Should you rent an exotic car for Barrett-Jackson or Arizona Car Week?

Renting an exotic for Barrett-Jackson or Arizona Car Week is a smart call for most people, and here is the short version. Arizona Car Week runs for about ten days each January, and it turns Scottsdale into one long car event. Barrett-Jackson at WestWorld pulls in more than 100,000 visitors on its own, per Experience Scottsdale. You can show up in a Ferrari or a Lamborghini for a few days, hand the keys back, and skip shipping, storage, and a six-figure purchase. A rental fits the week, and it costs a small fraction of owning the car you want to be seen in.

What Barrett-Jackson and Arizona Car Week actually are

Barrett-Jackson is the anchor auction of the week, and it runs for about nine days each January at WestWorld in north Scottsdale. The company held its first auction in December 1971 as a sale that, per Wikipedia, "was originally meant as a one-time event." About 3,000 people showed up, so it became annual, and it has run at the city-built WestWorld grounds since 1989. Since 2005 the whole Scottsdale docket sells with no reserve, which means there is no minimum bid and every car crosses the block to the highest offer.

The numbers are large. At the January 2025 sale, 2,013 vehicles sold with no reserve for a total of $198 million, per duPont REGISTRY. The top car was the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 with VIN 001, which brought $3.7 million, and a Hennessey Venom F5 Roadster followed at $2.2 million. The all-time Barrett-Jackson record is a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake at $5.5 million, first sold in 2007.

Arizona Car Week is the wider window around that auction, roughly the second half of January, with more than 40 events across Scottsdale and Phoenix. Other sales run the same days. RM Sotheby's holds its auction at the Arizona Biltmore, Bonhams runs at the Westin Kierland Resort, and the Arizona Concours d'Elegance shows about 100 judged classics at the Scottsdale Civic Center in mid-January. Cars-and-coffee meetups fill in the mornings, including the Porsche-themed Fourtillfour in Old Town Scottsdale. The point is simple: for ten days, the whole town is watching cars, and what you drive is part of the show.

Why renting beats shipping or buying a car for the week

Renting skips the three biggest costs of owning the car you want for the week: the purchase price, the shipping, and the storage. Auction prices run hot at Barrett-Jackson because every car sells with no reserve, and one Corvette went for $3.7 million in 2025. You do not need to buy at auction, or ship a car across the country, to drive something special down Scottsdale Road for a long weekend.

A daily rate is the whole cost. There is no title transfer, no registration, no year-round insurance bill, and no worry about where the car sits the other 355 days of the year. You pick the car, drive it during the week, and return it. That fits an event you attend for a few days and not a lifestyle you have to maintain.

A fleet company also gives you a backstop that a private owner cannot. If your first choice is out on your dates, another car from the same fleet may be open, subject to availability. You are booking from a business that rents these cars every week, not from one person with one vehicle and no backup.

Which car fits the week

The best rental depends on the look you want and your budget, so here is the current fleet with daily rates and why each one works for the week. Rates are per day and can change, so confirm the current price when you book.

If this is your first time behind the wheel of one of these, the BMW M2 or the Corvette Z06 is the easy place to start. If you want the car everyone photographs, the Liberty Walk Ferrari or the Urus does that job. The Urus is also the practical pick when you need to move a few people between WestWorld, dinner, and your hotel.

What January driving in Scottsdale is like

January is the best month of the year to drive an exotic in Scottsdale, and the weather is the reason. The event lands in the cool, dry season. Arizona's dust storms and heavy rain hit in summer, during the monsoon, which is why the Arizona Department of Transportation runs its "Pull Aside, Stay Alive" dust-storm campaign for those months. January sits well outside all of that. Roads stay dry, days are cool, and you avoid the extreme summer heat that pushes Phoenix past 110 degrees for weeks at a time.

That matters for how the week feels. Cool, clear weather means you can actually enjoy the drive between events instead of hiding from the sun. It also opens up the scenic roads around town on a free afternoon, from the Bush Highway along the Salt River to the red-rock run up to Sedona. A supercar is more fun when the pavement is dry and the temperature is in the 60s.

Getting the car is easy, too. Grant Motor Group delivers anywhere in Scottsdale, which covers the resorts and hotels near WestWorld and Scottsdale Airport (SDL); a delivery fee applies and is confirmed at booking. If you fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) or need the car outside Scottsdale, delivery is confirmed at booking along with the fee. The car's condition is checked at handoff and again at return.

Booking, the fine print, and the call

Book early, because the ten days of Car Week are the busiest rental stretch of the year in Scottsdale. The cars people want most go first, so a reservation weeks out beats a scramble in January. To rent, you need to be at least 25 (or 21 with prior Grant Motor Group approval), hold a valid license and a clean record, and carry full-coverage auto insurance active in your own name. The security hold is refundable after a clean return inspection. A credit card is the best way to carry the hold; a debit hold ties up your own cash. Confirm card options when you book.

On the deposit, be ready for a real hold. Across the exotic rental industry, refundable holds commonly run from about $1,000 to $3,000 or more, scaling with the car's value. Those are common industry figures, not Grant Motor Group's published numbers, because the exact hold varies by car. Grant Motor Group confirms your car's figure when you book, along with the current daily rate, since prices can change.

So should you rent for the week? For almost everyone attending Barrett-Jackson or Arizona Car Week, yes. You get the right car for the moment, you skip the cost and hassle of owning it, and you drive in the best weather of the year. Pick your car, lock your dates before the week fills up, and let us bring it to your hotel. To reserve, call or text (623) 400-3031, or send a DM to @grantmotorgroup on Instagram, and we will have the right car waiting for your days in Scottsdale.