This thread was inspired by these two threads:
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/thinking-of-renting-exotic-car-during-my-atl-visit-no-rbk.320777/
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/how-do-you-rent-lambos-and-expensive-cars-like-that.379511/
Background Story
Back in 2012 the NBA All Star Weekend (ASW) was in my home city of Houston. I had never been to ASW so I set my mind on traveling home from the Middle East where I was working to go visit the city. I was in Houston 8 days or so and 5 of those days I had a rented Maserati GranTurismo. This car WAS my realistic dream car and technically I could have bought a pre-owned one which I planned to do whenever I saw fit.
Anyway I choose to rent the car for a few days as an test drive does not give you the full experience of driving the car. It’s not just a car you will experience but rather the lifestyle that comes with driving and exotic. Also I’m sure the dealer was not going to let me drive the car like I wanted to with them in the vehicle.
Reservation and Pick Up
I searched for a few days for a company that had the car and would let 22 year old me rent it. I eventually found a place in the galleria area of Houston that only required a $1,000 deposit and basic full coverage on my personal car. That was too easy so I made the reservation back in October for February when I was going home (I paid about $1,800 for the 5 day rental in full when I made the reservation).
When I went to pick the vehicle up it was a few other guys in there picking up their rentals car but most notable was JR Smith was in there picking up a Phantom Ghost for the weekend. He was walking out the office as I was walking in. I’ll note that all the exotics in the city for booked for ASW so if you didn’t make a reservation early you were going to pay a ridiculous amount if you could find one.
When it was my turn to pick up my car it was the standard process like at Avis or any of those places but with extra detail to the damages on the car. It was a few starches here and there but not to many except for under the front lip. They told me to make sure I went at any uneven surfaces at an angle as the car was so low to the ground and it would scratch that area of the car and they were not lying.
Getting in the Car for the First Time and Other People’s Reactions
When I got in the car for the first time it felt good. I had never sat inside and exotic car before yet alone ever driven one but I was ready. This car only had about 425 horse power so it was ‘nothing major’ and not too much to handle at all. I could handle it and was ready to see what it could do. The car was a dark grey on the outside but had bright red leather interior. It was beautiful. The electronics on the car were pretty basic but if I would have bought the car I would have installed and aftermarket double din navigation unit in it. Think Alpine, top tier Pioneer, etc
Anyway my cousin had dropped me off at the place to pick up the car but didn’t know what I was getting. Needless to say he tripped out when he saw it but he never rode in it. I had rented a condo in near downtown so I wasn’t too far from all the action but I needed to roll to suburbs first to pick up somethings (that was about a 25 mile drive). As soon as I made it to the first red light I could see people in other cars looking at me, some people even took pictures of me at the light over the next few days. I did the speed limit for maybe those first 10 miles until I got to the toll road where it wasn’t much traffic then I pushed that car to about 170 mph. It got there quick but not as fast as my motorcycle but it was easily the fast car I had ever driven. Later that day I pulled up behind a school bus full of kids and when they saw the car I swear about 20 kids starting hanging their arms out the windows and started waiving at me. Everywhere I went people would look at me and the car which was a good thing and bad (I’ll speak on the bad part later).That brought me to the conclusion that If you don’t want to be watched then don’t drive an exotic car or anything else ‘flashy’.
People Expect you to Tip Even More When Parking and Have ‘Money’
The first night I had the car I went to the club. I parked in the parking rite in front of the club maybe 2 spaces from the door. I think I pay $50 to park which was cheap compared to prices I was going to see later that weekend. I dropped the $50. As soon as I got out the car one of the guys who worked at the club wanted me to buy bottle service but that was something I didn’t want. I had it set in my mind I was not drinking to the point where I could not drive a six figure car safely.
The next morning I went to The Breakfast Club. It’s always a long line there but it was ASW so it was super long and basically no parking for blocks. When I pulled up at the parking lot the person in front of me got turned around but when I pulled up and the valet saw the Maserati he literally made me a parking spot. I gave him $10 on the way in and out for doing that.
