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Last week I went through the tedium of providing all of the requisite information when trying to book a 2014 Toyota Prius for 1 day @ $50.40 through Turo. On th

Last week I went through the tedium of providing all of the requisite information when trying to book a 2014 Toyota Prius for 1 day @ $50.40 through Turo. On the final step of the reservation flow, Turo revealed an additional $50.40 service fee. Seeing the total price double didn't sit well. I promptly exited the reservation flow and deleted my account. I agree with your sentiment - if the app shared the service fee prior to the final step of the booking flow, I may have still reserved the car. Even at a total of $100.80, the price was still less than other nearby options.

gnicholas 5y ago
What was the fee putatively for? Was it a cleaning fee that would have been less per day on a longer rental? It doesn't seem right to call something a "service fee" if it doubles the total purchase price.
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  Engaging at any level with the idea that the fee is for any purpose other than lying about price in advertisements is giving it too much credit.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    From a customer’s point of view, absolutely. But fees are many times also used to avoid or evade taxes and royalties. For example, resort fees can be used by hotels to avoid paying royalties to the franchisor. There is never any good excuse to hide or gatekeep the total price from a customer though.
  - gnicholas 5y ago
    You're right. I was thinking about Airbnb, which has cleaning fees that can be pretty hefty on one-night rentals. And those are understandable because someone needs to come in and change the sheets/towels, wash dishes, etc. But there's no "bedsheets" analog for a car rental. Yes, it needs to be washed, but I imagine most renters of Priuses don't actually care if the car hasn't been washed in a few days/weeks.
    - wccrawford 5y ago
      I agree that that service should be considered in the price of the rental, but I disagree that it should be separate from the rest of the rental fee. It's required, and it's only separated out to make the rental look cheaper, right up until you get hit with that fee.
      - ghaff 5y ago
        >it's only separated out to make the rental look cheaper, right up until you get hit with that fee That's certainly one reason. But it can also make sense to have a one-time fee that's independent of the duration of the rental. Cleaning a room is the most obvious example. But there are other more or less fixed overheads that are largely independent of the length of time something is rented. If you're renting out just about anything, would you prefer seven 1-day rentals or a one week rental?
    - jjoonathan 5y ago
      > those are understandable because someone needs to Nope. The rest of this sentence doesn't even matter: if someone needs to do something, that's a reason to charge for it, but not a reason to hide the price.
    - CPLX 5y ago
      That's not quite true. The car has to be inspected and gotten ready for rental. Consider the amount of work involved for the owner in renting one car to 30 people each for one day and one car to one person for 30 days and you'll see the difference.
  - lkxijlewlf 5y ago
    I'm waiting for the "free" car rental where the actual cost is wrapped up in fees.
- cheriot 5y ago
  iirc they add insurance cost at check out, but I've mostly used GetAround lately.
Jarwain 5y ago
Turo's service fee feels very random and inconsistent. I was looking at renting a car in LA for a day and the service fee was the same price as renting the car, across most of the cars. If I changed the query to be a two day rental, then the service fee dropped to 1/10th the 1day price. In a Different city, though, even the 1 day rental doesn't have such a large fee.
sixothree 5y ago
The thing that bothers me the most is that the price of the rental is literally just the sum of the fees. And they are intentionally hiding parts of the cost. It's not just a dark pattern, it's an outright lie.
standyro 5y ago
My trick with their system is to just look at every car, click through to the final receipt screen and then go back to find the cheapest one. It's a bit tedious and deceptive to the customer to present variable fee at the last part of the checkout process. Probably the worst modern "dark pattern" that I hope regulators take a look at.
- forgotmysn 5y ago
  I share your sentiment, but I'm not sure there are any legislators I trust to understand or regulate dark patterns effectively.
  - car_analogy 5y ago
    I believe advertising a false price is already illegal. "On the internet" doesn't change that, so afaik no new legislation is needed, only some minimal will to enforce what is already on the books.
  - mindslight 5y ago
    Despite the shiny new veneer created by computers, this is a very old dark pattern called "fraud". While there are definitely shortcomings and failures of regulators, I'd say we're better off expecting them to generally crack down on fraud rather than not.
  - Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
    Dark patterns in general, yes, but I'd think "The displayed price must include all fees" would be easy to write into law.
    - ARandomerDude 5y ago
      I think people would find ways to partially skirt the law using formulas. There are some legitimate uses for formula pricing, e.g., rent a U-Haul with a per-mile cost, or a cell phone bill with a per GB data cost, or a per-user SAAS model. I imagine a dark pattern for the "resort fee" might be a complicated formula described in words in size 6 font at the bottom of the page if you took the time to read the footnote.
kodah 5y ago
This is basically Uber Eats' business model. They sell you on the price of food as you would get it from the store, then they tack on a service fee, the driver tip, a driver fee, etc... The cost of the meal from selection to checkout doubles.

