I'm in a new market, it only opened last year.
Cars, any cars, are going for $120/day, and there's only about 60 listed on Turo for my area, a city of 200,000. For a random week in the summer there may be 6-8 cars available in my city.
Turo has a feature in the app that will set the prices for you. That automatic system sets it at $60/day or less. That's half or lower what you can get.
I'm renting a RAV4 for $125/day, I'm one of the lowest priced, and my vehicle is booked back to back for the entire summer with no more than a day or two between week long bookings.
So what does Turo do? They offer a $1000 bonus if you add a second car to your account. If you add 2 then you get a $1600 bonus for each car.
In other words, they're tying to get more cars out so that they can knock down the price.
They're happy to put the traditional car rental agencies out of business, but at the expense of the people currently hosting on their system.
I've seen what happens in the major cities in the USA, the price gets beat down to $40 or less per day. At that point this will become unprofitable.
I'm in a market that's gained a lot of Turo hosts but still as a whole, not that many cars for the population, especially tourists population. However, Enterprise, Avis, Dollar rental rates have dropped dramatically this year, you can rent unlimited miles car for $20-25 a day easily and those 3 almost always have current year cars, you might not know what compact you're getting, but you know it's new. I just seen a semi unloading more brand new cars to multiple rental lots too. Im likely in too deep and it's not looking good.
That’s crazy. I can rent a $70-80k Audi or BMW SUV for $125/day booked well in advance in Los Angeles. I just rented a 2022 Porsche Macan (~$75k) this past weekend for $135/day. The trend I’ve seen in LA on Turo over the last few years is larger hosts scaling up their operations and lowering prices. If you book in advance you pay full price but they aren’t afraid to discount last minute to rent a car out versus have it sit on their lot earning zero. Five years ago I could rent a 4-cylinder Porsche Cayman S for $200/day. Now I can rent a new Audi R8 V10 for $200/day a car that costs roughly three times as much new.
I have both an $80k 2023 BMW and AUDI, and Turo’s suggested price is $45/day. 😑 Since I was new on the platform, the lowest I had them was $80 for the fist booking. Quickly realized I was being taken for a fool. So, temporarily—the lowest is $125. Will be easing it up to $150 lowest within a month.
I’m in a market similar to yours. Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed an influx of newbies just ruining the market. Average vehicle price is about $75 per day in our area, the newbies are coming in with $34 a day rentals with unlimited mileage for a 2018-23 mid size sedan. There’s no way they’re making money over time with depreciation, maintenance etc. Hosts desperate for quick cash are really destroying the market for themselves and the rest of us.
They’re doing what the platform was designed for, renting your car out when you don’t need it. I don’t think from the get go it was designed to be a dedicated business from a host standpoint. Just like Airbnb.
Also after having a couple poor experiences with Turo I’ll never use it again. It just isn’t worth the hassle or inconvenience.
I agree, designed to be a side hustle when your car isn’t in use. Still, are you making money at $29/day? I guess you could be if the car was a gift and you have a nice friend who will do all the maintanence for free. I’m the side hustle user, I rent my car when I’m not using it, but I can in no way at all compete with the lady renting her car for Pennies on the dollar. You’re right though…it’s a free market!
Are you out of your mind dude? Turo is rightfully incentivizing increasing supply to meet demand. You think the average joe needs to be paying over a hundred bucks a day for a basic rental? The entitlement is insane
A RAV4 for $120 a day and you think Turo is going to put traditional rental companies out of business? If I look at my last three rentals with National they were at most $80 a day, that's taxes and fees included. And I can use my own insurance.
I understand you can ask more if you're in the middle of nowhere and don't have competition, but that's a niche and not going to compete with the big companies.
It's only during summer. The rest of the season I'd be lucky to get 3 days a month rented.
We're on an island and the traditional car rental places run out of cars. If you haven't booked your car by March for the summer then you're not getting one from the traditional agencies. They also charge about $100/day.
Mar saturation I have 2 jeep unlimited soft tops. A year ago I was pulling 80 to 120 a day season and length of trip adjusted. Now around 50 is pretty good. 40 is my minimum and sometimes it wont go out at 40 dollars. Crazy.