Later that night I when to a restaurant where another cousin of mine was throwing his wife a birthday party. It was connected to the galleria mall so it was common to see exotic cars there. When I pulled up it was a Ferrari Italia parked out front by itself. I asked the valet to park my car up their by it and he said “idk if we’re going to have any spots, gets kind of busy out here” as he reached his hand out for a tip. I gave him $20 and he went and parked my car. When I came out the restaurant it was a a lot of exotics parked out front I won’t lie.
When I went to the club that night I just parked with the ‘regular’ cars as there was no valet but I made sure I was in a well lite area. The next night I went to the club dude tried to charge me $300 to park up front. I politely parked it on the street under a light pole and called it a night. That actually ended up being better not only because it was free but the traffic leaving the club was a mf.
When I parked in regular parking lots going into the store (or at Burger King because I went once) I made sure to park way in the back of the parking lot. The last thing I needed was somebodies door denting this car and of course I wanted it to be seen.
Lastly, one of the most notable parking incidents happen when I was going out another night downtown and there was now VIP parking so I was forced to park underground. Luckily I found a spot next to the stairs so I back the car in there. After the club I came out to the car and saw a hand written note tucked under the windshield wiper. It said “I’m sorry I hit your car, I hope the damage is not too bad”. I was like wtf. My whole mode changed. Then I kept reading the note only to see “sike I’m playing but next time you should valet”. I was like really bit%h.
Street Racing
People wanted to race weather the car they were driving was fast or not. I turned down alot simply because I didn’t feel the race was worth it but did accept a few:
Maserati vs Charger RT = Maserati won
Maserati vs Camaro SS = Maserati won
Maserati vs BMW 650 = Tie. We raced and ended up neck and neck going about 140 mph before he exited the freeway
Maserati vs BMW M5 = M5 won and he left me in traffic (dude had some skills and I’m a pretty good driver)
Thieves are Watching
One night my boy and I were posted up outside this club taking to these random girls when a group of brothas walked by. They all looked at us and one said “have you ever been robbed” and he had a dead serious look on his face. I responded immediately with “have you ever been shot before” and grabbed my Springfield Armory .45 that I had sitting on the driver’s seat and flashed it at him. He said “that’s what’s up” and they all kept walking. Needless to say we left a few minutes after that as a precaution.
Females
If you think having and expensive car alone is going to get you some pu$$y from a quality female then you are wrong (I know it’s guys that think like this). It really just attracted ratchet females except for a few. That night I was driving to the galleria for dinner I was dressed up, sitting in traffic with the windows down jamming whatever and had a bottle of grey goose in the cup holder. As I approached the crosswalk it was a group of people in business casual attire that looked like they had just gotten off work for the evening. One was this good looking black female. She saw me and said “you have a really nice car and I want a drink so bad rite now” while staring at that bottle of Grey Goose. I said “thanks and if you want some come get it”. She said she couldn’t now but gave me her number to hit her up. I ended up having sex with her sometime over that weekend.
Almost every night after the club it would be females hanging around the car but they really were not the types of females I was interested in looks wise yet alone personality wise so I never got any pu$$y off just the car alone in those settings but you could blame that on me being picky.
I actually got the most success from females just sitting at the red light and they would pull up next to me. I ended up smashing another female I met that way. Her and her homegirls pulled up next to me like “what’s up”, they followed me to this restaurant (chacos) everyone goes to after the club (it’s about 3 am now). We chilled, and one of those females ended up riding back to my place with me and it was a wrap.
My Rating of the Experience
All and all it was great and I took the following things from those few days:
It’s been about 4 years now and the Maserati GranTurismo is not too high on my car list anymore although I still love the car. If anything I would lease a Maserati Ghibli these days and my obtainable dream cars are the BMW M5 and M6.
