Are Turo rental cars worth it? The truth about Turo

Most of us have had to deal with rentals in some form whether it be housing, tools, storage or cars. Turo is a car rental app with the caveat of being able to rent people's personal vehicles. If that sounds sketchy or you're wondering what issues that may bring then please continue reading.

This may be one of the biggest scams out there and Turo themselves seem to be complicit. Every host looks to be running some sort of scam whether it be charging you for damages that didn't exist or for fees that don't make any sense such as charging to recharge a Tesla because it was returned at less than 80% when the battery is capped off at 80% so it's ALWAYS going to be less than 80% because you need to use the battery to return it! Not to mention the host talked to me as I returned it and admitted the battery drains fast especially when it's cold! I charged it to the 80% limit, drove 45 minutes back to the host and it was already at 67%! I even washed the car for them ($30,) as well as vacuumed it even though I didn't have to and they STILL charged me afterwards! Talk about scumbags!

Not to mention the "recharge fee" being almost twice as what it costs to actually recharge the vehicle. This is mainly because Turo adds on a $15 "convenience fee" for literally no reason at all. I doubt this fee even goes towards the host, but instead lines Turo's pockets.

I am currently dealing with a host claiming curb rash on one of the wheels when I don't see any curb rash in my photos/ videos. The host obviously searched what it would cost to repair curb rash on the internet, grabbed the maximum price shown by AI and sent it over to me. Once I confronted them about this, demanded proof that their photos were current and that they send over an actual quote from a legit business...they then took a day before ignoring my demands for proof and then sent over an illegally written up invoice that looked like it was written by a child. That invoice had the wrong tax rate for Illinois because they obviously made it up (also you don't charge taxes for services anyway in a lot of the US including Illinois.) It also coincidentally had the same high price. The phone numbers written weren't even the business' registered phone numbers. I immediately got several quote from other businesses and it was less than half the price to repair. I then called the actual listed phone number online of the business apparently wrote the host's invoice and guess what? The guy said they don't charge taxes and then proceeded to give a quote that was again half of what the host initially provided!

The icing on the cake is that the hosts know Turo will make a $500 hold on people's payment methods when they file a damage claim through Turo so they use that as a means to extort! "Oh you don't want $500 snatched away from you? Better pay up now even though I haven't provided any legit evidence regarding damage!" I will be reporting to police. I'd advise everyone to avoid renting vehicles from Sen Yu on Turo.

Turo admits they don't actually verify damage to vehicles. They only look at pictures submitted (no videos allowed) and just verify the metadata is current (metadata can easily be manipulated. No one from Turo, not even their "appraisers" comes out to physically inspect vehicles so hosts can literally claim anything. Turo also adds on a $75 "appraisal" fee and $75 processing fee when claims are made through them. Their appraisers also add on unnecessary services as well as labor charges that an actual mechanic wouldn't charge. They seemingly do this to just run up the bill. They turned a $125 repair into an over $500 repair with the quoted labor charges then graciously gave a $250 discount due to insurance. The kicker is the host can just take the money and run without actually repairing their vehicle as Turo doesn't actually force the host to do any repairs.

So is Turo worth it? Absolutely not. It is also worth noting that Turo has apparently remove the "Premium" insurance option which covered all expenses at the cost of doubling the expense of the trip from what I've learned. I and many others have yet to come across the option for premium insurance. This act helps keeps Turo from being responsible for covering the cost of damages. A case of corporate greed? With Turo I'd say that's likely the case.

Renting a Tesla from a normal car rental agency may not include luxury features like full self driving, plaid, etc., but at least you won't have to deal with outright scammers at every turn.