[Josh-PA]

Bumping an old thread, thinking of using Turo to rent something fun while on vacation in the Keys in November. Any recent pro/con experiences, any non-obvious advice?

Thanks

[Kolyan2k]

I am probably very wrong, but sometimes i have hard time seeing profit in renting semi exotics on Turo. Dont you get screwed with repair bills and maintenance?

[dinonz]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

It wasn't that blue 911 turbo was it?

I have seen some cars listed by multiple people. It's like they are brokers or something? Very interesting to hear that a guy with $200k worth of cars is living in said place.

My apartment complex is hardly run down but there's a guy in here with (all new this year) an M5 Comp, a Hellcat Red Eye, a Merc AMG Convertible, a Corvette, a Camaro ZL-1, and an Infiniti something. He's got a chunk of change in cars and that's what he does - rent them out.

I'm in the apartment with an M3 and a Ferrari and I thought I was crazy, but I'm only here until my house is built.

[grocerylist]

I just rented an X5 that was nicer and cheaper than anything I would have been able to rent at any of the large car rental companies. It was a little on the rough side, squeaky brakes and the rear tires were bald but again the big rental car fleets are pretty depressing.

[premier3is]

I can't believe people let others rent their high end exotics... If you have to resort to renting it out, you probably shouldn't have got it in the first place... I see no other reason people would want to rent out their exotics, unless you are doing it for a business and have many other vehicles to rent.

[dreamingat30fps]

I actually looked into it while in SF as I didn't want to deal with driving my truck in the city or paying $5/gallon for diesel. Honestly most everything I saw didn't seem like much of a deal. I got a regular car for waaaay cheaper from Budget and if I wanted a fancier car I could of still gotten that from sixt or hertz for less than Turo and sorry but I would have felt more comfortable renting from a large company like that than from some random dude

[RickFLM4]

I looked at it for regular car rentals and also found prices ridiculous compared to rental car companies. I can’t imagine what people are charging to rent exotics.

[Kolyan2k]

I pay around $30 bucks per day at Hertz in USA and about $20-25 in EU from Budget. Cars are new, in EU I always get golf manual. I dont see myself using Turo unless I want to test drive a car

[P1]

Just the thought... No thanks.

[Josh-PA]

We decided to give it a try for our trip to FL. We're renting this while we're down there:

https://turo.com/us/en-us/car-rental...boxster/600937

Pick it up in Ft Lauderdale and take it down to the keys. We'll be spending a couple nights in Key Largo and a couple in Key West. We want to check out the everglades, do some snorkeling and just chill. Hopefully it all works out and adds some extra joy to the trip.

It is an S with a true manual. I was debating a 981 or a 718, but the fact that this one was a manual made the decision easy.

[Matticus91]

I've used Turo a number of times now, and have been super happy every time so far!

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I looked at it for regular car rentals and also found prices ridiculous compared to rental car companies. I can’t imagine what people are charging to rent exotics.

You kidding me?? Boxster/Cayman and vette's are WAY WAY cheaper than the fancy rental joints, absolutely zero contest in my neck of the woods at least.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

You kidding me?? Boxster/Cayman and vette's are WAY WAY cheaper than the fancy rental joints, absolutely zero contest in my neck of the woods at least.

No not kidding at all. I saw no price advantage to rent a regular car through Turo over a rental car company. Out of curiosity I just took a quick look at renting a Vette in Miami. A Z06 from Hertz seems slightly less expensive than a Stingray on Turo. So, I guess it differs dramatically by market. Personally, I would never rent from an individual over a company in the absence of a huge price advantage to go through the individual. Of course, I am also a person who would never consider using AirBnB over hotels either.

[EstorilM240]

Non-obvious advice: You can rent for 26 hours for the same price as 1 day. So renting from Saturday 10AM to Sunday 12PM is 1 day, but ending at Sunday 12:30PM is 2 days.

More obvious advice: If you pick super niche sporty cars with 0-1 reviews on them, expect a higher flake rate than if you pick a car with 50+ reviews that is being rented by someone with 5 cars. In the later category, I would say it works 98%+ of the time. Take pictures before/after the trip (app makes this easy). For airport pickups, coordinate with flight times and sometimes it's helpful to suggest meeting in a parking lot or garage since pickup curbs are often stressful. Use a referral code online for a first ride discount.

I've used Turo a lot as a renter from 2013, when it was branded as RelayRides. I was a great way to get more affordable rentals especially as a younger renter (without say a USAA under-25 discount code), and try out other special vehicles and cars with unique set ups including manual transmissions. A 15 minute test drive is not enough to decide whether you want to buy a car, taking a car home for a weekend is often a great way to get the full experience. Also, it allows you to buy a more practical daily driver, and then use more hardcore cars when you see fit.