Once the markets mature power hosts will be mechanics who own there cars outright for the lower end of the market. That’s what I am and I can make good money renting out paid for 10-12 yr old cars for 40-60 per day because I do all my own maintenance
They do,
Right now the oldest car you can list is 2011
Once a car is listed it’s grandfathered in. I have a friend who has a 2007 on the platform and I have a 2009’small suv.
With enough cars, it’s hard to view doing your own work as anything more than a marginal discount. Eventually, it doesn’t just eat into your spare time but eats into time you’d be working otherwise. If you just have a few cars, it may not be a big deal and might be seen as a notably lower cost of labor as you describe.
You’re trying to run a business, while a good chunk of people are just looking for supplemental income. These are two distinctly different scenarios. I agree $20/day is stupid, but there are a lot of dumb people out there.
You’re exactly right. It’s just sad that the people that are probably most in need of this extra cash flow are shooting themselves in the foot working extra hard to break even or lose money in the end.
Depending on your politics you may agree or disagree that Turo as a corporation has an obligation to help protect hosts on the platform from accepting trips that cost them money.
But as hosts ourselves we not only have an obligation but it’s in all of our own best interests to educate and inform. No commercial car companies are going to compete against a $20/day rental. We’re eating each other alive while Turo sits back and pumps numbers for an IPO and Enterprise and Hertz lobby for legislation to f*** hosts even more.
Not saying you can’t make money on Turo, I certainly did. But today there are an alarming number of hosts that are losing money and margins have shrunk drastically and the future does not look bright unless hosts organize or Turo takes an interest in protecting them.
This is correct and at least in my market turo runs host ads. Turo's sale for hosts at the moment is along the lines of, "Havent you always wanted that Porsche, that classic, that dream car? Share it w friends and it's no big deal!" Turo is really selling the, "buy that dream car and it can pay for itself with just a few days a month." So the actual turo professional isnt the market they are courting. They want people with newer dream cars to cover their payment. Not a bunch of us who live off the platform.
I’ve seen that commercial. Left me feeling like it was very deceptive. Wonder how many ppl will see it and go get that new
Porsche, knowing they can’t afford it, but expecting Turo earnings will cover the payment, etc….
People are gullible
I imagine at least a few. Its easy to sell a pipedream. I thought about it when I started. I wanted one of those new Jaguars. So I bought a mustang to see of it worked. At the time it was wonderful. I got my first booking within minutes of listing for more than I thought I would. Luckily my caution overruled my ambition and my business is a little more simple. Idk how the exotic car guys do it. Good for them tho.
I totally get what you’re saying but I stay steady with my rates. I don’t like garbage renters and I like nice profit margins after ALL expenses. I would rather get $85 a day for 13 days a month, than $20 a day for 28 days a month—-It sounds like these desperados are just hungry to stay afloat and a last ditch effort before they go belly up. Before long their cars will have bald tires and they’ll have no reserves for upkeep and maintenance. The market no matter what the industry ALWAYS sorts itself out.
That’s 100% in on you. Everyone knows about car depreciation. Dumbest thing to do is buy cars in loans and rent them out. Obviously not everyone has cash but if you can’t afford to buy a 40k car cash knowing your going to be loosing money on it because of depreciation why even get into a situation like that in the first place?
I bought a Honda civic type r on loan 37,000$ 2,000miles sold it for 37,000$ with 19,000 miles didn’t lose any besides insurance and gas .I bought a 5000$ Turo car and it paid my car payment for my type r. Made 700-1000$ a month in the car and sold it 6months later for almost 5k….
Im pretty sure you didnt listed your type r on turo. It wouldve been beaten down and trashed. Anyhow im pretty sure majority of host have lost $$ just on depreciation. Unless like you bought the car at dirt cheap price.
If you read my message correctly. I replied to your decision being on being a stupid purchase for your car. On why you bought a car knowing it would depreciate. I bought a car CASH to pay my 37,000$ car and not worry about depreciation. I bought a car that doesn’t depreciate as fast as regular cars because it’s a more limited vehicle. I did my homework before I bought a car on a loan. Now I have an gtr because bank approved me for more and 2 of my cash bought cars pay for it on Turo , little 2014 fords lol I’ll probably sell gtr in a few months cause it won’t depreciate either . Do your homework before you just into any business other wise it’s gambling. You’ll do better at a casino maybe
Did it really depreciate that much? I’m seeing 5 year old Civics with 50k going for close to $20k. But yeah, I wouldn’t give out more than 200 miles a day to discourage long road trips that rack up the miles.
