The hottest exotic rental right now has to be Aston Martin’s new AM Vantage – yours for $1,750 a day from Beverly Hills Rent A Car. » More Photos

With most exotic rentals, you have to be over 25 to get the keys, provide a credit card with a $5-grand guarantee, and proof of your own insurance. They'll also likely do a background check to make sure there are no DUIs or reckless driving charges on your license.

And don't expect unlimited mileage like your get with that Avis renter. Most will give you 50 to 100 free miles, then it's usually 50 cents for every additional mile. Or, in the case of Beverly Hills' Ferrari F430 Spider, your Visa will get charged $2 for every mile over the first free 50.

For me, one of the best deals going, and likely to be one of the most thrilling, is the Supercar Tour of Las Vegas, put together by RAV Exotic Car Rentals and Wildside USA (www.supercartour.com).

For $599, you get to drive five exotics around Vegas for a day. Just salivate at the list: Ferrari F360 Modena, Mercedes SL55 AMG, Porsche 996 Carrera, Viper SRT10, and Corvette C6. By our reckoning, that adds up to a combined 2,208 horsepower.

There's six hours of driving, covering around 120 miles. There are two to a car, so it works out at around 25 miles behind the wheel of each. Not a lot, but enough to give you a taster, and fricassee a few millimeters of rubber.

"It's the dream day for the car enthusiast," says Steve Mason, events manager at Wildside USA. "Not only do you get to drive five exotics worth over half a million dollars, you get to enjoy them on some of the best driving roads in the country."

Mason explains that the tours are usually held twice a month. And if $599 is too steep, their Sportscar Tour for $349 for the day features a Boxster S, a Lotus Elise, a BMW Z4, a Corvette C6 and a Nissan 350Z.

Certainly beats getting a sweater for Christmas.

The hottest exotic rental right now has to be Aston Martin’s new AM Vantage – yours for $1,750 a day from Beverly Hills Rent A Car. » More Photos

Tampa-based writer Howard Walker has been covering the auto beat for more than 30 years. Former editor of Britain's Motor magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Classic & Sportscar, Walker now reports on the U.S. auto scene for more than a dozen international publications, including Britain's top weekly, Autocar. He also edits the duPont Registry's Exotic Car Guide and is a member of the influential North American Car of the Year jury.