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Every petrolhead has dreamed about driving a supercar at some stage or other.
Richard Williamson is a man who can make those dreams come true, but he won’t sell you a supercar. No, he will rent you one instead, from his company Supercar Experiences.
Autocar spoke to him to find out the secrets of the industry and to ask him the questions that every fast car fan would love to hear answers to.
You’ll find about the ins and outs of the business, the car that got wrecked, the potential hirers they get a bad feeling about, and the day someone left £20,000 (US$27,000) behind in the glovebox.
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THE BASICS
How much does it cost to hire a Ferrari 488 (pictured) for a long weekend? I am a 31-year-old male with a clean licence.
Depending on the mileage around £2000 (US$2740) is the norm.
What is the minimum age for hiring?
28 for supercars and 25 for luxury/prestige cars.
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THE BASICS
What is the most anyone has spent on hiring a car in one go?
As a retail customer around £36,000. Companies have spent much more.
How many miles per day do customers typically do?
Usually anything from 50 miles to 100 miles.
Do you pre-authorise the deposit on people’s credit cards?
Yes, every hirer needs to pre pay the insurance excess before the hire can start. This can vary from £3000 all the way up to around £10,000.
PICTURED: Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 Spyder
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THE BASICS
What percentage of your rentals stick within the standard 100-mile deal versus the percentage that decide they want more than 100 miles?
I’d say a good 80% of our customers do less than 100 miles a day. A lot of them just want to experience driving a supercar.
How much do you charge for excess mileage?
It varies depending on the type of car and value. Some of the lower value cars like Range Rovers can be £2+vat (US$2.70) per mile whereas something like a Lamborghini Huracan is £6+vat (US$8.15) per mile.
What is the maximum age?
70. We have had customers slightly over which is generally accepted but it’s our insurers who decide.
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THE CUSTOMERS
Are all of your customers sensible with your cars?
Most of them are. You’ll always get the odd customer who just wants to thrash a car around but generally when people have a high excess to pay if they damage the car, they tend to be more careful.
Do you have live tracking on your cars?
Yes, all of our cars are fully monitored so we can see the current location, speed, G-force and a few other bits of info. We don’t really look at them unless we get an alert.
PICTURED: Aston Martin DBS Volante, Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 Spyder, Ferrari California T
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THE CUSTOMERS
Do you expect hirers to use the performance, or is more about seeing in one?
A bit of both really. We’re more than happy for people to experience the performance but as long as they are being careful and not breaking any laws. With supercars, just being seen in one has become very important over the years and we do know of a few that hire just for that reason.
Do you mind people pretending to own your cars on social media or indeed to people generally?
No, I don’t mind as such but if I see it, I’ll be sure to leave a comment. We’ve had men hire cars in the past to impress their ‘hot date’, which is their choice, but I’m never quite sure what the long-term plan is!
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THE CUSTOMERS
Do you rent out for photo-shoots? Do you have prior-to-purchase renters? What about special occasions?
We do a lot of corporate work, which includes photo shoots. As the cars are usually static, it’s generally a good hire.
We have been trialling a set up called ‘Try before you buy’ which works great as you get to see what it’s like ‘owning’ the car before you actually buy one. If you decide you want that car, we have a great company we work with who is able to source cars.
Have you ever turned somebody away because after meeting them you got a bad feeling?
Yes, recently actually. Sometimes you get a feeling where something doesn’t feel quite right.
PICTURED: Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 Spyder - interior
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THE CUSTOMERS
Do you hire cars out for Weddings?
We do a lot of wedding hires. We either get grooms hiring a supercar to drive to the venue or a nice vehicle for the bride to arrive in, and sometimes for both.
Can you switch off the ability to switch off driver-aids?
Some cars you can but most you can’t. It’s all about trust with this business.
PICTURED: Range Rover Autobiography
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THE CUSTOMERS
How clean do hirer’s licences need to be? If a customer has a previous ban on their licence can you still rent to them?
