Blauvelt club has dream cars for a fee
If the sight of a sports car makes your heart race and you’ve got $10,000 lying around, Andrew Popik has a way of putting you in the driver’s seat.
The Montebello entrepreneur recently started Hudson Valley Exotic Group, essentially a time share for high-end luxury cars that he hopes will draw car aficionados from Rockland, Westchester and northern New Jersey.
It costs $9,500 to join and membership is limited to 40 people.
His fleet includes two 1999 Ferrari F355 Spiders, a 2003 Dodge Viper, a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, a 2001 Aston Martin DB7 Volante, and a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG. The cars originally cost from $80,000 to $160,000.
Three have automatic transmission, so anybody can drive them.
Each member will get to keep five of the cars for four days at a time (Friday morning to Monday evening) as part of a rotation during the spring, summer and fall.
Membership is good for a year.
“This is a very affordable way of getting into these cars,” said Popik, who owns a Pearl River company that designs, builds and maintains secured rooms in which important data systems are stored.
He is a self-described “car nut.”
“At my home, I have indoor parking for eight cars and I’m out of space,” said Popik, whose personal collection includes a 1973 Lamborghini Espada, 1961 Corvette and 1969 Jaguar E-Type.
He said the club would appeal to the person who wants access to a luxury car but none of the hassles.
“These are cars that people would like to drive, but not necessarily own,” Popik said.
There is the matter of image.
Some people might find driving around in a Ferrari coming off as too showy to friends or family, or it might not send the right message to business associates.
Then there is the upkeep of owning a high-end car. Some people don’t want to deal with routine maintenance, repairs, insurance and storage issues, Popik said. He has hired Tomkins Cove resident Jon Matthews to take care of the club’s cars, like keeping their batteries charged and engines tuned.
The cars are stored in a 4,000-square-foot warehouse at Bradley Corporate Park in Blauvelt.
“The reality is people don’t use cars like these very much,” Popik said. “Even if you buy an exotic toy, people use them very little.”
There are rental companies in our area to scratch your need-for-speed itch if you don’t want to commit to a vehicle time share.
Brooklyn-based Image Rent-A-Car, for example, will rent you a Dodge Viper for 24 hours for $390. You can get a Porsche Carrera 4S Cabriolet for $300 for a day, or Corvette Z06 for $375 a day.
Gotham Dream Cars will rent you a Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG for $895 for 24 hours, $1,950 from Friday through Sunday, and $3,950 for a week.
If you’ve got a lot more to spend, they offer a $290,000 Lamborghini Murcielago for $2,250 for a day, $4,950 from Friday to Monday or $9,950 for the week.
Other car membership clubs in the New York metropolitan area cost as much as $25,000 to join, which is why Popik feels his club will appeal to car lovers, even if they’re not Wall Street investment bankers, doctors or lawyers.
“This is how you drive a lot of cars in a hurry,” Popik said.
Popik said club membership costs were comparable with other hobbies like ski vacations, golf memberships and owning a boat.
Only drivers over the age of 25 with clean driving records can join. Their spouses can drive the cars and the club offers a one-time special use, meaning a relative, like your father or sister, could take a turn behind the wheel.
Mileage is unlimited, Popik said, but his insurance company requires that the cars remain within a 200-mile radius of Blauvelt. Still, that gets you to the Hamptons, Philadelphia and Boston.
Club members would be assigned the cars at random, but special consideration would be given for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions.
There might also be potential for members to use the cars for an additional fee on weekdays and during the winter, Popik said.
When some of Popik’s friends first heard his idea, they thought he was trying to get rid of some of the cars in his private collection.
They were disappointed to learn he had bought separate cars for the club, he said, because they really wanted to drive his cars.
“I don’t know how we’ll work that in there,” Popik said, laughing. “Maybe we’ll have special days with some of my own toys.”
“The reality is people don’t use cars like these very much,” says Andrew Popik at the Hudson Valley Exotic Group in Blauvelt. “Even if you buy an exotic toy, people use them very little.” His fleet includes two 1999 Ferrari F355 Spiders, a 2003 Dodge Viper, a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, a 2001 Aston Martin DB7 Volante and a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG.
source: the journal news