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/thinking-of-renting-exotic-car-during-my-atl-visit-no-rbk.320777/
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/how-do-you-rent-lambos-and-expensive-cars-like-that.379511/
Background Story
Back in 2012 the NBA All Star Weekend (ASW) was in my home city of Houston. I had never been to ASW so I set my mind on traveling home from the Middle East where I was working to go visit the city. I was in Houston 8 days or so and 5 of those days I had a rented Maserati GranTurismo. This car WAS my realistic dream car and technically I could have bought a pre-owned one which I planned to do whenever I saw fit.
Anyway I choose to rent the car for a few days as an test drive does not give you the full experience of driving the car. It’s not just a car you will experience but rather the lifestyle that comes with driving and exotic. Also I’m sure the dealer was not going to let me drive the car like I wanted to with them in the vehicle.
Reservation and Pick Up
I searched for a few days for a company that had the car and would let 22 year old me rent it. I eventually found a place in the galleria area of Houston that only required a $1,000 deposit and basic full coverage on my personal car. That was too easy so I made the reservation back in October for February when I was going home (I paid about $1,800 for the 5 day rental in full when I made the reservation).
When I went to pick the vehicle up it was a few other guys in there picking up their rentals car but most notable was JR Smith was in there picking up a Phantom Ghost for the weekend. He was walking out the office as I was walking in. I’ll note that all the exotics in the city for booked for ASW so if you didn’t make a reservation early you were going to pay a ridiculous amount if you could find one.
When it was my turn to pick up my car it was the standard process like at Avis or any of those places but with extra detail to the damages on the car. It was a few starches here and there but not to many except for under the front lip. They told me to make sure I went at any uneven surfaces at an angle as the car was so low to the ground and it would scratch that area of the car and they were not lying.
Getting in the Car for the First Time and Other People’s Reactions
When I got in the car for the first time it felt good. I had never sat inside and exotic car before yet alone ever driven one but I was ready. This car only had about 425 horse power so it was ‘nothing major’ and not too much to handle at all. I could handle it and was ready to see what it could do. The car was a dark grey on the outside but had bright red leather interior. It was beautiful. The electronics on the car were pretty basic but if I would have bought the car I would have installed and aftermarket double din navigation unit in it. Think Alpine, top tier Pioneer, etc
Anyway my cousin had dropped me off at the place to pick up the car but didn’t know what I was getting. Needless to say he tripped out when he saw it but he never rode in it. I had rented a condo in near downtown so I wasn’t too far from all the action but I needed to roll to suburbs first to pick up somethings (that was about a 25 mile drive). As soon as I made it to the first red light I could see people in other cars looking at me, some people even took pictures of me at the light over the next few days. I did the speed limit for maybe those first 10 miles until I got to the toll road where it wasn’t much traffic then I pushed that car to about 170 mph. It got there quick but not as fast as my motorcycle but it was easily the fast car I had ever driven. Later that day I pulled up behind a school bus full of kids and when they saw the car I swear about 20 kids starting hanging their arms out the windows and started waiving at me. Everywhere I went people would look at me and the car which was a good thing and bad (I’ll speak on the bad part later).That brought me to the conclusion that If you don’t want to be watched then don’t drive an exotic car or anything else ‘flashy’.
People Expect you to Tip Even More When Parking and Have ‘Money’
The first night I had the car I went to the club. I parked in the parking rite in front of the club maybe 2 spaces from the door. I think I pay $50 to park which was cheap compared to prices I was going to see later that weekend. I dropped the $50. As soon as I got out the car one of the guys who worked at the club wanted me to buy bottle service but that was something I didn’t want. I had it set in my mind I was not drinking to the point where I could not drive a six figure car safely.
The next morning I went to The Breakfast Club. It’s always a long line there but it was ASW so it was super long and basically no parking for blocks. When I pulled up at the parking lot the person in front of me got turned around but when I pulled up and the valet saw the Maserati he literally made me a parking spot. I gave him $10 on the way in and out for doing that.
