Has anyone rented a car from Turo?

[disneysteve]

I need to rent a cargo van in a couple of weeks. The "normal" places like U-Haul, Penske, and Enterprise are outrageous, like $1,200 or more. On Turo, it would be about $300 which is fine. I can't do $1,200.

Do any of you have any experience dealing with Turo?

[scfr]

No experience with Turo, but I've had good experiences with Home Depot.

[kork13]

Yes, my wife & I have used Turo many times. I'll caveat upfront that the trade-off is security -- if something happens to the car (accident/damage, etc), you're at much greater risk of having a costly problem on your hands. Turo does offer some short-term insurance to cover those risks, but when you add in that cost, the normal rental places look appt more competitive. Also consider that most credit cards won't extend their rental car coverage to a Turo rental (vs. a standard company).

With the bad news out of the way ... We've never had a bad experience with it, except once when visiting Fairbanks in January, and a extreme ice storm shut everything down, so the owner cancelled on us to not risk damage. But the owner was communicative & apologetic, and her concerns were very valid. Turo's customer service made us whole. Every other occasion we've used them (10-12 times?) had been flawless, and it's saved us literally thousands of dollars.

I'm most cases, I would positively recommend Turo .... just be particularly careful not to damage the car.

[disneysteve]

Turo does offer some short-term insurance to cover those risks, but when you add in that cost, the normal rental places look appt more competitive.

Not really. For the rental I'm looking at, the traditional places will be about $1,200. Turo, even if I take their premium insurance package, would only be about $420. If I take the standard package which has a $500 deductible, it would be $380. I'll save about $800 with Turo.

[ua_guy]

Is a Cargo Van an absolute requirement?

You could look around at Turo and traditional companies for maybe a full-size pickup or SUV, and then rent a cargo trailer from U-haul. You must be putting a lot of miles down if UHaul isn't competitive with one of their $19.95 van rentals + mileage.

I also wonder if a commercial rental from Herc or Enterprise for something like a small box truck (CDL typically not required--but you may/may not need to pull into highway weigh stations) would be any more/less $$

[disneysteve]

Is a Cargo Van an absolute requirement?

You could look around at Turo and traditional companies for maybe a full-size pickup or SUV, and then rent a cargo trailer from U-haul. You must be putting a lot of miles down if UHaul isn't competitive with one of their $19.95 van rentals + mileage.

I also wonder if a commercial rental from Herc or Enterprise for something like a small box truck (CDL typically not required--but you may/may not need to pull into highway weigh stations) would be any more/less $$

I don't want an SUV because I want solid walls so the cargo isn't visible. We have a Subaru Forester but I don't want to use that. I hadn't thought about towing anything but I have zero experience doing that. I'll also be transporting thousands of dollars worth of china and I don't want it bouncing around in there.

The trip will be around 1,000 miles and U-Haul and others charge $0.99/mile but it looks like they might have some extended rental package deals so I have to dig deeper. The Turo rental I'm looking at includes 600 miles and only charges $0.28/mile for additional miles.

I don't really need or want a box truck. I had a 16-ft when we cleared out my cousin's house a few years ago (I reserved a 12-ft but they "upgraded" me which I didn't need or want). Even a 12-ft would be way too big for what I need this time. I'll keep looking.

[disneysteve]

Another option is I could rent the van one-way. Then once I'm done with it (North Carolina) just rent an economy car to drive home. I just have to see how much of a hassle that would be. If I can find a rental car close to where I'll be and just need a quick Uber ride to get me there, that might save some money.

I took another look at U-Haul. I can do the weekly rate which would be cheaper even though I only need it for 3 days. Still comes to about $560 vs. $380 with Turo.

ETA: Nope. One-way rental is actually a lot more expensive than "in-town" where you drop off to the same location as you rent from.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The profit margin on the china must be huge especially if you are willing to pay $380 for a Turo cargo van.

[disneysteve]

The profit margin on the china must be huge especially if you are willing to pay $380 for a Turo cargo van.