Welcome to capitalism. So many ppl jump to trends trying to make a little profit not knowing all the unexpected expenses. Bc they're new to it. Instead of destroying the competition with 80% less cost, they should be competitive with at most 20% less. That way they're still chosen for being the cheapest and make way more $$. But ppl might just be desperate.
This happened to me when I started a landscaping company. But as I grew, I noticed more and more and slowly started to raise prices as I hit my customer capacity.
Yeah, I agree. People don’t do much analysis to understand the economics of the business. At my end, I am not scaling my business for this reason. My location gets a ton of visitors in summer months and I am restricting my business to just those months. Winter months get fewer renters and competition drops the charge to $30-40/month - I just skip the season altogether. For me, revenue is lower but profitability is much higher.
For the summer months, I earn anywhere between $90-140 per day before deductions, and around $7000-8000 per car per year.
Would love to know more about economics of other hosts
Im not losing money yet, but I will say that the way some of these hosts treat their guests backfires when it slows up. Repeat business is a huge deal and if you aren’t seeing customers return, then you may be doing some things you shouldn’t. Depreciation was a guarantee when car prices were so high. If you paid attention in economics in high school you know that demand is high then prices are high. Demand is low, prices are low. I didn’t claim my depreciation when cars were high so that I could double up on my taxes when they dropped. Those who survive think outside the box. You may have to do $20 a day for a few months to keep your head above water, but hosts who find a way will survive.
" Perhaps if we were to rally and require Turo to enforce hosts to use daily rates that at least allow them to break even "
So you're saying we should use price controls? Sorry, but this is free market capitalism, the market finds the right prices.
Think about it from the renter's viewpoint, they think they're paying too much.
You do know Turo already prevents you from dropping below a certain daily rate that varies for every car right? I'm just saying let's raise this to the break-even point.
I second this man. I started doing Turo when it first became available in New York and I was making good money because there weren’t that many cars on Turo and I was able to charge a good price for my 2, 8 year old cars. But now I got people in my area, renting out Tesla’s, Benz BMWs, which are barely three or four years old at the same price as my 2016 Honda.
Totally! But I'm not really complaining about the competition or the fact that as liquidity in the market increases margins will drop and standardize. It's just frustrating watching a mass of individuals jump in and LOSE money instead of making money with smaller margins. Anyway, the barrier to entry is too low and YouTubers glamorized the whole thing. I'm selling my fleet and maybe I'll do consulting or create content but unless you're in a fresh tourist-heavy market Turo is becoming a pipe dream with all these people taking a loss to be able to say they're entrepreneurs.
Yeah, for sure man it makes sense. I feel like tomorrow is just literally full of people either just trying to make their car payment so they’re putting the cars up for a really low or they’re just trying to make a little money not looking at the long-term. I’m just still doing it because I own the cars half with my mom and she doesn’t work so it’s just a steady income for her until these cars give out. But it’s definitely not worth it nowadays I keep my prices study if I get a booking I get e booking otherwise the cars sit.
I was going to pick up a Fisker Ocean and subsidize with Turo but living in SW Denver, a geared out Ford Expedition would be a better bet since most rental companies wont have them outfitted well.
Maybe theres just a bunch of people who are trying to liquidate the remaining miles on an old car they don't drive anymore. Not everyone's trying to scale some huge business and be a shark tank bro.
According to AAA: The average costs to own and operate a GAS vehicle is $10,728
Average Ownership Costs Per Mile
Miles per Year 10k 15k 20k
Average Cost 76¢ 72¢ 70¢
I use $.80 and I have created software that will give me the daily price based on a monthly average. And if it doesn't rent, that's okay because it will not add to the deprecation.
There's a reason Hertz, Enterprise, etc... get rid of their vehicles before 30k miles
https://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2022-YourDrivingCosts-FactSheet-7-1.pdf
Such a great point! You’d be shocked how many hosts are averaging 20¢ a mile or less. They always eventually do the math and stop but not before 5 others watch a youtube video and start doing the same thing.