As a renter, the main downsides are there's often stress over "Is this person going to show up" "is the car going to work". You probably have less flexibility - you have to show up at your reservation start time, extensions may not be guaranteed (whereas they are guaranteed at agency rentals), and late fees apply, whereas every time I've returned a car late at Budget or Avis I pay for an extra day but haven't been dinged on fees. If delivery is not offered to the airport, you may have to Uber or take a taxi for a distance to go to a random location to pick up the car. In the very early days around 2013, I had half of my first 4 rides not work - in one, the battery was dead (and they were using this remote control app-open-car system similar to Getaround), in another, someone claimed they were unable to give the car right before since it had to be taken into the shop the day before. Since 2016, it has been far more reliable, and often the owners are more "professionalized" (similar to Airbnb, when in 2012-2013 the average host is very different from 2019). Some of my Turo super-user renter friends probably have 97%+ successful rentals with 50+ rentals. Also see Doug DeMuro's blog post and that some auto insurers also directly cover your Turo rentals. https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/...ly-work-267842

I forget if some credit cards that provide primary coverage for car rentals like the Chase Sapphire, also work for Turo - last I checked, I think they were only for agency rentals and not peer to peer. (I believe that coverage goes from the rental company first like Turo or Enterprise, then to primary coverage on a credit card, then to your own auto insurer, then to secondary coverages from credit cards).

As for owners on Turo, Turo has a blog post about supposedly the easiest to rest out models and the most profitable, comparing the median earnings, etc. to monthly payment. Of course, Turo wants you to rent out your cars. I'd consider this generally to be an example of "efficient free market competition" where eventually businesses tend towards the standard 5-15% profit margin since rental cars are relative commodities. For people with multiple cars, it's often a great way to put the idle assets to use and the math changes. https://turo.com/en-us/top-earning-cars

@ Josh-PA, see you picked up a Boxster in manual. Good choice and enjoy! These are the kinds of cars Turo is best for. BTW, the link to the car is broken right now

[domino_z]

yep i just spent a month in US, great product, it's just so easy to use and organise cars, i did most of the bookings on the plane on way over

I had a few cars in LA i used to explore canyons, i had to map my routes carefully given the mileage limits of the performance cars i rented - sti, rs5, s5, zl1, z06

Had a house in hollywood hills, and all cars were dropped off and picked up at a fee, but it was well worth it for the convenience, otherwise you lose too much time running around city. i literally had one car being picked up while another was being dropped off. Likewise i also pre paid fuel and clean so i didn't have that eating up time too

I also had a trackhawk in vegas through turo......now i gotta buy one

my only gripe is not being able to book multiple cars at same time. i had off street parking in LA, so could have banked 2-3 cars to use pending what i was going to do that day - heading straight to canyons in early morning or stuck in traffic in a manual doing the tourist thing

was in nyc on labor day weekend, no rental co had cars, but i was able to get an suv out of jersey delivered to me booked that same day, amazing

Id be one of the more preferred turo customers, i have my own collection of sport/supercars so not going to thrash or abuse them

[Josh-PA]

@ Josh-PA, see you picked up a Boxster in manual. Good choice and enjoy! These are the kinds of cars Turo is best for. BTW, the link to the car is broken right now

Thanks for the info, I followed those general recs when looking at options... this link should work:

https://turo.com/us/en-us/car-rental...boxster/600937


I'm looking forward to trying it out. I'm not sure I would use it for regular work rentals, but when driving can add to the trip experience there are some cool options.

It is an interesting site. Just out of curiosity, I selected manual transmission cars within 100 miles of my house. Outside of the usual suspects, these two are available:
Anyone want a Delorean for a weekend:
https://turo.com/us/en-us/car-rental...rchId=ilRpbHoH


How about a 1973 BMW 2002:
https://turo.com/us/en-us/car-rental...rchId=ilRpbHoH

[Alfisti]

There are 2018 vettes here for $300 a day, it's double that through a rental company.

[Mintsopoulos]

I use it everytime I go back home to Chicago and I have always had a great experience. I wouldnt say its much cheaper than a regular rental agency (it definitely can be) but you can usually get something fun/luxurious versus a ford focus at the same price. Its definitely my preferred car rental service.

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

There are 2018 vettes here for $300 a day, it's double that through a rental company.

In Miami, Turo has some Stingrays in that $300 - $400 range. But there are also some in the $160 - $180 range. Hertz has a Z06 for $168/ day (with AAA auto club discount), which I believe is a 2018. Granted the Hertz inevitably has some taxes and airport fees you may be able to avoid with Turo, but they are a known commodity.

If Turo prices were 1/2 the price here or where I travel (like they are where you are) I might consider the risk / inconvenience of using it. But in the absence of that type of difference, or inability to rent a specific car I want to rent through an agency, I wouldn’t.

[Alfisti]

nah cannot get that here, nothing even close. best is Enterprise luxury agency and it's a mess re. availability and pricing. It's be $600+ for a vette here.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

nah cannot get that here, nothing even close. best is Enterprise luxury agency and it's a mess re. availability and pricing. It's be $600+ for a vette here.

So, like $300 US, eh?

[GenXer]

How much would a Pagani Zonda cost to rent?