Timesharing Supercars: Ferraris and Lamborghinis for the Day

(MoneyWatch)  When Aaron Fessler goes to work, he walks into a garage that is wish fulfillment for the world's dreamers and Car and Driver subscribers. An Audi R8, polished and gleaming, sits next to an all-business Ford GT-40, which is blocking the exit of a V-12 Aston-Martin DB9, Mercedes SLR McLaren and Lamborghini LP560-4. Did I mention the British Racing Green Tesla Roadster?

Welcome to Vulcan Motor Club, a timeshare for supercars that Fessler--a serial entrepreneur--started in New Jersey circa 2007 with his friend Tom Mizzone. Sign up for a $35,000 one-year membership and you get 40 days of access to a dozen supercars. They'll even deliver them to you, full of gas (and given their thirst, you'll need it). This is not the only entry in the field: Club Sportiva has the same basic idea.

Here are the founders talking about the origins of their club: The mangled hood of Vulcan's first GT-40 sits in the reception area as a reminder of what can happen if you get one of these beasts sideways. It was one of two cars totaled since the club was founded (the other was a Lamborghini), but that hasn't deterred 100 people from buying memberships and then, mostly, renewing for another driving season.

Fessler says that the club, which was funded by private investors and is a for-profit venture, will break even for the first time this year, and it is expanding. It has a $2 million auto inventory, but also 100 paying customers. You do the math. A second outlet has opened in Glen Cove, Long Island and a third is planned sometime next year in the Greenwich/Stamford, Connecticut area.

"Everything's available as a timeshare this year," said Fessler, whose last company, Media Sentry, rode herd on Internet pirates. "You can share yachts, vacations, handbags, watches." Handbags and watches!

The club started with Dodge Vipers and Porsche twin turbos but soon discovered that these weren't exclusive enough. The members already owned those: They wanted the real exotics, aspirational cars they'd only dreamed about and seen in glossy magazines. "We're in the business of making happy people even happier," said Fessler.

Since $150,000 supercars lose $50,000 of their value the minute they're out of the showroom, Vulcan buys most of its cars "used." The cars they buy are, to put it mildly, lightly used--many have 100 or fewer miles on them. For many, supercars are garage queens, rolling sculpture that doesn't need to actually hit the road.

As an attitude, that's rather unfortunate. These cars were built to be driven hard and put away wet, which is precisely what I--as a guest of the club--did with them.

It's interesting to note that Fessler said the recession has, in some ways, been a boon to his business. The hedge fund managers who would simply have bought a new Ferrari last year now see the wisdom of simply sharing one. "They want to preserve their capital," Fessler said. "They also have short attention spans, and we play to that, too--if you're bored with the Ferrari you can drive the Lamborghini or the Aston-Martin."

Jim Motavalli photo