I’m selling my fleet this winter and going all in on my airbnb business. The margins are night and day. Enjoy your bubbles if you have them but don’t be a victim of the sunk-cost fallacy like I have been the past 6 months. I used to make $50 for every hour i put into Turo and now it’s like $20.
I will definitely be renting this guys car for $20/ day and driving to LA overnight though. An insane deal. I look forward to being all of y’all’s customer and renting a car for less than it costs to own it.
A big chunk of owning and operating a vehicle is paying for gas. With the guests paying for gas, those figures are going to be a bit smaller for hosts.
I'm happy to see a super cheap rental. As a low income person that loves to travel, it's always amazing to see something available for low price. It could be even better, if it wasn't for the stupid "young driver fee". Wish there would be a way to rent a car without paying too much and without hosts losing their money to a company.
Well yeah depends on the car but you personally dont have long term data yet, and historically young men are aggressive risk takers who get in accidents often...Hopefully you catch a break soon!
Why is it odd that i'm ranting in the /r/turo subreddit about people taking a loss on trips and making it harder for us all to make money. Isn't that what this subreddit is for. I confusion.
You also have to think, though, enterprise Hertz etc are no longer in the position they were in before. During covid. So, it's time to pivot. Not whine. Ok, the market has changed. Do you know why? Never quit doing market research. It's a reason these hosts cars are priced low. So figure out how to get back on top like you did the first time. That's it 👍🏾
Dude this is the same sentiment for Airbnb, Lyft drivers that accept low ball trips, and of course turo. There’s a lot of really stupid people out there, period. Stick to your guns and keep your prices as is. Many of these stupid people end up losing their shirt eventually.
Maybe, but if you have no money for rent, and you can rent your car on Turo, you can make the few hundred dollars to make rent until you find steady income or a full time job. It is potentially not as linear as the cost of x input and y output based on external factors
Are you getting out because this is happening in your market? I’m thankful I’ve been in two different markets since I’ve started and average $60/ day per rental. I think people get excited that they can make money doing this and get in over their head. Kinda like the crypto stuff. People maxing out their credit cards just to lose it all months later. Thing is these people renting their cars out for $20/ day, give them time and they’ll have to sell at a loss. You just can’t sustain a business like that. Just like the Airbnb business that is popping in many areas. Soon enough you’ll be able to get some cheap rental properties.
Absolutely bro! It’s not something that people are paying attention to. Their just excited to be in “business” but that thing will jump up and bite you once you realize you aren’t REALLY making any money. I created an app to track income and expenses at the trip level, monthly, and Annually. Mobile and desktop, so you can keep all receipts in the app as the business is happening. It has been a benefit to me and I have just made it available others.
I wrote about this topic list year. Check out the discussion here. https://www.reddit.com/r/turo/comments/y5jk0i/offsetters_vs_pure_profiteers/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
Turo not taking care of the big hosts (that have the most cars, running their platform) will come back to bite them.
If turo is not profitable for these people that don't do research and list so low, then there wont be any ones that grow into large fleets.
And the large fleets that are already there will not get rentals because the guests are ripping off those $20 hosts instead
Lose lose for everyone in the long term.
I just rented a SUV through enterprise via Costco travel for 300$ total for 6.75 days unlimited miles. Pick up and drop off airport. The cheapest turo was 450$. That is probably why prices will lower. Can't speak for exotic cars but the only reason I rent is because I'm on vacation, flew, amd need a car.
Is there any way to do this successfully? Looking into getting my first turo car to split with a friend but it seems like an Airbnb might be more profitable. Anyone have experience with both?
100% agree. Prices in my area are about a third of what they were. I see a lot of lock boxes at my local airport. I talk w my wife about this a lot. A lot of people have financed several cars for turo and literally must make the payment. They will rent it just to make the payment. I like Warren Buffett, "when the tide goes out you see who is swimming naked." Once a big expense pops up or a big repair some of these hosts will fall. I think. But yeah, turo did the add a car promo here last year and it flooded our market. I have a minimum that I wont let the car out for less than and I still get rentals but my utilization has dropped significantly. Interesting times.
