Ferrari Hire - Naples / Sorrento, Italy

Soldato
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Hi folks

I'm going to Sorrento for a week at the end of July and quite fancy hiring a Ferrari for a day or two.

Googling it quite a few shonky looking websites come up - has anyone got any experience of doing something like this and likely prices?

ta
 
Soldato
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If you want to hire it on your own for 1-2 days, expect to be very limited in the amount of miles they'll let you cover. There will also be a huge excess for any damage, which is very easily done in a wide, low LHD car on narrow roads. It's unlikely to be covered by a traditional hire car excess insurance, so if they find damage during the return inspection, you're going to have to just pay up.

I used to work for a company in Monaco who offered a similar service, but it was 390EUR per hour, and you had to have the instructor sitting in the car with you, which obviously is a deal breaker for a lot of people. We did however offer 0 excess, with everything included in the upfront price, and no mileage limits. I heard a lot of horror stories from people who'd hired one on their own in the past, and been stung with huge excess charges for minor damage, which personally would put me off doing it myself.

IIRC, you can rent things like F Types from big international companies like Hertz and Avis, I think I'd prefer to do that than risk an independent supercar hire company. I know it's not quite the same experience as a Ferrari, but there's a lot less risk of something going wrong, and if it does, you stand to lose a lot less money.
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
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I used to work for a company in Monaco who offered a similar service, but it was 390EUR per hour, and you had to have the instructor sitting in the car with you, which obviously is a deal breaker for a lot of people. We did however offer 0 excess, with everything included in the upfront price, and no mileage limits
Was it lambos as well? I think I used you!
 
Associate
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i can only offer my thoughts after driving around the area last year.

I wouldn't be surprised if hire car companies offering high end vehicles might inflate the excess/insurance related prices if in the area. Whilst I didnt find it especially tricky driving around, there is certainly potential for difficulty due to the nature of this type of vehicle (low down/wider) and i wouldn't necessarily say it would be greatly enjoyable in the Amalfi area itself.

Within Amalfi it can be very narrow, in the summer very stop-start-stop-start when you get to the towns. A few ZTL-Zones to be careful of when you get to the towns themselves and difficult to find parking, a lot of the locals appear to know this and have smaller cars. Also the buses which just go for it whatever the gap, which there are many of...

Assuming your there for a week I would save the Ferrari driving to when you are not driving around the Amalfi itself but heading inland, over the mountains, or the roads leading to and from Sorrento which are a bit wider.

Hope that helps from the driving aspect!
 
Soldato
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Ah no, it was a black/grey aventador. The man sitting in with me was full on Italian.

Ah, I think I know who you went out with then: they were our main competitor. Most of the guys doing it are Italian: you have to be a bit crazy to be willing to sit next to random people while they're hooning a car they've never driven before :p
 
Caporegime
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You're nuts.

Rent a Fiat 500 and drive it around at full throttle everywhere whilst hanging your head out the window and yelling at every one about pasta, you'll blend in and get there faster.
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
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Ah, I think I know who you went out with then: they were our main competitor. Most of the guys doing it are Italian: you have to be a bit crazy to be willing to sit next to random people while they're hooning a car they've never driven before :p
Haha they're all nut jobs but to be fair they all hoon everything. I was driving my grandparents around Lake garda for a week in a Peugeot mpv so smooth and slow and I'd have old grannies on my arse and overtaking me on blind corners in their tiny toy eurobox!
 
Soldato
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Haha they're all nut jobs but to be fair they all hoon everything. I was driving my grandparents around Lake garda for a week in a Peugeot mpv so smooth and slow and I'd have old grannies on my arse and overtaking me on blind corners in their tiny toy eurobox!

I reckon Italy is the last European country like that tbh. I still remember driving the Gallardo in upper 3 figures on the autostrada early in the morning, only to realize the car on the horizon I was rapidly approaching was actually police. I braked very hard, but they obviously knew what I'd been doing as I'd approached them so quickly. Looked at them, expecting to be told to pull over, but instead they were both grinning and waving at me to go on. I gave it a fair bit of power pulling away from them, but wasn't brave enough to go back up to my previous speed in case it was a trap :p

Most of my colleagues had similar stories: we used to love getting sent to Italy, particularly if we were spending the day giving passenger rides.
 
Soldato
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That bit on the Italian Job, sums it up perfectly for me, when the man is sat sedately reading the newspaper, and the camera pans down to show him sat on the roof of his Fiat 500 with his foot through the sunroof on the horn :D
 
Soldato
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I wouldn’t drive anything fancy that far south in Italy. The driving gets progressively more horrendous the further south you go, to the point an Italian friend reckons many Italians think insurance is an option many don’t bother with, so many drive like they don’t care what they do.
 
Soldato
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My goodness have you driven in Sorento and the Amalfi coast? I had driving it on my bucket list and did it in a rented Fiat 500 last year. I love driving and consider myself confident enough having done a fair few thousand miles across Europe. The roads going South from Naples are some of the most treacherous I’ve ever seen and a miserable experience. The coastal roads through the towns are still the same size as when they were built for horse and cart but have to be navigated by buses, coaches etc. I’m never driving them again and no way I’d take anything expensive down that way.
 
Caporegime
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They basically drive like "if God thinks I am meant to die today, I will." So they are just simply reckless thinking whatever will be, will be.

My goodness have you driven in Sorento and the Amalfi coast? I had driving it on my bucket list and did it in a rented Fiat 500 last year. I love driving and consider myself confident enough having done a fair few thousand miles across Europe. The roads going South from Naples are some of the most treacherous I’ve ever seen and a miserable experience. The coastal roads through the towns are still the same size as when they were built for horse and cart but have to be navigated by buses, coaches etc. I’m never driving them again and no way I’d take anything expensive down that way.

I was a passenger twice between Naples to the Amalfi coast, between the twisty roads, blind bends, TINY villages that you have to go through, random goat popping up in the mountains and add to that these fearless locals drivers. It’s not for the faint hearted.
 
Soldato
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I wouldn't want to be driving anything like that around those roads, a Fiat Panda was bad enough!

Get a Fiat Panda and nail it around Lake Garda and/or Como.

It'll be just like the start of Quantum of Solace, minus the Aston, Alfa and machine guns.
 
Soldato
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Bunch of fannies. I drove in and around Sorrento and the Amalfi coast a couple of years back and whilst they're a bit nutty, it's nothing major. Also did a day trip up to Rome and drove around there. Again, just like any big city.
 
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