Want to drive a $750,000 car in the bush?

Self-driving car tours make for a luxury business with a difference.

The ultimate driving experience.

When the pandemic hit, tourism operator Anthony Moss watched his world crumble, but in recent months he has seen his business enjoy a boost – thanks to a new hunger for action-packed, bespoke holidays.

Moss, who runs Ultimate Driving Tours with partner Julie Hunter, says there has been a surge in demand for driving holidays that offer clients the chance to drive their dream car across some of the world’s most iconic destinations. 

“Successful people don’t always want to go and sit on a beach somewhere and be passive,” Moss says. “There’s definitely a trend where people want something more action-packed. They don’t want to have just ‘Here is the Eiffel Tower’ or ‘Here is the Colosseum’, they want a travel experience with mixed passions, such as food and wine.” 

Moss got into the tourism business through his love of cars after a 20-year stint as an amateur racing driver and managed to parlay his passion into a business organising rallies and trips to famous racetracks before founding Ultimate Driving Tours 14 years ago. 

The company employs five people here, a director in Germany and about a dozen contractors around the world for various events.

Moss says more than 1000 clients have enjoyed more than 70 experiences over the past 14 years. Covid has limited overseas trips but tours within Australia have been sold out this year.

But Americans are travelling and the company plans to focus on the UK and the EU later this year. Tours range in cost from $5000 to $30,000 but average out at about $2500 to $3000 a day to cover vehicles, insurance, meals and five star accommodation.

Cars are valued up to $750,000 and the company buys, rents and leases vehicles.

Moss says many of his clients are not petrolheads but seasoned travellers looking for an experience after spending long months in Covid-19 lockdown. 

“A lot of our clients are not necessarily people who are into cars,” he says. “It’s that you get to have a completely different vacation. It doesn’t hurt that most travel agents wouldn’t recommend these places. They’re in country areas and the only way to get to them is by car..” 

In the past, popular offerings have included luxury sports car trips through Tuscany, the Swiss Alps and across the US. The company also offers group guided tours, Formula One packages and track events.

“Most of our clients are quite wealthy people and they like nice things and they make decisions every day, so all they need to do is just relax,” says Moss. The self-guided tours suit many people in their 50s and 60s who are still fit and feel out of place soaking up the sun on a cruise ship or on a more structured guided tour. 

Says Moss: “They want to go and have travel experiences but you want to be around young people, and people in their 50s and 60s are quite young. They want to have an adventure experience.” 

The business suffered during Covid but bookings are now strong, says Moss, who will soon go to Europe to work from the business’s office in Germany for the European summer.

 “It was like the end of the world the first few weeks,” he says. “Everything we worked for over 15 years, it felt like it came crashing down.

“We have been severely impacted, but it’s given us an opportunity to look at the business and look at our offering. The impact of coronavirus has been imm­ense and we’re still plann­ing a lot of events, but it has given us the opportunity to take stock.”

 Moss says the biggest challenge in the business is logistics.

“We run events with many moving parts,” he says. But it’s the failure of governments around the world to provide a clear road map out of the pandemic that Moss notes as the biggest problem for tour companies like his own.

“We spent the year planning future events and navigating our way out of this,” he says. “We have restructured our event plan to run events in specific regions where people can travel. “

The company has begun capital raising through crowd-funding platform Equitise, realising almost $500,000 in just a few days to allow it to further expand to keep up with demand. Moss says the capital raising means clients and those with a first hand experience of the business were able to become investors

“Through the crowd source funding model anyone can invest with $250 to have a piece of the company,” he says.

“It’ll enable us to buy some key assets, we’ll buy some vehicles that will allow us to save a lot of costs.

“Also in terms of our expansion plan, by opening offices around the world including in the US, and operationally to spend some money on our business that will enable us to grow over the next few years.”

“We need to push on and think about the future and the new world out there.”