Related News
Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
'Wedding Car King' can provide a great set of wheels on special day
By Xu Wenwen |
September 15, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MAKING a big splash for your wedding is natural and there are few ways of doing it better than showing up in a Ferrari or Lincoln stretch limousine. One man has carved a niche in the Hangzhou market, commanding a fleet of luxury automobiles, writes Xu Wenwen.
For couples planning to marry, they usually want a memorable, unique and impressive wedding ceremony before embarking on their new life together.
More often than not, the wedding celebration these days means an expensive gown for the bride, a good suit or tuxedo for the groom, an elaborate banquet, and fancy cars to get the happy couple and the wedding party around town.
The concept of mianzi (face), meaning dignity, remains an important part of Chinese culture. On a special day, such as a couple's wedding, showing face is important. Thus a great amount of effort is often made to host an extravagant wedding celebration.
This requires fancy cars.
While most people don't own Bentleys, Mercedes-Benzs or BMWs, let alone the dozens that are usually needed for a wedding, couples will rent cars from wedding companies, or, if they are lucky, borrow some from friends.
In Hangzhou, the average flag-fall price of wedding cars is within 80 kilometers or within eight hours.
A.S.N. Dreamland Wedding Co, a leading wedding company in Hangzhou, lists the rental price of first-class cars such as a Ferrari, Bentley or Rolls-Royce from 16,000 yuan (US$2,372) to 20,000 yuan. A Lamborghini for eight hours will set couples back 30,000 yuan.
A Hummer, stretched Kreisler and convertibles range from 6,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan while an Audi, Mercedes or BMW are around 2,000 yuan.
However, renting a Lincoln stretch limousine is difficult due to their scarcity.
Another factor to consider is that wedding companies are reluctant to buy and maintain a fleet of luxury cars to rent.
"Few wedding companies will buy luxury cars for weddings due to the cost," says Zhao Ling, the boss of Hangzhou's Honey Tang Wedding Co. "Most wedding companies act as an intermediary between car agencies and consumers."
Ye Ying, manager of A.S.N. Dreamland, agrees, saying that they will hire the desired cars from car rental firms.
However, Cao Wei has seen opportunity where others have feared to tread.
The 27-year-old Cao is known in Hangzhou as the "Wedding Car King." He owns 13 luxury cars and rents them to 70 percent of wedding companies in the city.
About two years ago, he set up a company that only rents cars for weddings. The company generates more than 6 million yuan in profit annually. Cao's cars are fully booked until November.
From a wealthy family, Cao says his parents own several top cars, as do his friends, who are mostly well-off young men, giving him a big advantage.
"I can make up a wedding car team of 10 Ferraris, five or six Bentleys and eight Rolls-Royces in a very short time," Cao says.
Cao says he loves luxury automobiles and starting this business has fit in with his passion for collecting fancy cars.
"I may sell some second-hand cars to accumulate the capital and update our automobiles," says Cao.
Earlier this year, he bought a Porsche and a BMW 740 with his own money. He plans to buy some new cars by the end of this year.
Cao recently set up an alliance with car agencies in Shanghai and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province to share resources as "the demand to rent expensive cars has increased," he says.
Cao says his first experience in car rentals occurred nine years ago, shortly after he got his driver's license when he was 18 years old.
He was driving his father's car when a friend asked if he could hire it for his wedding. Later, more friends rented his cars for weddings. One even paid 50,000 yuan to rent his Ferrari for an entire day, inspiring Cao to set up a wedding car rental company.
Cao has almost had the market to himself since few want to enter it due to the huge investment, high maintenance costs and risk of getting swindled.
However, there are over 50 car rental companies in Hangzhou and together they own more than 3,000 cars. Several are seeking to tap the wedding carrental business.
Zhao Yuan, director of Hangzhou Xunchi Car Rental Co, says things are changing.
"Car prices are dropping and demand for high-end cars is rising, the opportunity to rent luxury automobiles is coming," Zhao says.
To rent a car, customers need to provide an ID card, hukou (registered permanent residence), driver's license and a 30,000 yuan deposit. This is to prevent stealing.
