"I would tell a client not to make an impulse buy," Eaton says. "If you are going to buy, you have to consider maintenance, storage and other issues. These kinds of cars are highly tuned and most are not meant to be driven on a daily basis. The number of times you could use it might well be limited."

That's one of the reasons Lehmann-Haupt feels his company holds an advantage in the affluent market. "Some people do not want to deal with the hassle of owning one of these cars," he says. "They take a lot of tender loving care and even a very wealthy person is not going to buy one of each. We give them all the benefits of ownership with no downside."

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lehmann-Haupt worked at Montgomery Securities, Lazard Asset Management and JPMorgan before co-founding a financial software company, TruExchange. After selling that firm for a profit, he turned his love affair with luxury cars into his rental enterprise, starting with the purchase of a Ferrari 360 Modena.

Gotham started with rental rates ranging from $695 to $2,250 a day and door-to-door delivery service. The company also threw in personalized CD collections.

Then he added the Dream Car Tour service, which gives car lovers a chance to drive a half dozen exotic cars with four hours of professional instructions for a total of $895. Then came the DreamShare program.

George Johnson, a construction contractor from South Plainfield, N.J., found Gotham a year ago when he was shopping online for a Ferrari. He finally decided to use the time-share plan, for a variety of reasons.

"I would recommend this to anyone who does not have the time to tend to a car like this. I pick up whatever I want in perfect condition. I bring it back dirty. It's true I never get to own it, but I also have no obligation," he says. "I don't have to fix it, insure it, find a secure garage to keep it in or find someone to tune it. I usually go to Gotham, but they would deliver if I wanted them to. In the end, I can just enjoy the car for the weekend and then forget about it."

Johnson rarely uses the service in the winter, although he did take out a red Lamborghini to go to a Christmas party and he has taken a Ferrari to the casinos in Atlantic City, N.J.

"A day in a Lamborghini is about $2,000 for me," he says. "Driving it relieves stress. Someone tried to steal one once and broke a window. I just drove back to the lot and they told me to take another one."

Unlike antique and vintage cars that appreciate in value if well cared for, high-end luxury and sports cars depreciate. Lehmann-Haupt says the loss in value can be considerable.