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Question for Model X owners renting out using Turo

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RubberToe

Supporting the greater good
Jun 28, 2012
3,567
9,910
El Lay
All,
I have been looking through Turo Model X rentals for an upcoming vacation. The owner of the vehicle gets to set the daily, weekly or monthly rates to whatever they want, and also the daily, weekly and monthly miles. The site shows the "daily rate" when you do a global search.

My rental will require about 700 miles total, but will only take 4 days. Since most owners have something like either 100 or 150 miles per day limit, and offer some kind of weekly discount, I thought that I might as well just do a weekly rental. One guy was allowing 750 miles per week, which was fine, but the one I contacted was only allowing 500 miles per week. There is a caveat under the "miles allowed" box stating that additional miles are charged at $0.75 per mile. See here:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/Screenshot_2016-09-04-05-37-24_zps1w7ykn6p.png.html][/URL]

So I run the numbers and 200 extra miles is going to cost me an extra $150. I'm fine with that. I make the offer to rent the vehicle, and they make you add a comment so the owner gets some idea who they are renting their vehicle to. I state in the comment that I will be going to exceed the 500 miles, but am fine with the extra $150 that it will cost me. I just want to make sure that the owner knows what my intentions are, in case he would have a problem with that.

Here is the owners response:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/first%20response_zps8vn8i6d6.jpg.html][/URL]

I checked back the next day to see if the $0.75 is changed to $1.25 or not. Turns out it still shows $0.75. I send the owner a message inquiring about this, and wondering about how the charge will actually be made and I get this response:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/second%20response_zpsrcdsj6oq.jpg.html][/URL]

The owner is stating that the excess mileage charge will be $1.25 per mile versus what the site says is $0.75. So this had me wondering how the excess mileage charge actually gets charged, since Turo does all the billing. So I sent Turo support an e-mail asking about the excess mileage charge, and Turo support says this:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/turo%20response_zpsgigz25fh.jpg.html][/URL]

And if you follow the link they provided in their response to me, it seems pretty clear that Turo only charges $0.75 per excess mile:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/turo%20two_zpsevh8ohdg.jpg.html][/URL]

I point this out to the owner, and the owner comes back with this:

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/user/RubberToe420/media/owner%20three_zpszrzfxkkv.jpg.html][/URL]

This has me totally confused. It looks like the site is saying that the excess mileage charge is $0.75 per excess mile, plus a $10 administrative fee, period. The owner gets a cut of the excess mileage charge too. The fine print by the *** states either 65%, 75% or 85%. I'm not sure what the owner is trying to get across by his last statement. It appears that he is saying that he has control over the amount charged. :rolleyes:

So I went and looked at other listings as he suggested, and every car listed has the same disclosure. $0.75 per excess mile. Maserati is the same as Honda Civic.

Can someone who has rented out their Model X and been involved in any kind of excess mileage charge please help clear this up for me? This info also seems useful for others considering renting their vehicles out.

Thanks,
RT
 
Oh boy, there is this gem hiding out in the "related articles" concerning additional mileage payments:



Despite all the verbiage on the site about $0.75 per mile, and also in the Turo response to my query, the above says nothing about any fixed rate per mile. It is as if the owner can just demand $5.00 per mile, and unless you dispute it, they automatically get that?

RT
 
  • Informative
Reactions: davidc18
To the OP - Turo says on their site that it's 75 cents - so it's 75 cents. The owner can request the moon be made of green cheese but if Turo's site says 75 cents good luck trying to collect more if you dispute it with your credit card company.

If you wanted this guy's car your first mistake was asking him if it's okay that you drive extra miles when the listing clearly stated a rate of 75 cents per extra mile. Why the heck would you ask him if it's okay with him if you do what the site is advertising is possible - to drive extra miles and pay for it? That was your first mistake.

Your second mistake is arguing with the guy about the mileage rate before you even rent his car - you might as well look for a different Model X at this point and be wise enough to keep your mouth shut in advance about what you intend to do - because your intentions are perfectly legal and you will pay 75 cents per mile as advertised.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peteybabes
To the OP - Turo says on their site that it's 75 cents - so it's 75 cents...

If you wanted this guy's car your first mistake was asking him if it's okay that you drive extra miles when the listing clearly stated a rate of 75 cents per extra mile. Why the heck would you ask him if it's okay with him if you do what the site is advertising is possible - to drive extra miles and pay for it?

I didn't want to rent someones brand new Model X, and exceed the miles they have listed, without letting them know first. While it may be within the legal terms of the site to do a "Cannonball Run" across the United States, I sure wouldn't want someone to do that to my car, so I was trying to show some consideration.

Your second mistake is arguing with the guy about the mileage rate before you even rent his car - you might as well look for a different Model X at this point and be wise enough to keep your mouth shut in advance about what you intend to do - because your intentions are perfectly legal and you will pay 75 cents per mile as advertised.

I have only rented on Turo, I have never had a car I own offered up for rent. Both times I was well under the mileage limit, so it wasn't even a consideration. In this case, someone is directly telling me that he is going to charge more than the site says the excess fee is, so I wanted to see if I could get some clarification here, versus getting into some legal back and forth over what may or may not be a loophole in the sites terms.

Here is the last response I got from the individual...



RT
 
Sounds like a bit of a hassle to me, the owner misunderstanding the site's policies or the site miscommunicating the policy to the owner and/or the renter. A recipe for an unpleasant post-rental experience, IMO.

I listed my Model X (Philadelphia area) on Turo a week or two ago. I haven't rented it out to anyone yet so I don't know the ins and outs of the post-sale reimbursement area. But my read of the documentation was the same as yours - an owner can set whatever daily fee and mileage limit they like, but excess miles are 75 cents per, and I took that as a firm policy.
 
Have yet to have a good experience with Turo. Went to rent an X as well for a long term test drive and the driver said the car was in the shop but after notifying Turo, neither the driver not Turo took the listing down. The owner was kinda enough to offer a car at twice the rate.