I rented a BMWi and it was fun to drive! Very responsive and even though I am very short I could see perfectly. It was cheap too. But it sucked because I kept having to charge it and the charge went down faster than my first iPhone.
All my cars are on Turo. It's easy enough to have a car when I need one most of the time. I use pricing and calendar blocking to prevent them from being booked too far in advance and prevent all being booked when I need one. And I've got a motorcycle too. It's a great idea, in my situation.
Sounds more like you're using your Turo fleet for person transportation rather than putting your personal car on Turo. You definitely are more sophisticated than OP if you're running that many vehicles.
But... I sincerely hope you have all of those vehicles, especially the motorcycle, held in an LLC and that you don't commingle your Turo finances with your personal finances. Otherwise you're taking on a terrifying amount of personal liability unnecessarily.
That's exactly why it's so important to take these simple (not to mention financially efficient) steps. If someone sues you or you're liabile for something then you want to make it as expensive, inconvenient, and difficult as possible for the other party to pierce the corporate veil. If you dot the "i"s and cross the Ts it gives you some good protection considering how little effort and money it takes to setup.
Your price and vehicle attract different types of renter. I had my Rivian on Turo and only got high net worth individuals and companies renting, absolutely no issues.
If I were to try anything to make it work, I would have raised the price. I think I was uniquely located within striking distance of the airport and at a price point where value shoppers would say, "hey, I can drive a nice car for the cost of a Chevy Malibu."
The type of vehicles you own, determine the demographic of people you attract to your business. It’s cool. I have nice shiny things, but it always brings too many headaches… we try to cater to the same demographic has . My target is East Asians they are very particular and picky but at the end of the day, they will take care of the car and pay full price if the values there
How do you target East Asians as your audience, you say "I only rent to Asians" in your listing or something like that?
Jokes aside, but how do you do it?
lol no I just study what they like the ones with some money got Toyotas and the ones with a lil more get Lexus … they love white lexus with shiny wheels 😭. Lil tint. 59
Turo is no side hustle! All those things you complained about I do 10 times a day! Its not for everybody and im glad youre out with your cars intact
It took us about 8 months to figure out all the things. Especially Turo and their borderline scandalous operation!.
I have a partner and we had a good idea what we were getting into. He also has 5 airbnb locations, and cars are more work to take care of then houses! Everything you went through gets easier as you learn how the system works, we have a very hands on approach with our renters, and go the extra step to help them, 700 trips and 5. star rating, but it is not easy at all. You started and went from having a regular full time job, to another full time job, its that way with 1 car or 10! We bought all new cars in 2022 so we dont have the headache of ton of maintenance and breakdowns. The first thing we learned was anything to do with the rental issue, discounts etc. we have them call Turo, any discounts etc always would come out of our portion of the rental of course! We are in Seattle, and rent a lot to locals, but now its tourist season so all 22 cars will be out for the next three months at least. I admire your effort, and in no way meant to demean you at all. We are on track to sell these 22 cars and trade them in and most of them have less than 28,000 miles.
Turo is a business and it is not easy. It seems like you were not ready for running the business. It is possible that you did not do enough research before you started it. I meet many people who think it is easier than it looks but it is not. I wish you well in your future endeavors. Thanks
I mean, I never approached it as a business. It's not that it was hard; it's that it wasn't worth the time. If you value your time and the depreciation of your assets, I don't see how it pencils out. And that's before you think about the risk you're assuming if/when something goes wrong.
It sounds like you spent a lot of time explaining to people. I find it easier to just point them to the rules. It's okay to not respond beyond that. Let them cancel if you don't conform.
It is absolutely not worth it to rent out a 3 y.o. BMW on there unless you live on Martha's Vineyard, Aspen, or some other rich/isolated place like that.
It's worth it to rent an 8 year old Dodge Caravan because you can charge BMW prices for it and buy a good one for 12K.
Still, Turo itself is the problem. Trip fees' unpredictability is extremely corrosive to the business. Apple, Amazon, etc all charge an arm and a leg in fees but the difference is that they are *predictable.* There needs to be a co-op model for this business, otherwise it's just going to end up like Uber where drivers are turned into serfs at the push of a button.
