Blancfleet Hopes to Be the Supercar Version of ZipCar!

Blancfleet, a New York City-based supercar-rental company, is really, really cool.  While most of us can’t afford to buy a supercar, let alone drive one for a day or more, Blancfleet makes driving one for an extended period of time possible by using a timeshare program very much like ZipCar.  Blancfleet founder Charles Polanco says that “Blancfleet aims to become the next ZipCar,” though your average ZipCar drop-off point likely won’t have a Nissan GT-R, Pagani Huayra, or Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse.  Many supercar rental companies charge fees that would give even Bill Gates a nightmare.  Blancfleet, however, uses crowdfunding to get the large fees one normally sees down to (relatively) sane levels.  As Blancfleet stated in May, the company actually BUYS the cars, rather than leasing the cars from the automaker for a certain period of time.  Most other supercar rental companies lease the cars for three years so they can get the new versions when they come out.  Blancfleet allows each car a certain amount of rental hours per year, and money made from these hourly rental periods is used to pay for the cars (just like ZipCar).

ZipCar has become wildly popular with urbanites who don’t want the hassle of having to own a car.  With ZipCar, you rent a car for a certain amount of hours, go to a designated drop-off and pick-up point, and the car is waiting for you.  ZipCar users pay the fee either electronically or on-site through a ZipCar representative.  Paperwork is filled out online once unless something personal changes.  ZipCar is marginally more expensive than renting a car through, say, Hertz, because the insurance costs are built into the rental fee.

Back to Blancfleet.  Blancfleet knows that it can be extremely difficult to obtain insurance to rent a supercar.  The potential damage that could happen to any given supercar in the Blancfleet fleet could easily eclipse the average price of a house or condominium.  For the renter of the car, liability insurance can only cover so much, except in rare instances.  The massive deposits required by many other supercar rental firms mean that even a scratch on a given rented supercar could cost the renter thousands of dollars.  To make the rental process more attractive, Blancfleet self-insures all of it’s cars – all costs are mushed into the rental fee, and the risk of damage is spread through the hundreds of people who have crowdfuned Blancfleet.  This means that renting a supercar through Blancfleet is far less expensive than renting it through the Hertz Dream Car fleet.

Of course, renting a supercar and cheap don’t exactly rhyme.  If you want to drive around New York City in a Bugatti Veyron or cruise the streets of Fort Lauderdale in a Pagani Huayra, you’ll have to cough up $1,325 and $1,040 an hour, respectively.  That is, once enough people pledge enough hours to afford the car’s $1 million+ dollar price tags.  However, you could have a LOT of time in a $83-an-hour Nissan GT-R, or even a $204-an-hour Ferrari 458 Italia.  Both the GT-R and the Ferrari are already in Blancfleet’s fleet.  But, the important thing is that you’ll be able to rent a Pagani Huayra or Bugatti Veyron – that is, if you skip the bills for a month (or three).  Plus, you’ll feel like a million bucks driving it around!  Or, you could just stop daydreaming and head over to Blancfleet’s website at https://blancfleet.com/Home.aspx and sign yourself up for a rental period.  Just let me know when you do.  Sign-up looks to be pretty straightforward and quick, so do it NOW!

The current Blancfleet fleet includes:  Mercedes-Benz S550, Tesla Model S, Lamborghini Gallardo, Mercedes-Benz G550, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Porsche 911, and a Nissan GT-R.  Prices for the cheapest vehicle – the GT-R start at $83 an hour.  Blancfleet has not yet bought the Veyron or the Huayra, but is planning to do so soon.  Until then, you’ll have to settle for something equally as cool – the Tesla Model S.

Blancfleet is currently only based in New York City, but is currently building a Blancfleet drop-off and pick-up office in Fort Lauderdale.