Red Carpet Car Rental Starts in the Back Seat

The right red carpet car rental is a car you arrive in from the back seat, not one you drive. Most premiere night arrivals in Hollywood are done with a chauffeur, and chauffeur service is available on request on our Rolls Royces. So the Rolls Royce Phantom at $2,995 a day is the grandest way in. The Cullinan, the Ghost, and the Maybach S580 cover the same night for less.

Why the back seat wins on a premiere night

A premiere is one of the few nights where the door matters more than the drive, and you don't want to hunt for a garage entrance in a tuxedo. You want the car to glide up, stop, and have someone else open your door.

The Phantom was built for exactly that. Rolls Royce meters its pedals for a chauffeur's touch, so easing away from a stop draws no attention to itself. Inside, a glass panel called the Gallery holds commissioned art. Nobody on the sidewalk sees that panel. They see a long white car stop dead level at the curb, and they wait to see who gets out.

Once the door opens, the car has done its job, and the photographers turn before your shoes touch the ground. That is the whole argument for being driven.

Four cars for a red carpet car rental

The Phantom is the flagship. Ours is white with an orange and white cabin, and it runs a 6.75 liter twin turbo V12. It moves in long, slow waves, tuned for the person riding behind the driver. It is the car for the night when you are the reason people came.

The Rolls Royce Cullinan is the one you can drive yourself and still own the curb. Its rear doors are hinged at the back, which Rolls Royce calls coach doors. You step out forwards instead of swinging out sideways, and in a gown or a fitted suit that difference is everything. The doors then close themselves at the touch of a button. Our white Cullinan Black Badge with an orange cabin makes 592 horsepower. It still pulls up to a theater like it has nowhere else to be.

The Rolls Royce Ghost is shorter and easier to place at a tight curb than a Phantom. It has no rev counter, only a Power Reserve gauge that quivers under load. Our white Ghost with a white cabin reads as one pale surface when a rear door opens under a flash, which is the picture people take home.

The Maybach S580 is the quiet one, the sedan for someone who wants comfort more than attention. Its wheelbase is 18 centimeters longer than a standard S-Class, and its outside gives away almost nothing. Maybach mode pulls away in second gear, so the launch from a hotel drive in Beverly Hills never jolts the person in back. The rear seat extends a leg rest for the ride over.

Where a premiere puts you in Hollywood

The Chinese Theatre still runs premieres with real carpet infrastructure, right on Hollywood Boulevard. The El Capitan Theatre sits at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard. The TCL Chinese Theatre and the Dolby Theatre share the same stretch, around the Ovation Hollywood center.

Premiere nights close lanes on the boulevard. That is why we coordinate the drop with the event's arrival plan rather than guessing. Tell us the event when you book and we plan the route around it. The car comes in on the route the event sets, and your door opens where the arrivals happen.

If you drive yourself, the car spends most of the night parked. The garage everyone points to is the Ovation Hollywood structure. Here are its published details on a regular day.

• Entrances on Highland Avenue in front of Loews Hollywood, and on Orange Court between Hollywood Boulevard and Franklin Avenue.
• Self parking at $2.50 every 20 minutes, with a $25 daily maximum.
• Valet with a $35 daily maximum.
• Up to 4 hours for $3 with validation from the TCL Chinese Theatre, and partial validation from the El Capitan.
• The Dolby Theatre and the Ray Dolby Ballroom do not validate.

The part nobody tells you is that a Cullinan parked three floors down does nothing for you. A car only works at a premiere while people can see it. That is the real reason most premiere arrivals here are done with a driver.

Getting to the carpet from the rest of Los Angeles

Most people aren't staying on Hollywood Boulevard. They're at a hotel in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood, getting ready for hours before the car ever moves. We deliver to hotels, homes, offices, and venues across Los Angeles, so the car can be waiting under the canopy when you walk down.

West Hollywood is only a couple of miles north of Beverly Hills, and from there the Sunset Strip carries you east. It's the calm stretch before the noise of the boulevard. A Ghost idles so low at a light on Sunset that you'll look for a tachometer that isn't there.

If you're flying in for the premiere, we can meet you at the LAX curb or at the Burbank Airport curb. BUR is small and fast, and it's the industry's own airport, which makes it the easy choice on a tight call time. Either way, the delivery fee is quoted by your address.

What a red carpet exotic car costs for the night

Every car includes 100 miles a day, which is plenty for a hotel, a premiere, and an after party. A 2 day rental pools the allowance into 200 miles. Rentals of 3 to 4 days take 10% off the daily rate automatically. Here are the numbers for each car.

• Rolls Royce Phantom, white with an orange and white cabin, $2,995 a day, $3,000 deposit, $10 per extra mile.
• Rolls Royce Cullinan, $1,495 to $1,595 a day depending on the car, $1,000 to $2,000 deposit, $3 to $6 per extra mile.
• Rolls Royce Ghost, $995 or $1,195 a day depending on the car, $2,000 deposit, $4 or $5 per extra mile.
• Maybach S580, black with a black and white cabin, $795 a day, $1,000 deposit, $2 per extra mile.

The deposit is a hold on your card, not a charge, and it comes off after the car goes back in the condition it left. The morning after, the Phantom rolls out of the hotel drive and the hold starts to clear.

The paperwork before the carpet

You need to be 18 or older with a valid driver's license and full coverage insurance in your own name. A larger deposit may apply under 25. Before you pay, we call your insurance carrier with an agent on a recorded line. We're confirming your policy covers a rental car that isn't listed on it. That's called non-owner vehicle coverage, and you either have it or you don't.

Premiere nights usually come with drinks, and our rule on that is plain. If there is drinking, there is a chauffeur or a sober driver for the ride home. Anyone else who will drive has to be on the contract before the rental starts and pass the same check.

A week or two of notice covers most dates. Overnight, the car stays with the hotel valet or in the hotel garage, never on the street, and the keys stay with you.

A premiere gives you a few seconds between the car door and the carpet. Pick the car for that stretch, ask for the driver when you book, and let the car do the talking before you say a word.