Bans are very tricky to get approved but it really depends on what the cause was and how long ago.
Has anyone ever concluded that supercar driving wasn’t for them and returned a car straightaway?
Not really. We’ve had a few who have been really nervous and needed a bit of reassurance.
PICTURED: Porsche 911 (991) Carrera Cabriolet
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SPEED & MONITORING
Has your GPS tracking signal ever pinged from a racetrack?
No, we get alerts if the cars go within a certain distance of a racetrack.
Say I drove one of your cars at 175mph and you got an alert of that – what would happen?
I’d call the police on you for going over 100mph over the National Speed Limit.
When do you send out warnings?
Usually when we’ve had a few alerts or when we think you aren’t being responsible enough/ too dangerous. We get alerts only after a certain percentage of whatever the current speed limit is.
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INCIDENTS
Whose responsibility is any bad driving in your cars?
The hirers. We still have a duty of care so need to step in if need be.
What's the largest excess anyone has paid after a crash?
£8,000.
How do charges for stone chips etc. work?
We don’t charge for stone chips unless there are a lot of them, which shows sign of poor driving, but generally we don’t charge as they’re considered a wear and tear item.
PICTURED: Aston Martin DB11 V12
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INCIDENTS
If someone causes minor damage which you charge for, does it get fixed there-and-then?
It really depends on how severe the damage is and how soon it is next on hire but we try to make sure our cars go out without damage, as it’s nicer for the hirer and easier to keep track of any new damage.
What's the largest repair bill you've paid?
£15,000 (US$20,000).
Has anyone written off one of your cars?
Yes, sadly. But thankfully only one.
PICTURED: McLaren 570S
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INCIDENTS
Do you charge for tyre wear?
Not really. If we give you a car with 6mm on all the tyres but you bring it back after 300 miles with no tread left, you will be charged.
What happens if the car is damaged by someone else through no fault of the hirer? For example, by a drunken vandal.
If there is no other insurance company to claim off and it needs to go through our insurance then you lose your deposit/excess but if say a door gets keyed, we just charge the customer the cost of that repair, not the full excess amount.
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INCIDENTS
What's the strangest/weirdest/funniest thing that has been left in a vehicle on return?
About £20,000 (US$27,000) in cash in the glove box. The customer left the car to catch his flight and got all the way to the airport without realising he left it. The best/funniest one was a customer recently left his house keys in a Range Rover and we didn’t notice until 3 days later. We called him to let him know, he didn’t even realise they were missing. We still can’t work out how you don’t know you’ve lost your keys after all that time.
What’s the strangest incident you’ve dealt with?
Not really any incidents as such but we organised a surprise hire for someone with the help of his family only for him to arrive to pick up a Ferrari and turn around to all his family and say, “I would only ever buy a Ferrari, not hire one”. His family were in tears which was a bit upsetting.
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THE BUSINESS
What percentage of the time are your cars out on hire?
I’d say 80%. Weekends are our busiest periods and March to October, the cars are pretty much on hire all the time.
Do you have arrangements with any manufacturers for sourcing cars?
Sadly we don’t. If any are reading this, then please get in contact. We’d love to do something!
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THE BUSINESS
How much is your annual insurance bill?
A lot. I won’t say exactly how much because it would make you cry but it’s A LOT!
How does reliability impact you?
Hugely. Reliability is key for us. It’s no good hiring a car to someone for a special occasion and it breaking down. Thankfully a lot of the newer stuff is a lot more reliable than say five years ago.
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THE BUSINESS
How do you buy your cars?
Like anyone else. Through dealerships and networks.
How did you start in the business?
My business partner actually started the company in 2003. He always loved supercars and wanted to own a Ferrari and hiring it out helped him to pay for it, which has allowed the business to grow to what it is today. I joined him about four years ago.
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THE BUSINESS
Which is your favourite car in your fleet?
