Turo Car Rental

zinger1457

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Jul 22, 2007
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Anyone have any experience using Turo for their car rental, good/bad? Kind of the Uber of car rentals. The reviews on the Turo site for the few rentals I would consider are very positive.
 
Never dealt with them but just looked them up and found a great answer to a problem I’ve had - needing a pickup truck on occasion. The description is perfect and the price is great at $20 per day.

Description:
No Ac, Raggedy, cheap transportation, good for work, moving stuff.
 
We are looking at renting something for a month when we go to Phoenix mid-December. Some of the comments are great, some are concerning. It looks like some of the folks are buying older cars at auction, and renting them out. Some of those cars have issues.


We don't need a fancy car, but also don't want to deal with a vehicle that is not reliable. So we will try to find a vehicle that has multiple reviews, and steer away from anything that is new to the system.
 
I used them a couple times, did not carry insurance. That may be a risk.
My policy does not cover as it does in regular rentals.
 
My 25 year old daughter does not own a car because she lives in a big city. To get back home, she used Turo and had a flat tire at 1 am during a road trip. The emergency help and new tire came out of her pocket. She will not use them again. It seems like a risk on the quality of the vehicle/tire/brakes.
 
My 25 year old daughter does not own a car because she lives in a big city. To get back home, she used Turo and had a flat tire at 1 am during a road trip. The emergency help and new tire came out of her pocket. She will not use them again. It seems like a risk on the quality of the vehicle/tire/brakes.

Yea, I did read that in the Turo FAQ section, you are responsible for any flats unless you can show the tire was defective (low tread wear, etc.) in some way. I did get the impression that that was the exception, for most types of breakdowns it would be up to the owner to show the renters negligence caused the problem.
 
I've used Turo quite a bit and will share my thoughts and what I use it for. When the wife and I take short 3-4 day trips via a plane, I will usually rent an exotic off of Turo for a 24 hour period if the location we're going to has a good inventory. Generally speaking, when renting a Ferrari or the likes, they will simply drop off and pick up wherever you are so it's super convenient. If you want to rent off of Turo similar to a traditional car rental at the airport, things become more difficult. Most people will charge extra for airport drop off/pick up as an example.

Insurance and who covers what if there is an accident or mechanical failure are very grey areas IMO. If I was just needing to rent a normal car for a few days, I'd just use the national chains. If you're like me and want/need to rent a specialty vehicle (truck, van, exotic sports car, etc...) it is a truly awesome service.

The reason that I've been doing this is that it's the best way to get access to a lengthy test drive in a car where there aren't many of them around and dealers that have them aren't letting me take a test drive. I've now pretty much decided what I want to buy in the future and will use Turo less and less. With the insurance grey areas, I feel like you're too exposed when renting a $100+k car. I don't want to have to pay for a tire, wheel, and possible body damage on a Lamborghini after getting a flat on the interstate. I've read all about who supposedly covers what with all of the insurance options and after all that I've read and after having talked with the numerous owners of these vehicles, I'm still unclear and have read absolute horror stories from both renters and owners.

I do also use it to rent "normal" cars in place of national chains. An example is a week long vacation where we will need access to a car. Sure I can rent from a national chain and reserve a luxury vehicle, but there are no guarantees of what you will get. Turo is a great option where you could, as an example, search out and rent a late model Cadillac/Lexus for roughly the same amount as the national chain, but you know what you're getting. This is also a great way to rent a specific vehicle you may be considering buying in the future and getting a lot of seat time in it as well as covering your need for transportation.

In sum, if you don't need access to a very specific vehicle, it's probably not something worth messing with IMO.

Edit to add: All of my experiences have been hugely positive. That said, I'm always more nervous during it than I am renting from the chains.
 
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I used Turo for a week long trip to Oahu in July. It took me a long time to settle on a car (there were four of us plus a lot of luggage) but I ended up with a Mazda 6 and the owner was a sweetheart. Since this was my first time to the island she also had great recommendations for things to do and places to eat that the locals go to- things off the beaten path. That by itself was immeasurable for someone who hates touristy crowded sites. The cost was about half of what a traditional rental would have been and I had unlimited miles. It was a positive experience and I'd definitely do it again.
 
I am considering Turo for a week long vacation in San Fran. Want to get an upscale SUV (BMW/Mercedes) and the one rental company that mostly does that there is Sixt, but they are off of the airport (SFO), and I have read some really horrific reviews on it taking 1.5 to 2 hours, and questionable cars.

From looking at the Turn sight, it seems you can look at the reviews and determine what "owners" might be a problem by cancelling rentals just before the trip, like within 1 or 2 days, or other problems. It appears you can get curbside pick up, and someone on my original thread said that you have to be careful that you don't have to drive numerous miles to drop the owner back off, but it seems this could be determined through early communication? I like the idea of not having to tram to car rental center, and then shuttle (in the case of Sixt) to their off site location. Return would be a lot easier that was as well.

A little concerned about the insurance part of it, so will research some more on what Turo site offers and what is covered. I have until February to decide, so, research is my friend! :cool:
 
Anyone have any experience using Turo for their car rental, good/bad? Kind of the Uber of car rentals. The reviews on the Turo site for the few rentals I would consider are very positive.

Sorry! Never even HEARD of them. Actually, I haven't rented a car at all, from any car rental business, since I retired nine years ago. I expect and hope that I won't have to rent a car ever again.

This is one of the beautiful advantages of not traveling for work any more, and also having zero desire to travel for pleasure. Life is so much simpler, more pleasant, and more economical, or at least from my perspective it is. YMMV
 
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