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I don't use Turo anymore, no point at all. Back in the day Turo was mostly people with somewhat interesting cars who wanted to share them, and rental agencies

I don't use Turo anymore, no point at all. Back in the day Turo was mostly people with somewhat interesting cars who wanted to share them, and rental agencies had nothing interesting, and the pricing was reasonable. - Now a $60 a day car can come out to more than a $100 a day car because of extended insurance for specific models, Turo fees, weird discount structures, massive deposits (One $70 a day car had an $700 deposit). And there's no way to actually account for that in searching, the estimated price never includes any of this. So you're left to randomly click around and "guess" which cars don't all belong to the same guy tacking on a massive deposit, or asking for some money on the side. It all just feels incredibly sleazy, and wreaks of Turo's model essentially failing since private owners care more about their cars than an agency, and they likely had to deal with a ton more claims. There are also a ton of deeply unsafe cars on there now, especially older non-enthusiast cars. Rental agencies might not be the best about safety, but they also won't keep a 100k mile structurally rusted out econobox laying around... - I just went through that last week and decided to go with Sixt. I got a rental "A5 or similar" (convertible 4 series was the option I took at the counter), and for 12 dollars a day I get unlimited tolls in CA.

djrogers 5y ago
100k miles is ‘deeply unsafe’? You can’t evaluate structural rust in a photo, so if you’re deciding safety based on mileage you have a very unreal sense of safe vs unsafe.
- wcfields 5y ago
  I've never had an unsafe car persay, but when working with a small budget you'll end up with a high-mileage 2010 Toyota Corolla. (Turo says "Cars that have more than 130,000 mi/200,000 km may remain listed as long as they’re in excellent condition") [1] What I've noticed on Turo is now there's a large mix of 'big' players: Unregulated car rental biz that have 10+ beaters of Echos/Sparks/Minis/Focus, or, a buy-here/pay-here used car dealership that's renting out everything on the lot. [1] https://support.turo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203991940-Vehicles-we-accept https://support.turo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203991940-Vehicle...
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  That's not what I wrote, but you're certainly free to misread my sentence and go off on a strawman. https://youtu.be/hQlrGGJodgQ https://youtu.be/hQlrGGJodgQ 100k miles doesn't make it unsafe, the rust does. 100k miles is mentioned because a 50k mile car is less likely to have potential critical rust, and rental companies are selling cars at 50k miles on average. Of course now this is the part where you say 50k mile cars can have rust too! They sure can, but where is rust worse, at 50k miles or after an additional 50k miles? - It's not just rust either, as miles tick up there's plenty of maintenance that's supposed to be done that private renters making a buck won't. Your rental agency isn't going to pick up a high milage 3 series that's one good highway trip away from shredding its serpentine belt because no one ever fixed a single oil leak it had... - They're also not going to do what my Turo renter did in Miami: Give you a car with a brake light and clear metal on metal sounds and tell you "oh, that's ok, the sensor is just broken"
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  It says "100k mile structurally rusted out" is deeply unsafe. Did we read the same comment?
drstewart 5y ago
>Back in the day Turo was mostly people with somewhat interesting cars who wanted to share them, and rental agencies had nothing interesting, and the pricing was reasonable. >Now a $60 a day car can come out to more than a $100 a day car because of extended insurance for specific models, Turo fees, weird discount structures, massive deposits This honestly feels like the story of every gig economy service out there (Airbnb, Turo, etc). They were unique and interesting and well worth the cost versus traditional competitors at one point. Now they're at the point where I'm back to cross-shopping the traditional options (hotels / car agencies / etc) first.
RandallBrown 5y ago
I used Turo for the first time on a trip to Salt Lake City recently to go skiing. I wanted something with 4WD in case it snowed. Turo was hundreds of dollars cheaper than any of the airport rentals. It seemed like most of the rentals there were people running their own rental companies (fleets of 4 or 5 cars). It worked really well for us.
- hunter2_ 5y ago
  Also great for Colorado ski trips when the Traction Law is in effect. Normal rental agencies will never guarantee a compliant reservation (unless you spend triple to rent a vehicle class you can reasonably expect to comply) but the filters on Turo make it simple. The insurance situation is a little dicey though; apparently only a handful of insurance policies (thru insurance agencies and credit card benefits) cover P2P rentals, maybe like 25% of them or so.

djrogers 5y ago

100k miles is ‘deeply unsafe’? You can’t evaluate structural rust in a photo, so if you’re deciding safety based on mileage you have a very unreal sense of safe vs unsafe.

wcfields 5y ago
I've never had an unsafe car persay, but when working with a small budget you'll end up with a high-mileage 2010 Toyota Corolla. (Turo says "Cars that have more than 130,000 mi/200,000 km may remain listed as long as they’re in excellent condition") [1] What I've noticed on Turo is now there's a large mix of 'big' players: Unregulated car rental biz that have 10+ beaters of Echos/Sparks/Minis/Focus, or, a buy-here/pay-here used car dealership that's renting out everything on the lot. [1] https://support.turo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203991940-Vehicles-we-accept https://support.turo.com/hc/en-us/articles/203991940-Vehicle...
BoorishBears 5y ago
That's not what I wrote, but you're certainly free to misread my sentence and go off on a strawman. https://youtu.be/hQlrGGJodgQ https://youtu.be/hQlrGGJodgQ 100k miles doesn't make it unsafe, the rust does. 100k miles is mentioned because a 50k mile car is less likely to have potential critical rust, and rental companies are selling cars at 50k miles on average. Of course now this is the part where you say 50k mile cars can have rust too! They sure can, but where is rust worse, at 50k miles or after an additional 50k miles? - It's not just rust either, as miles tick up there's plenty of maintenance that's supposed to be done that private renters making a buck won't. Your rental agency isn't going to pick up a high milage 3 series that's one good highway trip away from shredding its serpentine belt because no one ever fixed a single oil leak it had... - They're also not going to do what my Turo renter did in Miami: Give you a car with a brake light and clear metal on metal sounds and tell you "oh, that's ok, the sensor is just broken"
Dylan16807 5y ago
It says "100k mile structurally rusted out" is deeply unsafe. Did we read the same comment?

drstewart 5y ago

>Back in the day Turo was mostly people with somewhat interesting cars who wanted to share them, and rental agencies had nothing interesting, and the pricing was reasonable. >Now a $60 a day car can come out to more than a $100 a day car because of extended insurance for specific models, Turo fees, weird discount structures, massive deposits This honestly feels like the story of every gig economy service out there (Airbnb, Turo, etc). They were unique and interesting and well worth the cost versus traditional competitors at one point. Now they're at the point where I'm back to cross-shopping the traditional options (hotels / car agencies / etc) first.

RandallBrown 5y ago

I used Turo for the first time on a trip to Salt Lake City recently to go skiing. I wanted something with 4WD in case it snowed. Turo was hundreds of dollars cheaper than any of the airport rentals. It seemed like most of the rentals there were people running their own rental companies (fleets of 4 or 5 cars). It worked really well for us.

hunter2_ 5y ago
Also great for Colorado ski trips when the Traction Law is in effect. Normal rental agencies will never guarantee a compliant reservation (unless you spend triple to rent a vehicle class you can reasonably expect to comply) but the filters on Turo make it simple. The insurance situation is a little dicey though; apparently only a handful of insurance policies (thru insurance agencies and credit card benefits) cover P2P rentals, maybe like 25% of them or so.