(FORTUNE Magazine) – The pedestrians shuffling in front of my Porsche Boxster convertible are likely unaware that they're part of a music video. This is understandable. They cannot know that I have rented the car for a day and with it picked up a spectacularly inflated sense of self. Everyone has a driving dream, and mine has a syncopated rhythm, money falling from the sky, and plenty of extras. These pedestrians will have to do. I am Destiny's Child on a Beautiful Day. Yes! Convertible! America!

In exchange for all this, I had to spend $350 in a dimly lit garage operated by a woman with an unplaceable accent. The garage is part of a network of 39 luxury rental affiliates run by a company called Driven Image. The musty walls mocked me with photos of the other rentals, but at $1,300 a day the Ferrari was too expensive, and the $400 Hummer had been rented for the month. (Bastard. His dream must have been a major motion picture.)

Most of Driven Image's affiliates in cities around the globe are independently owned and operated; Driven Image gets a fee for each sale secured through its hot line or Website. That no one thought of uniting the affiliates before goes some of the way toward explaining how the company has nearly broken even after only three months.

Back at the traffic light, my slight fears of getting ticketed for general obnoxiousness are easily brushed aside. Just before the light changes, it becomes obvious--to me, anyway--that the nice-looking lady in the next lane has challenged me to a race. I zip up my jacket and rev the engine. Big mistake, sister. Bring it.

--GRAINGER DAVID

DRIVEN IMAGE 877-646-2433 or 775-783-9347; drivenimage.com