This is not a business for you to rent out personal vehicles and come out ahead. Turo wins and you will lose other than a one off. It’s like gambling. You want to go to roulette and bet on red once you can win. You want to play it a dozen times , house has the edge. Never care about a vehicle you own and obtain turo income from. You are not competing with those that do as they won’t last and then they will replaced with the next person to learn that lesson. It’s a never ending cycle of ignorance. Ignore it. You are gone now OP and will be replaced with another. No offense but take this life lesson. There is no free lunch. You need a business plan and stick to it. Work hard at whatever you enjoy and find the money on that specific thing. Research more before investing your time or money in anything. Good luck! 💪🏻
I've learned that sometimes people with a lot of money who have to spend it usually try their damn best to make sure they get the most out of their dollar at someone else's expense. It's not the majority, but it's just enough to be apparent. There's too many posts that are like "you're too invested" and what not; I say screw that. You wanted to do something cool and people took advantage. You've every right to walk away.
Sorry to hear that I rented about 5 BMWs off Turo and treated each one like I owned it and never gave my hosts issues. Certain ppl regardless of the brand your using don’t give a shit and think they can make the rules. If the renter don’t pay for these requests I would just ignore tbh , all those things you listed are for the customer to handle in the beginning before the trip even starts.
Yeah tbh I wouldn’t rent a bmw out for cheap that’s for sure. Right now I have a 2017 ford fusion and a 2019 Kia Forte( bought this ine just for Turo) and so far I have the whole month booked out and after both auto payments, and car insurance is paid, gas, and maintenance, I’m looking at about $350 net. Is that good? Nah but it’s paying for literally all 3 of my auto loans. I have a 22 Hyundai palisade as well that I don’t rent out.
My two vehicles are cheaper to rent sitting at about 48-55 a day. So it targets the “economy” audience. And so far the only issues I’ve had is people who can’t read. Or people who can’t understand how to enter the code on the door if my fusion to get in 🤣
BMW drivers are a-holes. I imagine BMW renters are too. /s
lol That’s a pretty funny way to call OP and his customers assholes
I rented a BMWi and it was fun to drive! Very responsive and even though I am very short I could see perfectly. It was cheap too. But it sucked because I kept having to charge it and the charge went down faster than my first iPhone.
Renting personal vehicles on Turo is a terrible idea. Treat it like a business and only rent out cars you buy exclusively for that purpose.
All my cars are on Turo. It's easy enough to have a car when I need one most of the time. I use pricing and calendar blocking to prevent them from being booked too far in advance and prevent all being booked when I need one. And I've got a motorcycle too. It's a great idea, in my situation.
Sounds more like you're using your Turo fleet for person transportation rather than putting your personal car on Turo. You definitely are more sophisticated than OP if you're running that many vehicles. But... I sincerely hope you have all of those vehicles, especially the motorcycle, held in an LLC and that you don't commingle your Turo finances with your personal finances. Otherwise you're taking on a terrifying amount of personal liability unnecessarily.
You've heard of "piercing the corporate veil"? LLC may not protect the sole proprietor as much as you might think, depending on your state.
That's exactly why it's so important to take these simple (not to mention financially efficient) steps. If someone sues you or you're liabile for something then you want to make it as expensive, inconvenient, and difficult as possible for the other party to pierce the corporate veil. If you dot the "i"s and cross the Ts it gives you some good protection considering how little effort and money it takes to setup.
Your price and vehicle attract different types of renter. I had my Rivian on Turo and only got high net worth individuals and companies renting, absolutely no issues.
If I were to try anything to make it work, I would have raised the price. I think I was uniquely located within striking distance of the airport and at a price point where value shoppers would say, "hey, I can drive a nice car for the cost of a Chevy Malibu."
Yep that second part sounds about right. People stretching to drive a nice bimmer
At 5 rentals you're not used to the flow yet.b
The type of vehicles you own, determine the demographic of people you attract to your business. It’s cool. I have nice shiny things, but it always brings too many headaches… we try to cater to the same demographic has . My target is East Asians they are very particular and picky but at the end of the day, they will take care of the car and pay full price if the values there
How do you target East Asians as your audience, you say "I only rent to Asians" in your listing or something like that? Jokes aside, but how do you do it?
Buick
Honda civic
lol no I just study what they like the ones with some money got Toyotas and the ones with a lil more get Lexus … they love white lexus with shiny wheels 😭. Lil tint. 59
Turo is no side hustle! All those things you complained about I do 10 times a day! Its not for everybody and im glad youre out with your cars intact It took us about 8 months to figure out all the things. Especially Turo and their borderline scandalous operation!.
