Turo.com (formally Relay Rides) Would you use it?

danger_mouse_tm

Hi,

Just a quick back story to this: I think it initially took off in LAX and the idea was that you hand over the keys of your "less than 10 year old clean car" to a relay rides rep and go on your flight. On your return, instead of getting a bill for airport parking charges, you get your car back with a few extra miles (no more than 200 per day unless you specify otherwise) and a cheque from Relay rides after they have rented it out to specially screened members of the public. I thought to myself,"this will never fly. It's as mad as ride sharing schemes". Well guess what? It's flying...in America..and there are some pretty serious cars on it too. I saw plenty of Mercs, pickup trucks and even a Tesla as well as ordinary run of the mill cars costing considerably less than traditional rental cars. As far as I can make out, Turo looks after the insurance once the customer gets your car but I'm interested to know what ye guys think about it. Ready to hand over the keys of your parked up car in the driveway to your neighbour for a couple of days and make some money out of it? No swearing

Eric Cartman

might fly there, insurance here would never cover it.

Also looking by the pics from LAX (just an example) it seems to be a few dealers renting out their stock for extra cash.

ironclaw

Insurance in America is a far different game. Varies by State and even certain counties can have stipulations. You can get insurance on your person for half nothing to drive any car but your liability is unlimited. There probably is money in this if you could prove that the insurance cover on the car covered any driver but given the car is now being rented, it doesn't fall under normal insurance. You'd be better off starting a rental agency that dealt with decent but older cars.

keithclancy

Exists here:

https://www.snappcar.nl/

The Insurance is taken care of by Centraal Beheer Achmea (Large Dutch Insurer)

danger_mouse_tm

I put my own car up on turo and it's on its 3rd trip. It's covering the payments for the car and establishing my credit score which was the pupose of doing this. What do I think of it so far? Not too bad. The second renter was a disaster (I can go into specifics if anyone wants) but it's out with a really nice couple until Monday. I have a friend in Philadelphia that has 3 cars up on it and is doing quite well. I am going to have to get a second car on it soon as we almost didn't get the car back in time yesterday.

biko

So some people use it as a "buy to let" thing?

pete4130

Similar thing here in Australia. Carnextdoor.com.au or something.

Costs $75 per month to be a member to have your car available for renting while you aren't using it. This covers your insurance premium (you get fully comp fleet insurance) and roadside assist as well. Seeing as insurance here is pretty expensive it isn't that bad of a deal, especially if you have a car and don't use it all that often. They even install all the hardware for users to open and access your car similar to car sharing companies.

danger_mouse_tm

biko wrote: »

So some people use it as a "buy to let" thing?

I suppose since you put it that way, it kind of is. The interest has been quite good on my C-Max. I seem to be getting customers who want to do high mileage and exploring. I'm not too sure how that's going to work out for me in the long run as I will probably end up with a car with super high mileage and worth nothing at the end of two years. I'm considering a second car now and I'm undecided between a mini van or a small SUV Crossover. A second car might alleviate some of the stress of just having the one car and something happening to it.