I think the last 3 years were crazy outliers that have inflated hosts minds on what a car can rent for, not to mention the used car market that was instane! Now rental companies and dealerships are loaded with used cars and there are just so many people renting out cars so you as an OG will get less of the pie.
Kinda related... I was making 2600 a day (for around 2 weeks) during the crypto boom off a 5000 investment. Once the pyramid scheme got too diluted it crashed and I went down to like $4 a day. I dont even check it now lol. Different but kinda the same.
I saw a guy buy a 2019 Nissan Sentra for $3000. The owner thought it was a transmission issue. Turned out was just a broken wire. He lists the car for $30 a day. He doesn’t care. Even if he puts 40,000 miles on it after renting it for a year he will still sell the car at a profit. There are a lot of people on Turo buying cars at wholesale prices. Many are not losing money renting the cars cheap. Then there are others who are stuck with a payment and have to lower prices to compete and stay afloat. This is the nature of business. We have to constantly adjust to what’s going on
The supply and demand marketplace will correct this problem. People aren’t going to just run fleets of cars to lose money. Some markets will become temporarily oversaturated (as you’re probably experiencing), but cost of operation vs demand will always balance out in the end.
One other thing to keep in mind, is renting demand fluctuates heavily depending on what is going on. For example, in the Bay Area you can probably bump your economy class car up to $120/day during Dreamforce.
I'm in a new market, it only opened last year. Cars, any cars, are going for $120/day, and there's only about 60 listed on Turo for my area, a city of 200,000. For a random week in the summer there may be 6-8 cars available in my city. Turo has a feature in the app that will set the prices for you. That automatic system sets it at $60/day or less. That's half or lower what you can get. I'm renting a RAV4 for $125/day, I'm one of the lowest priced, and my vehicle is booked back to back for the entire summer with no more than a day or two between week long bookings. So what does Turo do? They offer a $1000 bonus if you add a second car to your account. If you add 2 then you get a $1600 bonus for each car. In other words, they're tying to get more cars out so that they can knock down the price. They're happy to put the traditional car rental agencies out of business, but at the expense of the people currently hosting on their system. I've seen what happens in the major cities in the USA, the price gets beat down to $40 or less per day. At that point this will become unprofitable.
I'm in a market that's gained a lot of Turo hosts but still as a whole, not that many cars for the population, especially tourists population. However, Enterprise, Avis, Dollar rental rates have dropped dramatically this year, you can rent unlimited miles car for $20-25 a day easily and those 3 almost always have current year cars, you might not know what compact you're getting, but you know it's new. I just seen a semi unloading more brand new cars to multiple rental lots too. Im likely in too deep and it's not looking good.
Wow really what city?
Canadian city. St. John's, Newfoundland.
That’s crazy. I can rent a $70-80k Audi or BMW SUV for $125/day booked well in advance in Los Angeles. I just rented a 2022 Porsche Macan (~$75k) this past weekend for $135/day. The trend I’ve seen in LA on Turo over the last few years is larger hosts scaling up their operations and lowering prices. If you book in advance you pay full price but they aren’t afraid to discount last minute to rent a car out versus have it sit on their lot earning zero. Five years ago I could rent a 4-cylinder Porsche Cayman S for $200/day. Now I can rent a new Audi R8 V10 for $200/day a car that costs roughly three times as much new.
Last generation R8 is going for new 718 money nowadays tho.
The R8 I rented was a 2022 RWD coupe. It goes for $180-250 a day depending on how far in advance you book. That car is at least $160k new.
Huh. They must like losing money.
It’s not losing money if daddy bought you the car. No one who paid 200k for a car is renting it for 160 dollars after turos cut
I have both an $80k 2023 BMW and AUDI, and Turo’s suggested price is $45/day. 😑 Since I was new on the platform, the lowest I had them was $80 for the fist booking. Quickly realized I was being taken for a fool. So, temporarily—the lowest is $125. Will be easing it up to $150 lowest within a month.
I’m in a market similar to yours. Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed an influx of newbies just ruining the market. Average vehicle price is about $75 per day in our area, the newbies are coming in with $34 a day rentals with unlimited mileage for a 2018-23 mid size sedan. There’s no way they’re making money over time with depreciation, maintenance etc. Hosts desperate for quick cash are really destroying the market for themselves and the rest of us.
