Just when you thought sharing had reached a peak, you were wrong. Now we have rental car sharing, which basically means, every private car owner can now rent their car out using Turo, a car rental sharing app. This app works like Airbnb but for cars. Imagine you are going on a holiday or just stay at home over the weekend. You want some more income; a few hundred bucks will always help. So, you join Turo, and they find people that want to rent your car. Here is a brief outline of this new service.
What is Turo
Turo is a rental sharing process or a P2P (peer to peer) app that links a driver to a car that is privately owned. Since it is a privately-owned car rental service, the models are not limited, and the prices vary between cars of the same make, model and year. Drivers also get a chance of driving luxury and supercars that they would never have access too.
Turo is an app that connects car owners that want to rent out their car to car renters that need a car to drive. It's that simple, just like Airbnb for homes and Uber or Lyft for ridesharing, only this time you get a car.
Turo Car Renters
If you ever rented a car, then you know the process. You have to go online and order a car to rent. In many instances, you are limited to a range of makes and models that are available, and you compare prices that can on occasions, fluctuate based on availability due supply and demand.
Turo has a new system, you just go online and choose a car from the list that is available in your area. This change in concept was due to come, and we will see many more changes to this service as well as competitors springing up to saturate the market with car rental alternatives. It will also produce micro-rental services, where some private car owners will invest in two or three cars for this specific niche, including cars rentable to Uber/Lyft drivers in need of a car that passes their requirements at a lower rental price. (What Uber terms fleet owners).
Turo Convenience and Pricing
Turo provides a much cheaper rental alternative since it does not need to maintain fleets of cars, maintenance teams, and office staff. They only need to maintain an app support team and market their product. This reduction in overheads as well as the price most car owners will ask for cuts most car rental fees by half.
Customers do not need to fill out loads of forms and wait in line to reach the counter or search for their car in a large car park. Turo has now got cars available in 5,000 locations globally. Wherever you find an airport, you will most probably find Turo. With over 800 models, makes and years to choose from, most anyone will find the car they want or dreamed of driving.
The actual car price is set by the owner, and the more luxurious the car, well obviously the higher the rent. For really simple models you could find a car for as low as $25 per day, maybe even less and for super or luxury cars such as Maybach and Ferrari, you could pay hundreds if not over a thousand dollars for days driving.
The price you will pay vis Turo is dependent on a number of factors, and these factors vary per car owner, they include;
- The make, model and year of the car you want to rent.
- The period you rent it.
- The miles you need to drive.
- Other car-related items, specific to the location and conditions.
Turo App
Registering to Turo is simple, for someone that wants to rent a car you just put in your basic information and then start searching online for the car you want. Put in your destination, add the dates you need to rent, and you will be given a list of cars to choose from. You can change the order of cars to choose from by setting the sort list to relevance, low to high price and high to the low price. They have not yet included a filter for transmission and car model, so you are limited to searching through a list of pictures until you find the car you want.
Once you pick your car from the list of photos, you are transferred to the car page where you get all the car information, you also get to see who owns it and you can reserve the car.
Turo Registration
Via the site
- Enter your name and email address
- When you receive the confirmation e-mail, reply to verify your address
- Go to the account page and enter your phone no. Then enter the verification code.
- Enter your driving license information and address.
- Add a photo if you want.
- You are ready to rent.
The Turo Experience
Turo is unique; it offers every kind of vehicle for any kind of usage and price. If its only for a show off the ride in a glitzy car or a long road ride, if you need to haul yourself or haul furniture, you will find the solution in Turo.
Insurance Policy
Before we go and rent a car, let's just take a look at a few of the essentials required for any sharing process. Insurance is at the top of the list. Turo has insurance as well as roadside assistance. This insurance is for the car owner more than for the driver, remember, this is not a fleet car, this is someone's private property, and they are taking a chance every time their car is rented out.
Before renting a car, check the rental policy levels and pick the one you believe best suits your situation, also remember that the more expensive a car, the higher the insurance policy and make sure you take full coverage, you do not want to be held holding a hefty debt after some idiot caused you to swipe your car and hit a lamppost, another car or even a person.
There are three Turo insurance levels;
- Premium — 40% of the trip price
- Basic — 15% of the trip price
- Decline — 0% of the trip price
With some car owners, there is a private insurance coverage. Usually a commercial rental policy and these are provided by the car owner and paid for directly with them and not onsite.
If you do get into a scrape, you will need to know what you are responsible for, and these vary per policy and per owner. To get a full list, check out https://turo.com/insurance
The Rental Process
Either through the app or online:
- Login
- Choose a location
- Choose a rental period
- Pick a car from the list
- Press either Rent this Car
- In the checkout page, add any missing data such as driving license number, a photo, and your address.
- Enter your credit card details
- Wait for car owner confirmation.
If the car is registered with "Book Instantly" this means your reservation will automatically be accepted, so your request does not need to await the car owner's approval. You also set the pickup location with the car owner.
Upon reaching the car and its owner, you show your driving license, if any other documents or signatures are needed you provide them too and the get the keys. For car's you have not driver before you must get basic information about car controls, such as how to open the gas tank, hood, and luggage. Check where each control stick and button are situated. Now you are ready for driving.
Tips for Security
Always take photos of the car from as many angles as you can, this is proof of car status before taking possession. Also, photo the gas level and mileage, these photos will save you when facing false charges or accusations.
Try to get a door-to-door delivery service, so you don't need to deal with finding the car and returning it too awkward locations.
Issues with Turo
As with all rental services, there will be issues. Usually, they arise from returning the car to the owner and are dependent on the owner's perception of what is expected when the car is returned. Just make sure you keep the car clean, don't smoke in the car, don't drink and drive (duh) and go crazy with a sports car.
Conclusions
Turo is a good option for bypassing car rental services and also opens up new avenues for income for car owners. Renters can also link up with car owners in the same city if local renting is required and that way build up a good rental relationship.
Just remember the following tips:
1. Always be on time for the designated pickup and drop off locations
2. Let the owner inspect your driving license and ask you questions
3. Always photo the car and dash before taking the keys
4. When driving off, don't accelerate like a madman
5. Always fill the car with gas before returning it
6. Always return a clean car, (washed too if necessary)
7. Take photos of any damage that you are concerned with
8. Perform another inspection with the owner upon return.