Its an affliction befalling most gearheads: the desire to drive as many cool cars as possible. Given the opportunity, most of us would have a fleet of machinery rivaling the collections of Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfeld. This can get expensive.Hagerty recognized this as an opportunity to expand the type of products it offers to gearhead car collectors.Best known for its insurance, the company brought DriveShare to market in an attempt to help like-minded car nuts sate their appetite for getting behind the wheel of a neat machine.Think of DriveShare as airbnb for cool cars. The service allows owners of collector vehicles to rent them out short-term, not unlike picking up a mainstream car as a vacation rental from a service like Turo. Hagerty doesnt own any of the cars; rather, it maintains a website that connects renters with customers looking for an interesting set of wheels. Uses range from using the cars for weddings or photo shoots; to serving as a test bed for a curious buyer who is trying to determine if they can live with the quirks of a classic car.Its the latter group theyre hoping will become long-term customers of the Hagerty brand. If a person just getting into the collector car hobby is exposed to the Hagerty brand during a short-term rental, the name may stick and be top of mind when theyre shopping for insurance after they buy a cool car of their own, explained Steve Haas, Senior Manager of DriveShare operations at Hagerty.We currently have customers booking cars six months in advance for weddings, but also people who are looking to rent something in the next three hours. Up until July of this year, only American residents age 30 and over could use the service. A change in insurance details now allows Hagerty to permit rentals to those aged 25 and up, and to international drivers, meaning Canadians who travel south of the border can now rent a car from DriveShare. The cars still have to be registered in the States.This is great news for the gearhead couple who find themselves in California for a couple of days. Calling up the DriveShare website reveals an assemblage of bleedingly cool machines for rent in that state, most of which would be a blast to drive up Highway 1 or in and around the canyons.DriveShare facilitates a great deal of communication between the renter and car owner, explained Haas. Most cars of this nature have their quirks, and who better to explain hem to you than the owner themselves? In this, Haas makes a very good point. Like an old but sturdy house in which one has to kick the back door just right in order to get it open, the actual owner of the car youre renting can tell you just what way to turn the ignition key to get it to work or point out that running the A/C will also illuminate a harmless dashboard idiot light.Some renters provide delivery service, so with enough notice one could arrange for the car of their choice to be waiting for them when they land at LAX. Others choose to allow their vehicles to be rented as a chauffeured ride, or as a static display for fundraisers. Owners are free to set different fees for these purposes.Haas told us that convertibles and fun colours are quite popular on the site, as are Porsche 911s and Mustangs of all vintages. A car doesnt have to be an antique to be listed on DriveShare; newer exotic or hi-po machinery is very welcome.Hagerty helps with legalities on both sides of the rental agreement, with mechanisms in place to prevent renters without a valid drivers licence from finding themselves behind the wheel; while also providing roadside assistance and insurance liability to the renter as part of the deal. Like an auction house, Hagerty makes money off this service by charging a fee; in this case, the company keeps 35 per cent of the rental rate.Variety is the spice of life, and any service that permits gearheads the chance to sample a roster of cool cars ranks pretty high on our list. If youre planning a trip to the States, be sure to budget a few extra shekels and rent a cool set of wheels from
Origin: Canadians can now rent classic cars via Hagerty’s DriveShare