Hiring a TVR

[Legend83]

Hi all, just looking for some advice as to whether there are reputable places that one can hire a TVR for a long weekend from?

It is my 40th coming up in May next year. Unfortunately with 3 young kids, a decent mortgage and no garage I have never had the means yet to own my dream car. But for a treat I am considering just hiring one over the long weekend of my birthday to drive up to the hotel me and the wife will be staying in.

Any recommendations / thoughts?

[GAjon]

Are you hoping she will divorce you?

[Byker28i]

I have no experience, because I own one, but
Bespoke: https://bespokes.co.uk/marques/tvr-hire/
or Supercar experience https://www.supercarexperiences.com/manufacturers/...

Oh and Bluechip: https://www.bluechipcarhire.co.uk/luxury-car-hire/...

[Classic Chim]

GAjon said:

Are you hoping she will divorce you?

Considering how rare Tvr are the prices for hire are very attractive if you ask me.
Cheaper than running one as you still only do 700 miles but in a year and that costs way more than 700 quid.
Hiring you can do that mileage in one week and save all the polishing and parking up

[Legend83]

Byker28i said:

I have no experience, because I own one, but
Bespoke: https://bespokes.co.uk/marques/tvr-hire/
or Supercar experience https://www.supercarexperiences.com/manufacturers/...

Oh and Bluechip: https://www.bluechipcarhire.co.uk/luxury-car-hire/...

Thanks these look good. Security deposit .

[mk1fan]

Tempting to hire a Grief for a week! Might lead to a bigger expense though

[GAjon]

mk1fan said:

Tempting to hire a Grief for a week! Might lead to a bigger expense though

Was that a deliberate typo?

[sixor8]

Well bespoke want £995 for 6 days with a Tamora, so £760 for a week for a Tamora or a Griff with blue chip seems a bargain in comparison! Prices on that website are 2020 though so may be more now.

[mk1fan]

GAjon said:

mk1fan said:

Tempting to hire a Grief for a week! Might lead to a bigger expense though

Was that a deliberate typo?

They don't appear to offer a Chimp. Lucky, as I don't think I could afford to play golf as well

[LucyP]

sixor8 said:

Well bespoke want £995 for 6 days with a Tamora, so £760 for a week for a Tamora or a Griff with blue chip seems a bargain in comparison! Prices on that website are 2020 though so may be more now.

Are Blue Chip still in business though? A website that quotes 2020 prices is worrying. If you go to their site and look at their terms and conditions, you will see that it is a company called Luxury Prestige Car Hire Ltd. of Unit 9 Blenheim Court, 62 Brewery Road London trading as Blue Chip. If you look up that company (07946879) on Companies House Website, you will see that a company of that name, that used to have that address as it's registered office, appointed a liquidator in October 2020, and the registered office was changed to the liquidators' offices (Begbies Traynor).

The liquidator will just leave the website alive until the hosting contract expires and then the host will pull it.

I don't think you will get far with Blue Chip!

Also don't forget that when you do compare hire companies (that do exist) make sure you are comparing like for like. This isn't like normal car hire from Enterprise, Avis or Hertz, who all operate in pretty much the same way. How much is the security deposit? Do you have any points on your licence. That can be a problem? What insurance is offered and how much is it, and what does it cover? Some have large excesses. How old are the drivers? That can be a problem. How many miles are you planning to drive. Some offer more than others.

And finally, what is the condition of the car like. If you hire a Corsa from Enterprise etc., you will generally get something that is a few months old. with not many miles on the clock that will be in good condition and Enterprise will be the 1st and only owner.

When you hire something specialist, then the condition, age, mileage, maintenance, and number of the former owners can be very variable. People generally hire them to drive like Chris Harris. Don't just go by the headline price.

[Jurgen Schmidt]

.... and do they deliver?

You certainly wouldn't want to be picking one up from miles away

I hired a Tuscan from Rio Prestige based in Edinburgh in 2008 (they no longer exist).... they delivered the car to my door in London and collected it several days later

[subseamatt]

FYI, Bespoke don't actually have any TVRs either. They sold them all years ago, but like Blue Chip, they haven't updated or removed their website.

