Exotic Rental Car Startup Much Needed Help Please And Thank You

[drycleaner]

As of August 2013, I've ended my past dog training business to look for another venture to start. As from some many self-help speakers, I've taken on one of their reasonable philosophies as my own "Follow Your Passion".
So, like every 21 year old male who'se not shitting rainbows, I've decided to reinvest my previous money from my dog training business I sold and start n exotic car rental company in Fort Collins, CO. And I need some (LOTS) of advice.... I would appreciate anything, truly and sincerely!
Due to my ability to pay a large enough downpayment, I am able to finance any car under $200,000. Cars in mind are the Audi R8 V10, Corvette ZR1, Nissan GT-R (any other suggestions are highly encouraged!)
I will be financing the car over 3 years, and average payments on the car will be ~$3,000 / month (includes full comp business insurance)
I also have a lawyer who will be drafting up all that shenanigans And Insurance up to $1m per car
The plan here is rental car will be rented per designated route 44.4 miles total going through the rocky mountains, and through the town centre
Questions:
1) What should be the first car purchased?
2) What should be the price per drive (The competition is charging $895 per 50 miles but that is in Denver (higher population, higher income))
3) How many clients do you think is a reasonable expectation per month (Average income is ~$51,000 per year, and cost of living low (Quite a well off area, but certainly not a big spender))
4) Would I be better off starting in Denver and working against the one other rival business?
5) What am I doing or thinking wrong?
6) What is the best advice you could give me?
7) Do you think I could crowd fund a portion of this business
Extra: I used to work as a marketing consultant for a few of the top brokerages (real estate not financial) in the bay area, and am capable of generating a captive audience.. My only real concern is breaking even, and making a profit...
This is definitely a passion of mine, and I'm willing to go broke over it... In my eyes, it's worth it.
Definitely will appreciate any and every piece of advice given! Please help!

 

[clay620]

@drycleaner Before you go out and buy a 6-figure car, spend a few bucks and see what your customers want and are willing to pay. How do you plan on acquiring customers? Use that route to figure out the answers to a few of the questions you're asking. If you know people who are in your target market, talk to them.

If not, one way you can do this is by using google adwords. You can usually get $75-$100 in free credits.

In terms of keywords, you need to figure out what this business actually is. If there's a predefined route, this isn't really a rental car business. There's a difference between somebody wanting to go to a joyride on a scenic route, and somebody that wants to show up to their highschool reunion in a GT-R just to show off. Create your keywords accordingly to avoid the latter.

Obviously, you'll need a website that people go to after seeing your ad.

My advice on the website would be to have a main page that on top of the usual info about the business, has pictures of the 3 above-mentioned cars prominently displayed under some text that says "Choose Your Experience".

Each of those pictures should link to a car-specific page that shows the price and has an option to book now. When the user clicks "book now" they are sent to a page that prompts them to put in a few details about what they want - car, time & date, email address.

Use Google Analytics to track who clicks on what car, and then how many people click "book now", or leave, after seeing the page with the price. That way you'll know which car has the greatest demand and if your price-point is acceptable to your target market.

This is an inexpensive way to help you understand your customers and potentially get a couple of email addresses / pilot customers.

Now to your other questions - how many customers can you expect per month? Who knows? I think the question you need is, how many customers do you NEED per month? Keep in mind the cost of the cars, insurance, customer acquisition costs (marketing), maintenance, etc.

I would suggest putting together (or having someone put together) a financial model to see if the numbers make sense before diving into this. If you have any questions on that, shoot me a pm.

 

[kenjisan70]

@drycleaner This is not a rental car business. You are selling a high end experience. So why are you forcing your clients to drive a particular route? (And how will you enforce that?)

Comarket in Boulder not Denver . Lots of money there and you didn't state there is competition there.

Consider leasing the cars. More expensive in the long run but means less cash out your door.

There is a similar biz here on boston. They are constantly doing groupon and other promos. Makes me think the market is price sensitive (purely a recreational experience). Probably highly seasonal as well around Christmas and fathers day.

Just some thoughts.