Turo Car Service

February 21, 2023 7:34 PM

What has been your experience with Turo car service? I just heard about it as an alternative to rental cars. The pricing is much cheaper. Is it reliable? I'm planning on doing an airport pickup. I am not thrilled at having to upload my license info for privacy reasons. Is it worth it? Any notable considerations as far as safety or insurance? (I have my own car insurance.)
posted by roaring beast to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

I've been using it for about a decade, since it was called RelayRides. I use it because it's the only way to get EXACTLY a certain car -- in my case it's so I can try out new electric models, but it's also useful for getting a manual transmission car, or whatever you are seeking. Two weeks ago I spent three days in an electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, rented via Turo.

In my experience, it has been MORE expensive, not less, but I'm also always seeking out hot new (electric) cars so I guess that distorts the experience.

Since it's basically AirBnB for cars, for every rental you are dealing with Some Regular Owner Person and that can require patience, because people are people. Some of the owners actually have a whole fleet of cars, and that can be good or bad: good because they have a lot of experience and know how to do all this, or bad because they can be overcommitted and don't do the handoff so great.

The worst thing that's ever happened for me (and it's not so bad, really) is that 24 hours prior my rental was canceled, and they can totally do that with basically no penalty. I had another car lined up within an hour or so, but it's not something I really had time to deal with the day before my trip, and I wasn't getting the car that I wanted anymore (and that I had reserved months prior).
posted by intermod at 8:05 PM on February 21, 2023

When I looked into using this in the past I've shied away due to concerns about insurance. My understanding (from doing a few quick Google searches) is that my auto insurance company specifically doesn't cover renting from an individual using a peer to peer service like Turo. But maybe apparently some do? I don't know, but I wasn't going to risk it and just stuck with the usual boring old car rental companies. Turo does offer some sort of add on insurance but I remember it seemed to double the cost and at that point I'd rather just deal with Enterprise or whatever and call it a day. I'd say Turo seems good for test driving new cars your're interested in for a few hours in areas of town you're very familiar, but anything beyond seems too risky.
posted by flamk at 8:36 PM on February 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I used it for a week or so when I first moved to LA County and was quite happy with it. I wasn't near any airports and the only "regular" car rental place (Enterprise) near where I was staying had very limited options and they were all much more expensive than Turo. I picked the car up from the owner.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:32 PM on February 21, 2023

I found GetAround much better than Turo in terms of convenience, quality, selection and price—but then I wrecked a Prius from GetAround. The unpleasant upshot is that BOTH services banned me.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:25 PM on February 21, 2023

Used it twice, both times when I went to Miami, FL. Had a fabulous experience both times, for whatever that's worth. One of the people I rented from didn't even have any languages in common with me, and yet we were able to make texting work via google translate.

I am however extra cautious and I paid for the premium protection policy.
posted by MiraK at 5:48 AM on February 22, 2023

I’ve used it about 5 times, 4 of them went really well. One time the car smelled terribly of smoke and I didn’t have time to figure out a alternative solution so just dealt with it.
posted by escher at 6:30 AM on February 22, 2023

We used it on a recent vacation to Palm Springs and surrounding area and it was fantastic. Got a hybrid and charged for pennies. Very convenient and cheaper than a rental. Highly recommend giving it a try.

Edit to add - insurance is usually included but I always buy the additional policy and also have car insurance at home that has extra coverage
posted by dazedandconfused at 11:57 AM on February 22, 2023

Used it half a dozen times around the US and the only bad experience was (like above) when the renter canceled 24 hours out. Otherwise, it's been cheaper and easier on the whole than regular rental companies. No more interminable lines--just pick it up at an airport hotel or in long-term parking, or one time (in AK) the owner just handed over the keys in the pickup lane. Then again, I haven't gotten into an accident in one yet. I do opt for their extra insurance.
posted by gottabefunky at 2:48 PM on February 22, 2023