gnicholas 5y ago

What was the fee putatively for? Was it a cleaning fee that would have been less per day on a longer rental? It doesn't seem right to call something a "service fee" if it doubles the total purchase price.

jjoonathan 5y ago
Engaging at any level with the idea that the fee is for any purpose other than lying about price in advertisements is giving it too much credit.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  From a customer’s point of view, absolutely. But fees are many times also used to avoid or evade taxes and royalties. For example, resort fees can be used by hotels to avoid paying royalties to the franchisor. There is never any good excuse to hide or gatekeep the total price from a customer though.
- gnicholas 5y ago
  You're right. I was thinking about Airbnb, which has cleaning fees that can be pretty hefty on one-night rentals. And those are understandable because someone needs to come in and change the sheets/towels, wash dishes, etc. But there's no "bedsheets" analog for a car rental. Yes, it needs to be washed, but I imagine most renters of Priuses don't actually care if the car hasn't been washed in a few days/weeks.
  - wccrawford 5y ago
    I agree that that service should be considered in the price of the rental, but I disagree that it should be separate from the rest of the rental fee. It's required, and it's only separated out to make the rental look cheaper, right up until you get hit with that fee.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      >it's only separated out to make the rental look cheaper, right up until you get hit with that fee That's certainly one reason. But it can also make sense to have a one-time fee that's independent of the duration of the rental. Cleaning a room is the most obvious example. But there are other more or less fixed overheads that are largely independent of the length of time something is rented. If you're renting out just about anything, would you prefer seven 1-day rentals or a one week rental?
  - jjoonathan 5y ago
    > those are understandable because someone needs to Nope. The rest of this sentence doesn't even matter: if someone needs to do something, that's a reason to charge for it, but not a reason to hide the price.
  - CPLX 5y ago
    That's not quite true. The car has to be inspected and gotten ready for rental. Consider the amount of work involved for the owner in renting one car to 30 people each for one day and one car to one person for 30 days and you'll see the difference.
- lkxijlewlf 5y ago
  I'm waiting for the "free" car rental where the actual cost is wrapped up in fees.
cheriot 5y ago
iirc they add insurance cost at check out, but I've mostly used GetAround lately.

Jarwain 5y ago

Turo's service fee feels very random and inconsistent. I was looking at renting a car in LA for a day and the service fee was the same price as renting the car, across most of the cars. If I changed the query to be a two day rental, then the service fee dropped to 1/10th the 1day price. In a Different city, though, even the 1 day rental doesn't have such a large fee.

sixothree 5y ago

The thing that bothers me the most is that the price of the rental is literally just the sum of the fees. And they are intentionally hiding parts of the cost. It's not just a dark pattern, it's an outright lie.

standyro 5y ago

My trick with their system is to just look at every car, click through to the final receipt screen and then go back to find the cheapest one. It's a bit tedious and deceptive to the customer to present variable fee at the last part of the checkout process. Probably the worst modern "dark pattern" that I hope regulators take a look at.

forgotmysn 5y ago
I share your sentiment, but I'm not sure there are any legislators I trust to understand or regulate dark patterns effectively.
- car_analogy 5y ago
  I believe advertising a false price is already illegal. "On the internet" doesn't change that, so afaik no new legislation is needed, only some minimal will to enforce what is already on the books.
- mindslight 5y ago
  Despite the shiny new veneer created by computers, this is a very old dark pattern called "fraud". While there are definitely shortcomings and failures of regulators, I'd say we're better off expecting them to generally crack down on fraud rather than not.
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  Dark patterns in general, yes, but I'd think "The displayed price must include all fees" would be easy to write into law.
  - ARandomerDude 5y ago
    I think people would find ways to partially skirt the law using formulas. There are some legitimate uses for formula pricing, e.g., rent a U-Haul with a per-mile cost, or a cell phone bill with a per GB data cost, or a per-user SAAS model. I imagine a dark pattern for the "resort fee" might be a complicated formula described in words in size 6 font at the bottom of the page if you took the time to read the footnote.

kodah 5y ago

This is basically Uber Eats' business model. They sell you on the price of food as you would get it from the store, then they tack on a service fee, the driver tip, a driver fee, etc... The cost of the meal from selection to checkout doubles.