If I left right now, I'd be bringing in at least $5,100 worth of china that cost me $1,500. I'm not planning on going until probably 4 weeks from now by which time I'll hopefully have at least a couple thousand dollars more to sell them. So let's say I drive down with $8,000 worth that cost me $2,500. That'll be $5,500 gross profit. Knock off $800 for the van, gas, tolls, and a hotel for the night. That would leave me walking away with around $4,700 for an overnight trip. I'm fine with that.

The other factor is that if I ship the china to them instead, I have to pay the postage plus take greater risk of damage in transit. Shipping also requires more spending on packing materials as boxing things up for a personal car ride is different than boxing them up securely for shipping. The cost of the trip - that $800 - is partially offset by saving on postage and materials. Every carton runs about $15 to ship. If I drive down with 20 cartons that saves me $300 on postage making the net cost of the trip more like $500.

Besides, I'm retired. It gives me something to do for a couple of days and it's a new adventure.

[QuarterMillionMan]

All good problems to have. I love having those problems.

[QuarterMillionMan]

And sometimes you have to spend money to make money. In May 2024, Bet MGM had a $1500 rebate promotion in Arizona. I live in California where sports betting is still not legal. So I ran some numbers factoring if getting a hotel in Bullhead City, AZ at $80 a night for 2 nights, gasoline round trip $150, and meals at maybe $40 a day was worth it. I could have lost $1500 on the sports bet as well but MGM's promotion would rebate the $1500 if lost so I decided to drive 5 hours each way. Luckily for me I won the $1500 bet so I didn't need to cross that $1500 rebate bridge. And spending the money on the 2 night's hotel, gas, and food was worth it to spend some money to make more money.

[scfr]

Have you priced Home Depot cargo vans? When I pull that site up it says unlimited miles but also that prices vary by store. I've only used them for short hourly rentals a couple times and for that they were perfect, may be a different scenario for a long-haul situation.

[disneysteve]

Have you priced Home Depot cargo vans? When I pull that site up it says unlimited miles but also that prices vary by store. I've only used them for short hourly rentals a couple times and for that they were perfect, may be a different scenario for a long-haul situation.

Thanks. I just looked. Their price is very reasonable. It looks like it would be $362. However, it also appears they don't offer insurance coverage. You need to use your own. I'd have to check with my insurance company to be sure I'm covered. I'm not thrilled with using our insurance. I'd rather pay extra and get insurance from the rental company.

It also looks like the only location that has vans to rent is in Philadelphia. Not totally out of the question but kind of a pain. It would be nice if one of the multiple local locations had rentals.

[kork13]

Thanks. I just looked. Their price is very reasonable. It looks like it would be $362. However, it also appears they don't offer insurance coverage. You need to use your own. I'd have to check with my insurance company to be sure I'm covered. I'm not thrilled with using our insurance. I'd rather pay extra and get insurance from the rental company.

It also looks like the only location that has vans to rent is in Philadelphia. Not totally out of the question but kind of a pain. It would be nice if one of the multiple local locations had rentals.

2 thoughts --

Depending on the situation, your preferred credit card may offer rental insurance. Check with customer service to see if Home Depot's rentals are covered. At least for the cards I've used, they don't cover Turo ... But Home Depot's situation may be different.

And I'm not sure if you've mentioned exactly where you're going, but have you checked Home Depots around that location? Maybe you just fly there & rent the van 1-way from there, and just drop it off at Philly after the fact?

[disneysteve]

2 thoughts --

Depending on the situation, your preferred credit card may offer rental insurance. Check with customer service to see if Home Depot's rentals are covered. At least for the cards I've used, they don't cover Turo ... But Home Depot's situation may be different.

And I'm not sure if you've mentioned exactly where you're going, but have you checked Home Depots around that location? Maybe you just fly there & rent the van 1-way from there, and just drop it off at Philly after the fact?

I need the van to go there, not to come home. Also one-way rentals are way more expensive than local ones.