If the person does not have a registered permanent residence in Hangzhou, verification letters from the individual's company and guarantees by others are also required.
For couples planning to marry, they usually want a memorable, unique and impressive wedding ceremony before embarking on their new life together.
More often than not, the wedding celebration these days means an expensive gown for the bride, a good suit or tuxedo for the groom, an elaborate banquet, and fancy cars to get the happy couple and the wedding party around town.
The concept of mianzi (face), meaning dignity, remains an important part of Chinese culture. On a special day, such as a couple's wedding, showing face is important. Thus a great amount of effort is often made to host an extravagant wedding celebration.
This requires fancy cars.
While most people don't own Bentleys, Mercedes-Benzs or BMWs, let alone the dozens that are usually needed for a wedding, couples will rent cars from wedding companies, or, if they are lucky, borrow some from friends.
In Hangzhou, the average flag-fall price of wedding cars is within 80 kilometers or within eight hours.
A.S.N. Dreamland Wedding Co, a leading wedding company in Hangzhou, lists the rental price of first-class cars such as a Ferrari, Bentley or Rolls-Royce from 16,000 yuan (US$2,372) to 20,000 yuan. A Lamborghini for eight hours will set couples back 30,000 yuan.
A Hummer, stretched Kreisler and convertibles range from 6,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan while an Audi, Mercedes or BMW are around 2,000 yuan.
However, renting a Lincoln stretch limousine is difficult due to their scarcity.
Another factor to consider is that wedding companies are reluctant to buy and maintain a fleet of luxury cars to rent.
"Few wedding companies will buy luxury cars for weddings due to the cost," says Zhao Ling, the boss of Hangzhou's Honey Tang Wedding Co. "Most wedding companies act as an intermediary between car agencies and consumers."
Ye Ying, manager of A.S.N. Dreamland, agrees, saying that they will hire the desired cars from car rental firms.
However, Cao Wei has seen opportunity where others have feared to tread.
The 27-year-old Cao is known in Hangzhou as the "Wedding Car King." He owns 13 luxury cars and rents them to 70 percent of wedding companies in the city.
About two years ago, he set up a company that only rents cars for weddings. The company generates more than 6 million yuan in profit annually. Cao's cars are fully booked until November.
From a wealthy family, Cao says his parents own several top cars, as do his friends, who are mostly well-off young men, giving him a big advantage.
"I can make up a wedding car team of 10 Ferraris, five or six Bentleys and eight Rolls-Royces in a very short time," Cao says.
Cao says he loves luxury automobiles and starting this business has fit in with his passion for collecting fancy cars.
"I may sell some second-hand cars to accumulate the capital and update our automobiles," says Cao.
Earlier this year, he bought a Porsche and a BMW 740 with his own money. He plans to buy some new cars by the end of this year.
Cao recently set up an alliance with car agencies in Shanghai and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province to share resources as "the demand to rent expensive cars has increased," he says.
Cao says his first experience in car rentals occurred nine years ago, shortly after he got his driver's license when he was 18 years old.
He was driving his father's car when a friend asked if he could hire it for his wedding. Later, more friends rented his cars for weddings. One even paid 50,000 yuan to rent his Ferrari for an entire day, inspiring Cao to set up a wedding car rental company.
Cao has almost had the market to himself since few want to enter it due to the huge investment, high maintenance costs and risk of getting swindled.
However, there are over 50 car rental companies in Hangzhou and together they own more than 3,000 cars. Several are seeking to tap the wedding carrental business.
Zhao Yuan, director of Hangzhou Xunchi Car Rental Co, says things are changing.
"Car prices are dropping and demand for high-end cars is rising, the opportunity to rent luxury automobiles is coming," Zhao says.
To rent a car, customers need to provide an ID card, hukou (registered permanent residence), driver's license and a 30,000 yuan deposit. This is to prevent stealing.
If the person does not have a registered permanent residence in Hangzhou, verification letters from the individual's company and guarantees by others are also required.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
