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I hosted on Turo (all star host). I don’t anymore and won’t ever again. It’s not worth the time or headache. I don’t think Getaround or Turo will last much lon

I hosted on Turo (all star host). I don’t anymore and won’t ever again. It’s not worth the time or headache. I don’t think Getaround or Turo will last much longer without a lot more VC funding.

sbarre 7y ago
Just curious what problems you had with Turo? I never hosted but I used it a few times, and I have a few friends who host, so my experience is obviously anecdotal but I've only heard good things..
- spookthesunset 7y ago
  Do you want somebody renting your personal car? I mean, rental cars have the saying “drive it like a rental for a reason”. Your car will get totaled or somebody will smoke weed in it or leave a bag of uncapped needles. People will return it miles away from the drop point or not even return it at all. They won’t fill the tank, leaving you to drive to the gas station and fill it. They’ll rent it and than swap your working battery for their broken batter. Take the tires off and swap them with their shitty bald ones. The only people who make money (like real money and not pretend “profit” that doesn’t account for everything I listed) are people who buy cars specifically to rent out on Turo. They don’t get attached to any of the cars because those things will get fucked.
  - dx034 7y ago
    > The only people who make money (like real money and not pretend “profit” that doesn’t account for everything I listed) are people who buy cars specifically to rent out on Turo. They don’t get attached to any of the cars because those things will get fucked. Which is exactly what rental companies do. If Those private individuals can be any cheaper than Hertz & co with their huge discounts, it's just VC money being thrown at it, not a sustainable business model.
    - thawaway1837 7y ago
      Alternatively Turo will make money because people don’t realize the costs of renting a car is far more than their immediate expenses. They won’t factor in the costs of a crash, or reduced life, or if the insurance companies catch up then the additional insurance cost. Turo’s profit lies in having unsavvy hosts pick up these costs.
      - cbsmith 7y ago
        Turo includes insurance for the rental period, so I don't see where there'd be significant additional insurance costs. Honestly, the handful of hosts I've worked with are basically operating their own rental businesses and simply preferred Turo's deal vs. franchising with one of the big names.
  - sbarre 7y ago
    This is what insurance is for, I guess? I dunno, this all feels like edge cases and not the kind of thing the average person would do. Or if a Turo member did this, they would get away with it once, and then be banned from the platform. These all sound like ridiculous scenarios out of a bad cop show. Do you have any evidence that this has happened to any Turo hosts? If this was the norm, these services would not exist.

sbarre 7y ago

Just curious what problems you had with Turo? I never hosted but I used it a few times, and I have a few friends who host, so my experience is obviously anecdotal but I've only heard good things..

spookthesunset 7y ago
Do you want somebody renting your personal car? I mean, rental cars have the saying “drive it like a rental for a reason”. Your car will get totaled or somebody will smoke weed in it or leave a bag of uncapped needles. People will return it miles away from the drop point or not even return it at all. They won’t fill the tank, leaving you to drive to the gas station and fill it. They’ll rent it and than swap your working battery for their broken batter. Take the tires off and swap them with their shitty bald ones. The only people who make money (like real money and not pretend “profit” that doesn’t account for everything I listed) are people who buy cars specifically to rent out on Turo. They don’t get attached to any of the cars because those things will get fucked.
- dx034 7y ago
  > The only people who make money (like real money and not pretend “profit” that doesn’t account for everything I listed) are people who buy cars specifically to rent out on Turo. They don’t get attached to any of the cars because those things will get fucked. Which is exactly what rental companies do. If Those private individuals can be any cheaper than Hertz & co with their huge discounts, it's just VC money being thrown at it, not a sustainable business model.
  - thawaway1837 7y ago
    Alternatively Turo will make money because people don’t realize the costs of renting a car is far more than their immediate expenses. They won’t factor in the costs of a crash, or reduced life, or if the insurance companies catch up then the additional insurance cost. Turo’s profit lies in having unsavvy hosts pick up these costs.
    - cbsmith 7y ago
      Turo includes insurance for the rental period, so I don't see where there'd be significant additional insurance costs. Honestly, the handful of hosts I've worked with are basically operating their own rental businesses and simply preferred Turo's deal vs. franchising with one of the big names.
- sbarre 7y ago
  This is what insurance is for, I guess? I dunno, this all feels like edge cases and not the kind of thing the average person would do. Or if a Turo member did this, they would get away with it once, and then be banned from the platform. These all sound like ridiculous scenarios out of a bad cop show. Do you have any evidence that this has happened to any Turo hosts? If this was the norm, these services would not exist.