I've seen car clubs in New England but not one in Boston. The Otto Club offers Bostonians the chance to get in on the exotic car action. The Otto Club is named after Nicolaus Otto who built the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine in 1876. The club was founded in 2005 by John Caron, a former tech exec with a love of European exotic cars. The club offers cars such as the Ferrari 360, Aston Martin DB9 and the Maserati Quattroporte. The club has Black and Red membership levels. Black costs $28,000 per year and offers 30,000 points which entitles you to around 40-60 driving days and a mix of cars, weekends and weekdays. The Red membership is $15,000 for 15,000 points and 20-30 driving days. Membership includes your spouse plus one additional driver. The Helium Report interviewed John Caron last fall and found that the company is planning it open a clubhouse sometime this spring and that Caron's favorite car of all time is a Mazda RX-7 Turbo II. Other clubs and services we have covered include:
Premier Auto Club
Classic Car Club Manhattan
LuxShare Auto Club
Capital Dream Cars
DFW Elite Auto Rental
Gotham Dream Cars
Atlanta Driving Club
Club Ferdinand
Oversteer Fractional Car Ownership
Club Sportiva
Pure Exotics Dream Automobile Rentals
Luxury Rent A Car
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-23-2007 @ 8:57PM
Ben said...
I think it would be so smart for one of these car clubs had some more "boring" cars, so that a person of means living in a big city could get a sedan or SUV (like a CLS Mercedes/Jag XJR or a Range Rover Sport/Porsche Cayenne, not some sub-compact econo car with out A/C) for more boring trips, like a trip to the vet or to go run a few errands, and still be able to get one of the exotic cars when they want. You would need it what, 3 times a month, 4 at the most, so 40 days in one of those, maybe another 5-10 in an exotic car, and make it the lowest level in the club.
But maybe I miss the point of a car club in the first place.
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3-23-2007 @ 9:51PM
Wanderer said...
It is all about the cars. A fine restaurant does not serve hamburgers and onion rings. If they did it would not be a fine restaurant. These clubs are for those that either have the money to spend to purchase but choose not to because of the ownership cost involved, and for those that just cant justify spending that much on something that will be driven in all probability only once or twice a month anyway. These clubs have a lot of upside to them.
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3-25-2007 @ 3:04AM
Ben said...
Didn't I just see something on CNN about a $1000 pizza? And what about the db Bistro Moderne burger?
(and to continue the food analogies) A CLS is not a Whopper. It is the same thing, just with cars that cost a teeny bit less. (CLS- $92,975; XJR- $81,500; RangeRover Sport- $71,250; Cayenne Turbo- $93,700; while Otto's Porsche 911 is a touch over $100,000 and the Quattroporte is $124,000)
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