Dallasites no longer have to suffer the pain and embarrassment of driving an ordinary rental car while their Mercedes-Benzes, Jaguars and Porsches are in the shop. And executives don’t have to chauffeur clients around in long, dark limousines to impress them. Now exotic-car lovers can rent their favorite high-profile cars on a daily, weekly or monthly basis through Executive Auto Rental in North Dallas.
Entrepreneurs Michael O’Neal and Dean Cruea picked up on the idea while in California on a business trip. They found that 7-11 Rent-a-Car of Newport Beach was grossing about $250,000 a month with a fleet of exotic cars worth about $3 million.
O’Neal and Cruea did some checking back in Dallas and found that no one was renting exotic cars to the public. Calls to car rental agencies, luxury hotels and airports indicated that the same demand existed in Dallas.
The two North Texas State University grads put their marketing business on hold and invited another college buddy, Kevin Mooneyham, to handle outside sales for the new car-rental company.
O’Neal says that Executive Auto will initially offer four-door, two-door and convertible Mercedes-Benzes, but he’ll add more cars as the demand increases. Rates average about $125 a day and 40 cents a mile but are discounted the longer a car is rented. O’Neal hopes to eventually offer all makes of exotic cars for rent.
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