IMAGE - Exotic Car Rentals + Van Rentals

Banged up? What did that mean? Totaled? "I don't know," the customer said.

Lehmann-Haupt and his business partner, owners of the Gotham Dream Cars
exotic-car-rental agency, drove to the scene in Long Beach, N.Y. And yes, their $185,000 Lamborghini was totaled.

"At first, we were sort of in shock," Lehmann-Haupt said. "But then, it just
becomes a matter of logistics. We filed the claim with our insurance
company, made sure all the documentation was in order, and within 60 days,
we had a new car."

Such a problem becomes a "blip on the radar screen," he says, since his
insurance paperwork was in order and the claim went through.

"Fortunately, the vast majority of our rentals don't end that way," he said.
"We've had four total losses in nearly 1,500 rentals."

Gotham, one of the largest and oldest companies of its kind in the country,
rents exotic autos from offices in New York City and Miami. As you might
expect, the Miami fleet is heavy on bling in general, convertibles in
particular.

A Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet goes for $795 a day. An Aston-Martin Vantage,
$1,950 a day. A Ford GT, $1,750 a day.

The exotic-car-rental business is growing nationally, and in a temperate
vacation destination such as Orlando, there are multiple agencies with long
lists of available vehicles.

"Probably 75 percent of the calls I get are from women," said Florida Exotic
Car Rental manager Roshan Solay. "Wives wanting to surprise their husbands
for a birthday or an anniversary. A lot of our rentals are given as
presents, and the Christmas season is one of our busiest times. The vast
majority of us can't afford a $200,000 car, but most can afford to rent
something special for a day or two, just to experience it."

They'll let you experience a Bentley Continental Flying Spur for $995 a day,
or a Lotus Elise for $395 a day, or a massive yellow Hummer H1 for $495 a
day.

Solay said he sees a substantial percentage of repeat customers, some of
whom come back for a favorite — "We have one customer who has rented the
same Dodge Viper four or five times." Others try out different vehicles. He
also gets some customers interested in buying an exotic, who want to see how
the car fits.

"You typically aren't going to get lengthy test drives from a Ferrari
dealer," Solay said, "so the only way to try one out for any length of time
may be to rent one."

Lehmann-Haupt of Gotham Dream Cars said the clientele for his Florida agency
is different from New York.

"In Florida, we get a lot more travelers, a lot more people from outside the
country. They'll call and say, 'I'm coming in for the weekend for a big
party, and I need a Ferrari at my hotel.' In New York, we get more local
customers, people driving to Atlantic City or the Hamptons for a weekend."

All the agencies agree that the most requested vehicles are those brands we
immediately associate with exotics — Ferraris and Lamborghinis.

"Definitely the top two," Lehmann-Haupt said. "That's why we have four
Ferraris and six Lamborghinis. It's what people want to drive, and it's
certainly what I wanted to drive when I got into this business."

Also popular at a handful of agencies are vintage cars. In Orlando, Skyview
Exotic Cars rents out a 1951 Jaguar, a 1970 Plymouth Superbird and a 1968
Ford Mustang GT that is a replica of "Eleanor," the sheet-metal centerpiece
in the movie Gone in 60 Seconds.

If you want to look and feel like the movie's star, Nicholas Cage, it'll
cost you $1,500 a day.

But that's what the exotic-rental business is all about.
"Our job," said Florida Exotic Car Rental's Solay, "is to make dreams come
true."