets drivers rent high-end cars in San Francisco through its Hertz Dream Cars division, available at SFO and in very limited supply in San Jose. Tesla’s Model S is the most popular car rental out of SFO, followed by Porsche 911 Carrera, BMW 650 and BMW M5 and Porsche Boxster. SFO’s Dream fleet is mainly comprised of Porsches and Mercedes, which start at $350 a day with a 75-mile allowance ($.49 per mile additional), and does not include Ferraris or Lamborghinis, which start at $1,500 day and also have a 75-mile allowance ($3.00 per mile additional). However, from time to time an exotic car may become available if someone drops one off in the area.

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