Supercar for a day

Club Torque, India’s first supercar rental service, will soon offer a raft of supercars for you to borrow in Mumbai. On offer are cars like the BMW Z4, Audi R8, Porsche 911 Turbo and even a Ferrari, the pin-sharp F430. Now this may sound too good to be true and, in part, it is. Of course there is a catch. You just can’t use your credit card, rent a car for a day and be done with it. The business model just wouldn’t work.

As the name suggests, Club Torque is a club, which implies that there is a minimum annual membership as well as a substantial annual fee. The basic annual membership will cost Rs 5 lakh. For your money, you get 3,000 points and upto 20 days of driving a year. Other annual memberships cost between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, with 40 and 80 driving days available annually. But what are the points for each car like?

The good news is that you can rent the Ferrari F430 on weekdays for approximately 300 points a day, which works out to roughly Rs 80,000 a day. Other supercars and sportscars are more affordable. A Porsche 911 Turbo costs 175 points a day on a weekday and a Z4, 125. Costs on weekends could go up as high as 600 points a day for the Ferrari, but that is only to be expected. There are other rules and conditions as well. You must rent a car for a minimum of three or a maximum of 10 days. The club has to be informed if you plan to drive out of Mumbai (you can only drive to select destinations in and around the city) and racing and track days are banned. Club Torque will either drop and pick up the car or allow you to park at their facilities should you have parking restrictions. The promoter of the Club is the Shaman Group, dealers for Mercedes, Honda and Volkswagen in Mumbai. There are plans to start a similar service in other cities as well. For more details, call 90047 89993.