How many of you are renting your Model S on Turo?

[DC Doc]

I had mine on Turo for quite a while, but I noticed the quality of the renter steadily declining, as well as Turo's support and service to the owners also steadily declining. The final straws for me (after nearly 50 rentals and all 5-star reviews) were the following:

I had a renter go completely AWOL on me and Turo's attitude was "you're on your own, buddy". I ended up having to repossess the car after it was 8 hours late for return, a trip downtown, and the renter playing totally dumb with me (I didn't know I had to return it!). Then had to endure constant harrassment afterwards by the renter because I charged him the maximum late fees... and even had Turo call me to ask me if I would refund those.

I then soon thereafter had a renter book with 1 hour notice on a Saturday night. Her pic looked like she was a hooker, and had no prior rentals or anything. She asked if I would deliver it 2 hours away (with 1 hour notice) and asked if I could pick it up in the morning. This is all after renting it and not taking the options. Then she tried to hold me hostage by telling me if I didn't do that she would give me a 1 star review. I ended up cancelling the reservation before it even started... to which Turo penalized me.

EDIT: Forgot this one... Had a renter meet me at the pickup spot with literally 1 mile on the dial. After repeated requests from me to him to charge it before returning. It ended up having to be towed to a Supercharger (which Turo did cover), but the waste of 3 hours of my time was not compensated for. This was all on a Thursday night at 10:00pm (didn't get home until 1am).

Had a renter rent it for the night, then drive it around and flat out did not charge it. Called me at 6am on a Sunday morning after having it towed to a Supercharger... but the car was totally dead. I called Tesla support and evidently once you run the car down below 0, the 12v battery also dies. Had to jump the Tesla to get it to start Supercharging. What a $hit show.

Last straw was shortly after that I had a lady that flat said in the rental she was renting it for her son's prom - and that he would be driving. I explained that you need to be 30 years old to rent and drive the car, and then she started complaining to me. I called Turo and explained the situation to them (and it was all documented in the chat that they could see), and they said that my only option was to cancel the reservation... with penalty to me. I did exactly that...

And delisted my car.

Turo is poorly run and ripe for fraud. No way I would ever relist my car until they start tightening their vetting process like they did so early on. Read the Turo owner stories on Facebook and there are constant claims of vehicle theft, severe damage that Turo will not cover, as well as poor Turo support.

And to validate my opinion on Turo, read through my history on Turo on this very board, and you'll see I used to be a huge fan of Turo.

I have had the same experiences. I will not do business with them again.

 

[giggs]

I'm thinking about listing my MS. Does anyone equip their car with a dashcam or disable Auto Pilot for liability reasons? Thoughts?

 

[mrbulk]

All I know is when people who have never had a Tesla finally get their hands on one, the Very First Thing they will do is “put it through its paces” and wring the heck out of the car - YOUR car - with the very best consequent outcome only being that they don’t wreck it. Uhh, No Thank You Turo.

 

[rebel1996]

I’m surprised Tesla doesn’t partner with Silver (they only rent Audi’s) to make a Tesla only program. Could also tie into repair centers and body shop rentals. If not silver do a knock off if it. Still, why reinvent the wheel.

 

[daniel]

I once looked into renting a car on Turo. In the end the selection was very limited where I was going, and the prices were not great (though I was looking into it because someone had told me the price would be better than a car-rental company) and the one car that might have fit my needs would have required a long taxi or Uber ride to pick up and drop off. The only other car I liked had a 3-week minimum and I was only going to be there for two weeks.

I would never let anyone drive my Tesla, other than the Tesla Ranger if the car needs work and he/she needs to drive it to check an issue or the work. And certainly not a stranger on a car-renting app. Oh, I had to let Matson drive it onto and off of the boat to get it here. And I was nervous about that. (There were no problems.) Actually, they don't drive it onto the boat. They drive it onto a huge multi-car-carrier frame, which gets towed onto the boat.

 

[CarPortal]

@ahkahn I didn't read the entire thread but thanks for sharing your experience. I was flirting with the idea of putting my 3 on Turo when I take delivery of Y, but forget it.

I also have an acquaintance who had ~5 cars on Turo (not EV's) in 2017. He got sick of it...sold the cars and exited the rental business.

 

[ahkahn]

I'm thinking about listing my MS. Does anyone equip their car with a dashcam or disable Auto Pilot for liability reasons? Thoughts?

Dashcams are against Turo's policies.

 

[sparcs]

Makes me wonder how Tesla's robotaxi network is going to deal with this mess. I don't see why as a customer I would want to put my own car on a Tesla network.

I can understand Tesla renting its' own fleet, but customer cars are going to end up a lot like these Turo cars. There will be accidents where other cars hit you. Or a lot of the same interior damage and door dings you get with these Turo rentals.

The whole rental or even taxi situation sounds like a big pain unless you're a company that is big enough to eat all of this as a cost of doing business.

Even for Turo. More and more Teslas are getting produced and will drive down rental prices. I can't see it being worthwhile unless you have a really beat up Tesla to rent.

