Turo Experiences & Questions

[ParrotBill]

Thought I would start a topic on Turo, the "AirBnb" for cars. I used this for my trip December 9-20, 2023.

You are renting a person's personal car, through an Agency that adds administration and payment handling, uses a required smartphone app, and provides a choice of insurance levels.
I found pricing without insurance to be about half the rates of trustworthy commercial car rentals, and less than half when including insurances.
There are fun cars to rent, and you get to pick the one specific car you want. Some listing are expensive, but most looked reasonable.
There are many choices in a big metro area like Orlando.

You must sign up for Turo and get your license uploaded and identify verified. You will have to post pictures of your license and a selfie holding the license for the owner to verify you the day before or day of rental. (This step was not clear with Turo, but I did validate it is required.)

You must pay close attention to details in the listing including where you will be expected to pick up and drop off the car. You might have to Uber somewhere to do that. I chose an airport pickup, where the owner left it in an economy lot. I took the shuttle bus, and located the car. Paid the parking fee to leave (Nobody told me this, but I did not argue it.) Returned the car there.

I remembered to ask about toll transponders, as Florida is full of toll roads and many are automated only. My car had a Sun Pass and they said they will bill me for usage after the end of my trip. The transponder is tape-affixed so I would not have been able to use my own.

Allow time in your schedule! Picking up was an hour. Dropping was a half hour. The shuttle bus runs about every 15-30 minutes and takes 10-15 minutes to get back and forth. You must complete a checklist in the app and take pictures of the car and upload to the Turo App both times. You must return with same level of gas. I recommend with your picture you include one showing mileage and gas level at pick up and drop off. Identifying damage was hard under street lights at night.

My car was a 10 year old Ford Mustang in good condition. But the old text menus of the entertainment system were tricky! it took a half hour to figure out how to sync my phone to hear my google navigation and get audio input set.

The owners communicated well and answered my questions.

There have been some reports of problematic owners, even canceling rentals on short notice. I would only use it in large markets with many cars so I had a chance of finding an alternate in case of a problem. And there's always Mears buses and Uber, which is what I did on my last trip.


Feel free to post more experiences, or ask questions of those who post theirs.

 

[EACarlson]

Make sure you check your personal insurance coverage before you leave home. Chase and AMEX rental car coverages don't cover Turo. My State Farm insurance claims that Turo is not a rental agency and you are paying for the rental so it's not a borrowed vehicle, that means they will not cover it.
I think a better comparison for rates would be some of the lesser thought of brands off airport. Fox, Ace those types. Those have similar pick up issues and probably very similar rates. Just not worth it to me, I'm sure there are lots of people that find value in it.

 

[Lewisc]

I found pricing without insurance to be about half the rates of trustworthy commercial car rentals, and less than half when including insurances.

insurance coverage before you leave home. Chase and AMEX rental car coverages don't cover Turo. My State Farm insurance claims that Turo is not a rental agency and you are paying for the rental so it's not a borrowed vehicle, that means they will not cover

Most of us have adequate personal auto insurance and credit card coverage and can skip rental agency waivers.

A fair comparison of rates would be turo with insurance and traditional rental without.

A 10 year old car....I agree with PP the comparison should be with one of the bottom feeder agencies.

I've read reports about disputes on damages and cancelations.

No thanks.

 

[MeghanR98]

I've used Turo multiple times and always buy the insurance just out of caution but I've found that it is much cheaper still and the convenience can't be beat. Especially when traveling with a child as they will have a car seat ready in the car unlike the rental agencies that say they can't guarantee a car seat will be available.

I chose ones that had excellent reviews and never had any issues. Car is waiting right outside the airport. No waiting forever at the rental places.

 

[tjmw2727]

Make sure you check your personal insurance coverage before you leave home. Chase and AMEX rental car coverages don't cover Turo. My State Farm insurance claims that Turo is not a rental agency and you are paying for the rental so it's not a borrowed vehicle, that means they will not cover it.
I think a better comparison for rates would be some of the lesser thought of brands off airport. Fox, Ace those types. Those have similar pick up issues and probably very similar rates. Just not worth it to me, I'm sure there are lots of people that find value in it.

I had a few conversations with my State Farm agent, they do cover a Turo rental and I have the paperwork to confirm it. My dd needed a long-term rental for a job in Anaheim and a traditional car rental was much too expensive as was driving a car from the east coast.

She found an older model in good condition but with some dings and such at an affordable price. Car was delivered to her sublet on arrival and picked up the night before she departed no issues at all.

As with all rentals, take those pictures on day one and again on final day as well as the gas gauge and keep your final gas receipt.

It's nice to have another option especially for longer term rentals that the rental car market doesn't cover well (IMHO).

 

[EACarlson]

I had a few conversations with my State Farm agent, they do cover a Turo rental and I have the paperwork to confirm it. My dd needed a long-term rental for a job in Anaheim and a traditional car rental was much too expensive as was driving a car from the east coast.

She found an older model in good condition but with some dings and such at an affordable price. Car was delivered to her sublet on arrival and picked up the night before she departed no issues at all.

As with all rentals, take those pictures on day one and again on final day as well as the gas gauge and keep your final gas receipt.

It's nice to have another option especially for longer term rentals that the rental car market doesn't cover well (IMHO).

That's very interesting that you have paperwork saying they'd cover it and I have a document from the home office saying they won't.

 

[tjmw2727]

That's very interesting that you have paperwork saying they'd cover it and I have a document from the home office saying they won't.

Yup - dated 10/2023, car was returned 1/8/24.

 

[jimmymc]

I've used Turo twice when the big legacy rental car companies were outrageously overpriced. Once was in Orlando, and the other in Phoenix. In both cases, the car was parked in an offsite lot with the key in a lockbox. I took pictures of the car and uploaded them to the app, then I received a code for the key. It probably took a similar amount of time compared to waiting in line to pick up the rental car.

In both instances, I bought the "Standard" insurance through Turo. My credit cards won't cover it, and I wasn't confident in Progressive to cover it. The car in Florida included a toll transponder, and those were added to the app after I returned the car. I also had to pay $10 for the parking lot pickup, which I could've avoided if I had a way to meet the car outside the airport.

Aside from the pain of needing to leave the airport to pick up the car, everything went smoothly. It's nice that you get the ability to pick out the exact model of the car and save some money. The major downside I've seen is that car owners can cancel last minute, which could leave you scrambling. Turo mentions when this happens in the car reviews.