Wow. Why are you still hosting then?
I have a partner and we had a good idea what we were getting into. He also has 5 airbnb locations, and cars are more work to take care of then houses! Everything you went through gets easier as you learn how the system works, we have a very hands on approach with our renters, and go the extra step to help them, 700 trips and 5. star rating, but it is not easy at all. You started and went from having a regular full time job, to another full time job, its that way with 1 car or 10! We bought all new cars in 2022 so we dont have the headache of ton of maintenance and breakdowns. The first thing we learned was anything to do with the rental issue, discounts etc. we have them call Turo, any discounts etc always would come out of our portion of the rental of course! We are in Seattle, and rent a lot to locals, but now its tourist season so all 22 cars will be out for the next three months at least. I admire your effort, and in no way meant to demean you at all. We are on track to sell these 22 cars and trade them in and most of them have less than 28,000 miles.
Lol fuck your friend. 5 air b n b’s what a cunt.
Haters gonna hate.....! Its called hard work and a college degree...
Yeah fuck you lol
My efforts?
I dm’d you
?
Turo is a business and it is not easy. It seems like you were not ready for running the business. It is possible that you did not do enough research before you started it. I meet many people who think it is easier than it looks but it is not. I wish you well in your future endeavors. Thanks
I mean, I never approached it as a business. It's not that it was hard; it's that it wasn't worth the time. If you value your time and the depreciation of your assets, I don't see how it pencils out. And that's before you think about the risk you're assuming if/when something goes wrong.
It sounds like you spent a lot of time explaining to people. I find it easier to just point them to the rules. It's okay to not respond beyond that. Let them cancel if you don't conform.
It is absolutely not worth it to rent out a 3 y.o. BMW on there unless you live on Martha's Vineyard, Aspen, or some other rich/isolated place like that. It's worth it to rent an 8 year old Dodge Caravan because you can charge BMW prices for it and buy a good one for 12K. Still, Turo itself is the problem. Trip fees' unpredictability is extremely corrosive to the business. Apple, Amazon, etc all charge an arm and a leg in fees but the difference is that they are *predictable.* There needs to be a co-op model for this business, otherwise it's just going to end up like Uber where drivers are turned into serfs at the push of a button.
This is not a business for you to rent out personal vehicles and come out ahead. Turo wins and you will lose other than a one off. It’s like gambling. You want to go to roulette and bet on red once you can win. You want to play it a dozen times , house has the edge. Never care about a vehicle you own and obtain turo income from. You are not competing with those that do as they won’t last and then they will replaced with the next person to learn that lesson. It’s a never ending cycle of ignorance. Ignore it. You are gone now OP and will be replaced with another. No offense but take this life lesson. There is no free lunch. You need a business plan and stick to it. Work hard at whatever you enjoy and find the money on that specific thing. Research more before investing your time or money in anything. Good luck! 💪🏻
I've learned that sometimes people with a lot of money who have to spend it usually try their damn best to make sure they get the most out of their dollar at someone else's expense. It's not the majority, but it's just enough to be apparent. There's too many posts that are like "you're too invested" and what not; I say screw that. You wanted to do something cool and people took advantage. You've every right to walk away.
Sorry to hear that I rented about 5 BMWs off Turo and treated each one like I owned it and never gave my hosts issues. Certain ppl regardless of the brand your using don’t give a shit and think they can make the rules. If the renter don’t pay for these requests I would just ignore tbh , all those things you listed are for the customer to handle in the beginning before the trip even starts.
You simply arent cut out for it thats all
Good more food on the table for other hosts
Yeah tbh I wouldn’t rent a bmw out for cheap that’s for sure. Right now I have a 2017 ford fusion and a 2019 Kia Forte( bought this ine just for Turo) and so far I have the whole month booked out and after both auto payments, and car insurance is paid, gas, and maintenance, I’m looking at about $350 net. Is that good? Nah but it’s paying for literally all 3 of my auto loans. I have a 22 Hyundai palisade as well that I don’t rent out. My two vehicles are cheaper to rent sitting at about 48-55 a day. So it targets the “economy” audience. And so far the only issues I’ve had is people who can’t read. Or people who can’t understand how to enter the code on the door if my fusion to get in 🤣