How it works
Everything below is what we would want to know if we were the ones handing over a card and a driving licence.
You tell us the dates
By phone, email, or the availability tool on this site. We will tell you what is free and, if the car you want is out, which of the other eight we would put you in instead.
We check the licence
A photograph of your licence and a DVLA check code. Thirty or over, five years licensed, no more than six points. It takes about four minutes and it happens once, not every time.
The car is prepared
Three days in the atelier, fourteen points, and a twenty mile road test by the technician whose name goes on the sheet. Every panel is photographed the morning it leaves.
Handover, and the walk round
At Motcomb Street or wherever you are. Fifteen minutes on the controls, the quirks and the fuel, then the deposit hold goes on the card and the keys change hands.
You drive it properly
240 miles a day included. If you want more, tell us before rather than after and we will price it sensibly. If something goes wrong, one phone number, answered by somebody who knows the car.
Back, and the deposit released
The same walk round in daylight with the same camera. Deposits are released within five working days, usually the same afternoon.
Delivery is on a covered transporter. Nobody wants their weekend car arriving with four hundred motorway miles already on it.Ruaridh Sinclair, founder
The numbers, plainly
Deposits
Refundable, held against the excess, from £7,500 on the Windrose to £25,000 on the Vent Noir. Taken as a card hold on the morning of handover, released within five working days.
Insurance excess
Matches the deposit on each car. Halved for Keyholders, waived at Curator level. Cover is fully comprehensive and in our name, so there is no separate policy for you to arrange.
Mileage
240 miles a day, 300 for Keyholders, unlimited for Curators. Beyond that it is £4.50 a mile. That figure is tyres and servicing, not a penalty, and we tell you where you stand at the walk round.
Damage
Two sets of photographs, before and after, shown to you side by side. Stone chips from a continental drive are expected and never charged. Anything else, you see the repair quote before we touch the deposit.
Delivery
Free within 60 miles of Belgravia. £350 to 150 miles, £600 to 250 miles, and £950 beyond that anywhere in mainland Britain. Free everywhere for Keyholders and above.
Cancellation
No charge up to fourteen days out. Inside that we will move the dates rather than take the money, unless it is a peak summer weekend somebody else wanted.
Questions we are asked
Two to three weeks is comfortable for most cars. The Lampo Spider and the R9 go early in summer, and the Type 12 needs a conversation first because we only release it to members who have driven with us before. If you want a specific weekend in July, tell us in February.
It is a refundable hold against the insurance excess, taken by card and released within five working days of the car coming back. It is not a charge, and we do not take it as cash. Deposits run from £7,500 on the Windrose to £25,000 on the Vent Noir.
Every car goes out with a photographic condition record taken that morning. If something has changed when it comes back, we show you the two sets of photographs and we tell you what it costs to put right before anything is charged. Stone chips on a continental drive are expected and we do not charge for them.
Yes, on the Ravenscourt, Windrose, Tredici and Vent Noir. Continental use needs seven days' notice for the paperwork and green card, and it is included at Curator level. We usually transport the car to the far side of the Channel rather than have you spend a day on a motorway.
You need to be thirty or over, hold a full licence for at least five years, and have no more than six points and no disqualification in the last five years. A second named driver on the same terms costs £250 for the hire. We take a copy of the licence and a DVLA check code at the walk round.
240 miles a day is included, 300 for Keyholders and unlimited for Curators. Beyond that it is £4.50 a mile, which covers tyres and servicing rather than being a penalty. Nobody has ever been surprised by a mileage charge, because we tell you where you stand at the walk round.
The Kessel GT, yes, with circuit day cover added. It is the car built for it and the only one insured for it. The others are road cars and we would rather you enjoyed them on roads. Circuit cover is £1,200 for the hire and includes a technician on site if you want one.
If we have delivered a car and the weather turns, that is driving in Britain. If the forecast is genuinely dangerous, ice or standing water, we will move your dates without charge. Members have taken us up on this four times in seven years and we have never argued about it.
Anything still unclear
Call and ask. It is a small company, so the person who answers is the person who knows the answer.