My Google Alerts picked up review by Laura Nielson of Cool Hunting. She posted about a car rental company in the Big Apple with a great niche.
Called Geniusride, the company rents Smart cars in NYC, a city with a large number of environmentally-conscious people and a legendary shortage of parking. The Smart’s tiny size certainly would make parking in tight spots easier.
Geniusride must be doing something right because they have 52 of the cute Smart Cars in their rental fleet. They have both hardtop and Cabrio Smarts.
Their pricing starts at $80-a-day, and they have taken a page from the Enterprise Rent-A-Car playbook in that they will deliver your Smart rental car to you.
Each of their rental Smart cars also comes standard with a Tom Tom GPS, which would definitely make negotiating the mean streets of NYC a bit easier.
I suspect that Geniusride is going to be a very successful small business because they are one of very few car rental companies that are renting Smart cars. Because the buzz surrounding the Smart caused so many pre-orders, Smart has not had to sell any cars to rental fleets at a discount. Depending on the region of the United States, the wait for a Smart can be between 9 months and a year.
Geniusride assembled their fleet of Smarts by finding orphaned cars at Smart dealers. Even if demand for the micro car slackens because of lower gas prices, I suspect a lot of New Yorkers who are on the Smart waiting list or considering joining it—will be willing to part with $80 to get an extended test drive in the Smart.
“People looking to drive our exotic cars prior to making a six figure purchase makes up a fair number of Dallas TX exotic car rentals we get every month,” said DFW Elite Auto Rental.com General Manager Tom Warren. “I suspect the same would hold true of a company like Geniusrides, especially since they are renting a car that’s desirable with a long waiting list.”
I think the Smart cars are wickedly cool and have been curious to drive one ever since I read about them. The first one that I saw was when I was travelling. I spotted a yellow Smart at my favorite Fort Worth 5 star restaurant.
At any rate if you share my enthusiasm for the Smart, Geniusride in NYC can help get you behind the wheel of one for an extended test drive on your next visit to the Big Apple. Hook up with them at http://www.Geniusride.com. They have even added a Prius and other hybrids to their fleet in the event that you need a car rental with more passenger room.
