As I was going through the process of test-driving, then eventually purchasing my MCS, I kept thinking that it would have been nice to have been able to rent one for a weekend or an extended test drive. Then I got to thinking: If the thought occured to me, has it occured to others? Is there a business opportunity here?

A fully loaded, 100% financed Cooper S costs about $25/day. A garage facility and store front might cost $7/day per car (let's assume 10 cars in the fleet). Insurance? Who knows, say $13/day per car. So before wages and other expenses it costs $45/day per car. (I know someone will dispute my model, but just go with it for a moment.)

Here are my questions to you:
- How likely would you be to rent a Mini if you could? Would you be more likely during pre-purchase? During business trips? On vacation? How oftern do you think you would repeat?
- What would you be willing to pay per day? Weekend? Week?
- Would you want to be able to get it at a Mini dealer? Airport? In town? How far out of your way would you be willing to go? I'm thinking about the Baltimore/Washington area to start.
- Would you pay a premium to be picked up at an airport (sort of like Enterprise...)
- What do you think about the idea in general? Is anybody else doing this already? I've heard of Minis at Budget in Los Angeles.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

--George

PDA-GPS data cables at GeorgeCognhovis@mac.com

 

I would rent one drive the hell out of it, take it to car rally etc. so I wouldn't break mine. It would get lots of wear.

 

>
>>Here are my questions to you:
>>- How likely would you be to rent a Mini if you could? Would you be more likely during pre-purchase? During business trips? On vacation? How oftern do you think you would repeat?


Before deciding to order a Mini Cooper, I rented two MCS's on succeeding weekends, one with the standard 16" wheels and the other with the 17" Sport package wheels. There is no dealer in Austin, TX yet so I could not easily test-drive a Mini here. These two Mini's were being offered for rent by an Austin RV dealer who also rented a Porsche and a Nissan sports car. He charges very high prices for all of them. For the Minis it was $250 for a two-day rental with a 200-mile limit.

Driving the two cars for a total of four days decided me -- I could not live without one. (Neither could I live with the harsher ride of the 17" wheels so I eventually ordered everything ala carte that was in the Sport #2 Package so my Mini would come with the 16" wheels).

Had the rental prices been more reasonable, say no more than $50/day for which LIncolns Town Cars and Cadillacs can be rented, then I would undoubtedly have rented the Mini's more often during the long months I have been waiting for mine to arrive.

Hopes this helps you a little.

 

I've thought about renting one first, but didn't want to pay the prices out here, Budget Beverly Hills charges $100 per day for the Cooper, and $125 for the Cooper S. Beverly Hills Rent a Car charges $79 for the Cooper (no S that I know of).

Something that has to be taken into account though is the cost when the car isn't being rented out (like on weekdays where it's more likely to be slow), or when they have to be in for service (especially since people do drive rentals really hard).

For a lower price for the S I probably would have, but it's probably not feasible at this point.

 

You can rent them here in houston too. I thought about it.

 

I rented an MCS from Rent-A-Vette in Las Vegas for two days for
$99 a day with 100 miles a day allowance and .50 cents per mile
afterwards. I returned the car two days later with 320 miles on it.
The car was an 2002 with absolutely no problems and had 24,000
miles on it.