911 cabriolet from the Porsche Drive program, outside the Porsche Museum. Photo courtesy Porsche AG.
For many, visiting the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, would qualify as the trip of a lifetime. In addition to a regularly updated display of historically significant Porsche street and racing cars, the museum now has one more attraction to draw in visitors: through a program called Porsche Drive, visitors can now rent many current Porsche models for as little as one hour or as long as one week.
As one would expect, the Porsche Drive program has its limits, as it wouldn’t be prudent to hand over the keys to an $845,000, 608-horsepower Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid supercar to anyone with a driver’s license and a credit card. Even Turbo and GT models are verboten, but there are still plenty of available choices to satisfy most Porsche enthusiasts. Included models are the Boxster, Cayenne and Macan, priced at €69 ($86) for a one-hour rental; the Cayenne SUV, priced at €79 ($98) for a one-hour rental ; the Panamera sedan, priced at €89 ($111) for a one-hour rental; and the 911, priced at €99 ($123) for a one-hour rental. Longer rental periods, such as three-hour, full-day, weekend or even full-week rentals result in discounted pricing per hour; besides, how much enjoyment can one get behind the wheel of a 911 on Stuttgart roads in a single hour?
Porsche does have somewhat strict criteria for prospective renters. First, the driver must be a minimum of 27 years old, and needs to have held a valid driver’s license (from any country) for the past five years. A passport is also required for foreign renters, and a credit card must be used to book and pay for the rental. Why? Because Porsche will also book a €2500 ($3,100) security deposit on the credit card, which is refunded when the car is returned unscathed.
Renters must be mindful of both time and mileage, too, since a late return will also result in a penalty, as will mileage above and beyond the 100 kilometers (62 miles) included with the hourly rental fee (which also includes damage insurance). Additional mileage can get expensive quickly, as each kilometer past 100 is charged at €1 ($1.24).
Not everyone with a passion for the Porsche brand can afford to own one of its cars, and the automaker sees Porsche Drive as a way of giving more people the opportunity to drive a current model. Whether or not it results in additional sales, it certainly has the potential to capture the hearts and minds of Porsche Museum visitors.
For additional information on the Porsche Museum program, visit Porsche.com.
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