The Ferrari 488 GTB closely followed by the McLaren 570S. The Ferrari is just a joy to drive and is just like a big go-kart with a V8 strapped to it.
Is there a lot of pressure to get the latest hot cars?
Massively. It’s like any business I suppose, if you stop going forwards to keep up with demand, you’ll start going backwards.
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THE BUSINESS
How long do you keep your cars for?
We very rarely keep a car for more than 2 years now due to the demand for the latest model.
Do you ever hire out cars owned by other individuals?
All the time. We have lots of customers, friends etc that own a £200,000 supercar that rarely gets used and costs a lot to keep so it makes sense for them. Some make a great deal of money from doing it and we treat their cars like ours so they’re always looked after.
PICTURED: Ferrari California T
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THE BUSINESS
What supercar will you buy next to hire out?
Lamborghini Aventador. It's so much money but it's just the greatest car in the world. I’ve wanted one since they were released. Sadly the insurance on them is eye-watering.
Do you have any regrets about any cars you’ve bought?
Not really. I’m really careful with which cars we buy and spend week/months looking into them and making sure they’re right for the business.
PICTURED: Audi R8 V10 Plus (Autocar picture)
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THE BUSINESS
Which is your most requested car?
That’s a tough one. Either the Ferrari 488, Lamborghini Huracan or the Aston Martin DB11 (pictured right). They just seem to all be as popular as each other.
Is there a big difference in servicing costs between the cars?
Yes. Some manufacturers give free servicing on their cars but some don’t which still cost about £1500 (US$2000) each service.
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THE BUSINESS
Do you service at main-dealers or in other ways?
Only ever at main dealers. Makes a massive difference to resale.
If someone wants a car you don’t have, can you still help them?
We work with several other established supercar hire companies and between us, there’s very rarely a car we can’t source.
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THE BUSINESS
Do you ever rent out cars made by Lotus?
No. We never really get any requests for them, we did toy with the idea and had full support from Lotus but sadly the numbers didn’t add up. We’d be happy to be proven wrong!
Have you ever considered renting out classic cars?
We do have a few on our website but the really expensive classic cars just aren’t viable anymore as the insurance/mileage would just not make it feasible. Shame as I’d love to own a few.
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THE BUSINESS
Do you ever buy used cars? If so, do you worry about the previous owner and how they drove it?
Sometimes but mostly new/ ex demo. I suppose it’s like anyone else buying privately, you’ll never really know how well it has been treated.
Stone chips - do you ever use PPF [Paint Protection] to cover the most vulnerable areas of the rental car(s)?
Some of our cars have it but to be honest, we don’t really have issues with stone chips.
Do you have to replace many clutches?
Not anymore. When we had older Ferraris, Lamborghinis etc we would replace each one once or twice a year. Newer cars are A LOT cheaper to run.
What are the cheapest and most expensive cars in your fleet?
Cheapest is our Range Rover Sport. Most expensive is our Huracan (pictured centre), and soon to be the Aventador. The most expensive car we can hire out that is managed by us is a Ferrari LaFerrari.
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AND FINALLY
Got any jobs going?
Sadly not at the moment. We are always looking to expand so if anyone has any ideas or wants to put something our way then please get in touch!
Thanks Richard.
Richard Williamson is the operations manager of Supercar Experiences Limited
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Supercar Experiences fleet - highlights
Aston Martin DB11
Ferrari 488 GTB
Ferrari 488 Spider
Ferrari California T
McLaren 570S (pictured)
Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4 Spyder
Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Audi R8 V10 Plus
Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG
Range Rover SVR
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ABOUT SUPERCAR EXPERIENCES
Founded in 2003, Supercar Experiences has had over 8000 clients since launch. For more information, visit www.supercarexperiences.com, email enquiries@supercarexperiences.com, or call them on 0207 788 7818.
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Supercar Experiences fleet
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Supercar Experiences fleet
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Supercar Experiences fleet
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