How About a BMW With That Tux Rental?

For Calvin Valrie, a rented black Infiniti QX56 was the perfect accessory to match Valentine’s Day and Grammy Award parties over the weekend. The 29-year-old selects cars like outfits for each occasion. Both are critical in shaping the image he wishes to project.

“In Los Angeles it’s all about the flash,” said Valrie, who rents cars as often as eight times a month. “People pay attention to the things that shine the most.”

Valrie is one of a growing number of people who are pairing luxury cars with special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, said Kevin Miles, president of the American Car and Truck Rental Assn. The trend started up about five years ago when many mainstream rental car companies began rolling out an increased selection of high-end vehicles such as Ford Mustangs and Jaguars.

“There is no doubt Valentine’s Day is a good rental time,” said Miles, who is also vice president of Thrifty Car Rental in Columbus, Ohio. “We’re seeing it more and more, and [rental car companies] are advertising more and more for it.”

Budget Beverly Hills Car Collection caters to corporate clients but also to people who live in town and want something special, if just for a taste, said Charlie Orozco, vice president of marketing. The company rents luxury sedans and such trophies as Hummers, Bentleys, Ferraris and Maseratis.

“There is absolutely a desire that people have to spice it up and have a little more excitement,” he said.

A little spice was exactly what William Weidenfeller had in mind for Valentine’s Day. The 46-year-old tow truck manager from Lake Balboa owns an SUV, but he wanted to impress his longtime girlfriend by showing up in something more elegant.

He rejected the notion of hiring a chauffeured limousine as cliched.

“Limousines are common,” he said. “Renting a luxury car is different; people don’t usually do that. When you pull up in a Mercedes or a Jaguar or something of that class, it’s just a different respect level you get.”

He decided that a gold Mercedes, filled with 11 roses for every year spent with his girlfriend, was the right accessory to pair with a night of dinner, dancing and a romantic drive along the coast near Santa Barbara.

“A car is sexy like a woman; it has lines and it’s smooth,” Weidenfeller said. “Women enjoy beautiful things. I couldn’t go out and buy her one. If I could do it, I would.”

The notion of renting a splashy car that is otherwise out of reach is not unusual. Luxury car rentals have become increasingly popular in the last five years, said Enterprise Rent-A-Car spokeswoman Christy Conrad. The luxury rentals, which aren’t available at every branch, typically cost $100 a day or more.

Carl Pellegrino has watched the trend accelerate.

When he started working with Enterprise 15 years ago, the standard sedan was the only option. Now, people frequently request a Mercedes, BMW or Cadillac Escalade for Valentine’s Day, birthdays or anniversaries, or to impress a potential employer during a job interview.

One anniversary request stood out for Pellegrino, now a regional vice president for Enterprise overseeing the San Gabriel Valley. Several years ago, a man came to a branch where Pellegrino worked looking for a car of the same make, model and year as the one he owned when he took his wife on their first date. Unfortunately, Pellegrino said, all the cars they had in stock were new.

“It really wasn’t a nice car, that was the funny thing. I think it was your standard Oldsmobile but about 10 years old. He wanted to rekindle that moment. I only wished we could have helped him,” said Pellegrino, who once brought a rented Mustang convertible home to surprise his wife.

“It messed up my hair, but I’ll tell you, having my wife see that convertible in the driveway.... We put the top down on a cold night and she enjoyed it. It made me feel good.”

People see cars as an extension of themselves, said Roby Hutchinson. The 35-year-old television and film producer from West Hollywood arranges car rentals for friends and clients at least four or five times a month. For added prestige, he occasionally employs out-of-work actors to chauffer high-profile out-of-town clients.

“This is L.A. Cars have always been accessories in this town. You drive into the studios and they size you up by what car you’re driving,” said Hutchinson, whose regulars also include a plethora of actors and friends who seek him out when they want a hot car for a night on the town.

“If you are dating in the entertainment industry, you’d better have a nice car,” he said. “And if you don’t, they’re going to upgrade to something better.”

The music industry is much the same, said Valrie, who manages local and national hip-hop and R&B; artists. He travels frequently, renting an SUV in New York to feel powerful, a flashy convertible in Miami for the fast look.

“You are what you drive, what you wear, how you talk,” said Valrie, who owns a Cadillac CTS. “The car has to reflect you. If you show up in a $100,000 car, those are the type of people you are going to attract.”

Renting a car to impress a date has well-established roots, said Michael Marsden, who specializes in automotive popular culture at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., where he serves as dean and academic vice president.

“Go back to a time before we would rent cars,” he said. “I would borrow my father’s car, and I would wash and wax it. You clean up for your dates; you present your best self.”

Marsden was hired by Enterprise to analyze data from a consumer trend survey commissioned by the company three years ago. The poll found a majority of the more than 1,800 drivers surveyed said the car they drove to a class reunion was more important than their marital status.

“It’s logical that people would rent a car for a special event,” he said. “Automobiles are there during every important moment in our lives. A car brings us home from the hospital, a car is there for our wedding day and it’s there to carry us away when we die.”