How to Rent your Car on TURO

 

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Half a year ago we bought a minivan. I debated selling our 2009 Toyota Yaris, which became an extra third car, but instead decided to rent it out on TURO.

In the last 6-months, we’ve made over $3,000 by renting that Car out to strangers (95% of whom I’ve never even met) who just pick it up from the street in front of my house.

If I had just sold the car I could’ve gotten around $4000 for it.

So in another month or two I will have made more money than I could’ve sold it for and now have a Semi-Passive Income Generating Machine that will continually Drive in profits (See what I did there?).

So I’m sure you have questions: Insurance, Accidents, Tolls, Smoking, Key Exchange, Rent Per Day, Frequency of Rent, Kinds of Cars Allowed, Creating a TURO Fleet Empire, ETC… Read on for answers.

 

Questions

• Do you meet every guest to give them the keys?
  • No, I just tell them the car is on the street in front of the house and the keys can be found in the flowerpot. A lockbox with key code can also be used.
• Can guest pick-up the car whenever they want?
  • You can set Pickup & Return hours if you like
  • You can also block days on the calendar to keep the car from being rented
  • You can also set minimum and maximum limits on Trip lengths, I once had a Medical Resident rent my car for 80 days!
• How much does TURO take from your earnings?
  • 15% from me, so I get to keep 85% of the rental amount
    • Your cut is a sliding scale from 90%-60% depending on how much Insurance Coverage you want
• What happens if someone gets into an accident?
  • TURO insures the vehicle while it is rented out by a guest
    • The TURO guest determines the type of coverage they want when booking the car
    • The HOST may also have a certain deductible based on the earnings cut they want 

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• Can a guest drive the car to Mexico?
  • You can set Daily/Trip Mileage Limits.
    • I allow for 200 miles per day.
• Do you have to fill-up the Gas and Clean the car everytime?
  • 90% of the time the car is returned clean and with a full-tank of Gas as are my requirements
    • The requirement is to return the car in the condition it was received.
    • If I have to clean their is a $20 fee.
    • If I have to fill-up Gas it is a $28 fee.
• What about tickets and tolls?
  • TURO has a Reimbursement Feature.
  • I leave my EZPASS in the car and at the end of the trip, I lookup what tolls I have been charged for and ask for reimbursement through the app.
• Car Requirements to list on TURO?
  • Newer than 12 years old and under 130,000 miles at the time it is listed. Once on TURO its grandfathered in.
  • Clean (Not Salvage) Tile, and not registered in the state of New York
• Do I have to drop off the car?
  • No, although you can turn on the option to drop off the car.
  • Usually guests uber themselves to my house and pick the car up from there.

 

TURO-Host Essential Equipment

Ozone Generator: An Ozone Generator eliminates smoke smells. In the ~30 times, I’ve rented my car in the last 6-months, 4 times it was returned to me smelling of smoke. I usually charge a $50 fee (If you find Ash or cigarette butts you can charge $150) for this. I take an extension cord and leave the Ozone Generator running in the car for 45 minutes and then let it air out, which usually takes care of it. It may leave an odd smell, so I usually open the windows for a few hours afterwards.

 

GPS Car Tracker: This does require a monthly $8 fee and works very simply by plugging into your OBD II Sensor port of your car. Not 100% necessary, but its nice knowing where your car is.

 

Cellphone Chargers: I feel this is a nice hospitable thing to provide, I have a label on it saying it is for the TURO car, so people don’t walk off with it.

 

Cellphone Mount: Also a nice hospitable thing to provide. I like this one, because it can fit all types of phones.

Good Smelly Things: Just a nice thing to add as well.

 

BLINK Security Camera: This is a great system, because it is all battery-powered and lasts 2-years! I like having the camera with an active record on the Key Pick-up Location and Car Location.

 

The Rental Process

1. Someone books the car through the app
2. They get an automated response with an address of where the car is located and where the keys are
3. I take pictures of the cars condition and mileage and fuel gauge and upload it to the TURO cloud prior to them checking in
4. I am supposed to verify their drivers license, they can usually message a picture of it
5. They arrive, pick-up the keys from the mailbox, and are off on their way.
6. After their trip is done, they return the car to the street in front of my house +/- 3 houses away, and return the keys to my mailbox.
7. I verify the car is in good condition and clean, take a picture of the odometer and upload it to the cloud. I check my EZPASS app and apply any toll reimbursements that might be there.
8. I complete the checkout through the TURO app and it is ready to go for the next guest.

      9. Once a month I usually take the car for a car wash and thorough Vacuuming. I also need to perform oil changes every 5,000 miles. But other than that, it has been that simple. No accidents yet.

 

How popular is TURO?

So it got slow during COVID, but it has picked back up again, in June I had the car rented 21/30 days, so about 70% of the days which seems to be about average.

My car is priced on the lower side at $39/day so that could help. There are Tesla’s in my area renting for $190/day.

I was originally renting my car in Garfield NJ which is pretty close to NYC and thought perhaps that is why it was so popular…

But I’ve since moved to a more rural part of NJ (50 minutes from NYC), and it is just as popular if not more so.

It’s hard to tell how popular it might be for you, but taking a look at the calendars of other TURO cars in your area might be a good indicator.

I get asked a lot about why people rent from me when they can rent from Enterprise, ACE, Budget Rental Car, Hertz, etc. Honestly, I don’t really know why, could be its slightly cheaper, more convenient to get to, or perhaps they just like using the TURO app.

 

Is this the Side-Hustle for you?

I really like this side-hustle, it reminds me a lot of Airbnb but I think it is much more manageable for those starting out.

All you need is a car that is under 130,000 miles and less than 12 years old, and you just list it on TURO and you have a business!

Most people already have a car, so if you want to test the waters I suggest creating a TURO account, and listing your car, you can block out all the days and just make it available for a few days when you wouldn’t be driving it anyway and see how it goes.

If you really like how it works, you could expand the business by buying good used cars (Read my Ideal Used Car Paragraph) and starting a TURO fleet of rental cars. There are many people who do this, and make their livelihoods this way.

Some people even lease cars for $15/day and rent them out for $70/day. This is not something I would recommend (Very Rarely do I recommend taking on debt to start a risky business venture), but the possibility is out there.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment if you found value in this post! Also take a listen to our podcast episode about our TURO experience. Happy TURO’ing.