[LucyP]

The question is, does anyone have them on their fleet now? Of the companies mentioned, two have been discounted as either having gone out of business or no longer having any TVRs. That leaves Supercar Experiences, and I'm not sure that they have any either. I've looked at all the recent reviews, which are mainly excellent, and they always seem to be the same cars, and none are TVR's. They claim that all their cars are under 4 years old except for the classic selection. That is impossible with a TVR, and they are not listed in the classic selection either.

Whilst they claim to have a range of over 70 cars, the reviews don't seem to bear that out. If you look at their Special Offers section, the cars that are mentioned are the ones that are shown in the reviews. Perhaps that is the actual fleet, or the ones that they know they can easily hire in from the 3rd party?

You also need to look at their terms and conditions. 2.5% charge for a credit card. 5% for Amex. Nothing for a debit card. A deposit of between £1K and £10K, and that same range for the insurance excess. 100 miles per day limit unless it is a special offer car.

[Classic Chim]

Last year a post appeared on FB reviewing a Chimaera that a chap had rented from some such company. His review included a number of complaints about the car which he attributed to be Tvr faults.
In fact most of those faults were due to the car being tired and not maintained well.

The problem with Tvr are the “ no driver aids”
Who in their right mind rents a powerful unforgiving Tvr to someone with little or no experience of the cars.
You can understand the deposit requirements knowing the cost of crash repairs.
Modern tyres have made Tvr far more useable with much better grip but you rent fast cars (usually) to feel that power but the simple facts are many people are not capable drivers and this would be a huge risk to take on.

ETA you could fit a throttle stop but on my car 30% throttle is way to much for mere mortals

Edited by Classic Chim on Thursday 1st December 07:53

[V8 Animal]

So that’s a no then….

[Classic Chim]

V8 Animal said:

So that’s a no then….

Everything’s for sale at the right price.

The o/p might be best to post on the various FB TVR pages although that would mean having to join umpteen groups but someone might be prepared to rent their own car.
It’s not like most owners use them much

[Jurgen Schmidt]

Jurgen Schmidt said:

....

I hired a Tuscan from Rio Prestige based in Edinburgh in 2008 (they no longer exist).... they delivered the car to my door in London and collected it several days later

I forgot that a friend and I hired a Griffith 500 in 1999 I think, from The TVR Centre, High Barnet, for a long weekend - I was 24... That was a fantastic experience

Note that I now own both a Griff and a Tuscan MkIII - Hiring the car of your dreams is a sensible way of dipping your toe in before committing

By the looks of it though, the OP is going to have a tough job finding one to rent

[LucyP]

Jurgen Schmidt said:

By the looks of it though, the OP is going to have a tough job finding one to rent

I think at is true. The fact is that most of these type of hires are for special occasions - weddings, school "proms" etc. Just to be seen and photographed, and the type of car they want is a modern supercar or footballers' car - Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston, Bentley, McLaren, Audi R8, Range Rover SVR.

To earn their keep, these cars will need to be hired out regularly, not one that goes out every now and again.

A TVR from 20 years ago is unlikely to be what those customers want. It will be old and unreliable. There are few places left who understand how to repair them, and parts can be difficult to obtain.

[Classic Chim]

Lots of people want to drive the “old “ cars for the very reasons I mentioned above. They feel more connected to them and enjoy the need to engage fully as a driver.
As we and when I say that I mean people who own Tvr know many models are in fact very reliable if various faults can be ironed out.
A 20 year old car can be as reliable as you make it or not depending how you maintain that car.
You wouldn’t rent out a wreck now would you!
I don’t know how many Tvr meets I went too but people who have good cared for Tvr rarely breakdown you know?
It’s very disingenuous of you to generalise and somehow suggest that they are going to be unreliable because they have made it to 20 years.
You know nothing about the owners and Tvr community if you think they are all unreliable.

[Polly Grigora]

Could be beneficial to buy one and sell it on