Later that night I when to a restaurant where another cousin of mine was throwing his wife a birthday party. It was connected to the galleria mall so it was common to see exotic cars there. When I pulled up it was a Ferrari Italia parked out front by itself. I asked the valet to park my car up their by it and he said “idk if we’re going to have any spots, gets kind of busy out here” as he reached his hand out for a tip. I gave him $20 and he went and parked my car. When I came out the restaurant it was a a lot of exotics parked out front I won’t lie.
When I went to the club that night I just parked with the ‘regular’ cars as there was no valet but I made sure I was in a well lite area. The next night I went to the club dude tried to charge me $300 to park up front. I politely parked it on the street under a light pole and called it a night. That actually ended up being better not only because it was free but the traffic leaving the club was a mf.
When I parked in regular parking lots going into the store (or at Burger King because I went once) I made sure to park way in the back of the parking lot. The last thing I needed was somebodies door denting this car and of course I wanted it to be seen.
Lastly, one of the most notable parking incidents happen when I was going out another night downtown and there was now VIP parking so I was forced to park underground. Luckily I found a spot next to the stairs so I back the car in there. After the club I came out to the car and saw a hand written note tucked under the windshield wiper. It said “I’m sorry I hit your car, I hope the damage is not too bad”. I was like wtf. My whole mode changed. Then I kept reading the note only to see “sike I’m playing but next time you should valet”. I was like really bit%h.
Street Racing
People wanted to race weather the car they were driving was fast or not. I turned down alot simply because I didn’t feel the race was worth it but did accept a few:
Maserati vs Charger RT = Maserati won
Maserati vs Camaro SS = Maserati won
Maserati vs BMW 650 = Tie. We raced and ended up neck and neck going about 140 mph before he exited the freeway
Maserati vs BMW M5 = M5 won and he left me in traffic (dude had some skills and I’m a pretty good driver)
Thieves are Watching
One night my boy and I were posted up outside this club taking to these random girls when a group of brothas walked by. They all looked at us and one said “have you ever been robbed” and he had a dead serious look on his face. I responded immediately with “have you ever been shot before” and grabbed my Springfield Armory .45 that I had sitting on the driver’s seat and flashed it at him. He said “that’s what’s up” and they all kept walking. Needless to say we left a few minutes after that as a precaution.
Females
If you think having and expensive car alone is going to get you some pu$$y from a quality female then you are wrong (I know it’s guys that think like this). It really just attracted ratchet females except for a few. That night I was driving to the galleria for dinner I was dressed up, sitting in traffic with the windows down jamming whatever and had a bottle of grey goose in the cup holder. As I approached the crosswalk it was a group of people in business casual attire that looked like they had just gotten off work for the evening. One was this good looking black female. She saw me and said “you have a really nice car and I want a drink so bad rite now” while staring at that bottle of Grey Goose. I said “thanks and if you want some come get it”. She said she couldn’t now but gave me her number to hit her up. I ended up having sex with her sometime over that weekend.
Almost every night after the club it would be females hanging around the car but they really were not the types of females I was interested in looks wise yet alone personality wise so I never got any pu$$y off just the car alone in those settings but you could blame that on me being picky.
I actually got the most success from females just sitting at the red light and they would pull up next to me. I ended up smashing another female I met that way. Her and her homegirls pulled up next to me like “what’s up”, they followed me to this restaurant (chacos) everyone goes to after the club (it’s about 3 am now). We chilled, and one of those females ended up riding back to my place with me and it was a wrap.
My Rating of the Experience
All and all it was great and I took the following things from those few days:
- People are ALWAYS watching. (Good and bad)
- People expect for you to have some type of success and not just ‘Income Tax Ballin’ as numerous people asked me what I did for a living
- You can get those good parking spots for an extra fee usually
- Do you really want to have to always have to worry about your car? (I would literally spend extra time trying to find a parking spot or level surface to enter a parking lot)
- It's fun to be inside an exotic car
- It's a lifestyle and not 'just a car' a car you bought
It’s been about 4 years now and the Maserati GranTurismo is not too high on my car list anymore although I still love the car. If anything I would lease a Maserati Ghibli these days and my obtainable dream cars are the BMW M5 and M6.
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