 

[daniel]

Makes me wonder how Tesla's robotaxi network is going to deal with this mess. I don't see why as a customer I would want to put my own car on a Tesla network.

It will be many years before these cars really don't need a driver. At that point, provided that you can disable all driver controls, so that the renter cannot drive the car, some of the issues around renting will become moot. However, other issues will remain, such as damage to the interior when people spill food and drinks, or people with metal on their pants accidentally rip the seats, as happened to one poster upthread.

No way would I rent out my car. A person might want to buy a car for the express purpose of renting it out, but the Tesla robotaxi network will be competing with Uber and Lyft, that already have profit levels so low they don't even pay for depreciation on the car. I really don't understand how people think they'll be able to charge more for a ride in a robotaxi than other ride services are charging now. Yes, I would pay to ride in one if the wait to get my own was too long. But that would be once, to experience it.

 

[Don TLR]

I rent all three of my Tesla vehicles out on Turo - otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford the $4,100 per month car payments. I have always had an awesome experience and will continue to rent out on Turo in the Phoenix area.

Brent

Do you have an X for rent? I'd love to take one for a day or 2 to see if its a fit for me.

 

[Simon21]

Do you have an X for rent? I'd love to take one for a day or 2 to see if its a fit for me.

Me too, but just to have fun with it

 

[TK16688]

I was active for around a year and a half. Mid-2017 through about early-2019. I delisted around April of this year. All of the trouble renters started around winter 2018. Prior to that everybody was great.

You rented out your brand new car? wow.

 

[Bridor]

Do you have an X for rent? I'd love to take one for a day or 2 to see if its a fit for me.

Yes, I have a 2016 Black Tesla Model X 60D for rent - but only for a little while longer. My lease is up on October 1st. It is rented out the end of August until September 3rd - please let me know when you would like to rent it - weekends would be best.

Brent

 

[Hugh-SG]

I had mine on Turo for quite a while, but I noticed the quality of the renter steadily declining, as well as Turo's support and service to the owners also steadily declining. The final straws for me (after nearly 50 rentals and all 5-star reviews) were the following:
[snip, snip, snip]
And delisted my car. Turo is poorly run and ripe for fraud.

Thank you for sharing a most informative and educational story. It is a timely warning that needs to be passed on.

I do find it ludicrous that Turo penalized you for rejecting a driver who did not meet the requirements to Rent, when the mother tried to rent a car for a non qualified, below age of majority off spring.

... and you helped to firm up my decision NOT put my Tesla with any rental service.

Food for thought,
Cheers, Hugh-SG

 

[LAVW5670]

I rent all three of my Tesla vehicles out on Turo - otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford the $4,100 per month car payments. I have always had an awesome experience and will continue to rent out on Turo in the Phoenix area.

Brent

About how many rentals do you get per month per Tesla?

 

[ahkahn]

About how many rentals do you get per month per Tesla?

It's all pricing based. The lower the price the more rentals you'll get and vice-versa. You could have it rented out every single day if you priced it on the low end of the market. Mid-level will have it out probably 2-3 weeks per month.

 

[Bridor]

I rent my 2014 Black Tesla Model S for $89 per day with a 20% discount for weekly rates. It gets rented out about 60% per month. I make about $1,200 per month renting it out. My 2016 Black Tesla Model X rents for $120 per day with a 20% discount for weekly rates. It gets rented out about 30% per month. I make about $800 per month renting it out. My 2016 Blue Tesla Model S P100DL rents out for $160 per day with a 20% discount for weekly rates. It gets rented out about 10% per month. I make about $500 per month renting it out.

My payments for all three are $4,100 per month, so this Turo income is only helping to make the payments...

Brent

 

[Raechris]

I rented on Turo in Boston suburbs for about nine months. All nice people but horrible drivers or clueless. One bought a puppy while renting and it crapped everywhere (despite being against Turo rules), one collided with something like a concrete wall and scraped the whole side of the car, and another hit a bunch of flexible road dividers and almost knocked the side mirror off. Three stiles and I was done, Turo did nothing to help but collect their high fees. This was my volt after I received my Tesla. I would never rent my baby and have not let anyone drive it.

 

[jet44]

some of you are really really bad with money if you need to rent your car in able to be able to afford it.

everyone beats the piss out of rentals. myself included.

Amen to that!

 

[BigNick]

I rented on Turo in Boston suburbs for about nine months. All nice people but horrible drivers or clueless. One bought a puppy while renting and it crapped everywhere (despite being against Turo rules), one collided with something like a concrete wall and scraped the whole side of the car, and another hit a bunch of flexible road dividers and almost knocked the side mirror off. Three stiles and I was done, Turo did nothing to help but collect their high fees. This was my volt after I received my Tesla. I would never rent my baby and have not let anyone drive it.

You have their address when they rent. You could have them served a subpoena for repair costs plus legal fees, diminished value fees, or similar? Or is it just not worth the trouble to go after individual renters for damages?

Turo is great for cars you don’t give a damn about, like a 10-year-old Civic you can get an extra hundred it two a month for. But not a chance in Hell I would rent my Tesla.