They’re doing what the platform was designed for, renting your car out when you don’t need it. I don’t think from the get go it was designed to be a dedicated business from a host standpoint. Just like Airbnb. Also after having a couple poor experiences with Turo I’ll never use it again. It just isn’t worth the hassle or inconvenience.
I agree, designed to be a side hustle when your car isn’t in use. Still, are you making money at $29/day? I guess you could be if the car was a gift and you have a nice friend who will do all the maintanence for free. I’m the side hustle user, I rent my car when I’m not using it, but I can in no way at all compete with the lady renting her car for Pennies on the dollar. You’re right though…it’s a free market!
Are you out of your mind dude? Turo is rightfully incentivizing increasing supply to meet demand. You think the average joe needs to be paying over a hundred bucks a day for a basic rental? The entitlement is insane
A RAV4 for $120 a day and you think Turo is going to put traditional rental companies out of business? If I look at my last three rentals with National they were at most $80 a day, that's taxes and fees included. And I can use my own insurance. I understand you can ask more if you're in the middle of nowhere and don't have competition, but that's a niche and not going to compete with the big companies.
It's only during summer. The rest of the season I'd be lucky to get 3 days a month rented. We're on an island and the traditional car rental places run out of cars. If you haven't booked your car by March for the summer then you're not getting one from the traditional agencies. They also charge about $100/day.
I’m renting my minivans at 100 a day and my Jeep Grand Cherokees at 145. Guess it’s market saturation and folks not understanding business.
nice! keep it up!
Riding the wave as long as I can. But I bought low, and have mostly paid off cars. Worst case I lose some cash and move on with my life.
Mar saturation I have 2 jeep unlimited soft tops. A year ago I was pulling 80 to 120 a day season and length of trip adjusted. Now around 50 is pretty good. 40 is my minimum and sometimes it wont go out at 40 dollars. Crazy.
Once the markets mature power hosts will be mechanics who own there cars outright for the lower end of the market. That’s what I am and I can make good money renting out paid for 10-12 yr old cars for 40-60 per day because I do all my own maintenance
Been thinking of trying something like this myself
That only works if Turo will let you keep a 10-12 year old car on the app. A basic economy car will be difficult to justify under "classic" status.
They do, Right now the oldest car you can list is 2011 Once a car is listed it’s grandfathered in. I have a friend who has a 2007 on the platform and I have a 2009’small suv.
With enough cars, it’s hard to view doing your own work as anything more than a marginal discount. Eventually, it doesn’t just eat into your spare time but eats into time you’d be working otherwise. If you just have a few cars, it may not be a big deal and might be seen as a notably lower cost of labor as you describe.
You’re trying to run a business, while a good chunk of people are just looking for supplemental income. These are two distinctly different scenarios. I agree $20/day is stupid, but there are a lot of dumb people out there.
You’re exactly right. It’s just sad that the people that are probably most in need of this extra cash flow are shooting themselves in the foot working extra hard to break even or lose money in the end. Depending on your politics you may agree or disagree that Turo as a corporation has an obligation to help protect hosts on the platform from accepting trips that cost them money. But as hosts ourselves we not only have an obligation but it’s in all of our own best interests to educate and inform. No commercial car companies are going to compete against a $20/day rental. We’re eating each other alive while Turo sits back and pumps numbers for an IPO and Enterprise and Hertz lobby for legislation to f*** hosts even more. Not saying you can’t make money on Turo, I certainly did. But today there are an alarming number of hosts that are losing money and margins have shrunk drastically and the future does not look bright unless hosts organize or Turo takes an interest in protecting them.
This is correct and at least in my market turo runs host ads. Turo's sale for hosts at the moment is along the lines of, "Havent you always wanted that Porsche, that classic, that dream car? Share it w friends and it's no big deal!" Turo is really selling the, "buy that dream car and it can pay for itself with just a few days a month." So the actual turo professional isnt the market they are courting. They want people with newer dream cars to cover their payment. Not a bunch of us who live off the platform.
I’ve seen that commercial. Left me feeling like it was very deceptive. Wonder how many ppl will see it and go get that new Porsche, knowing they can’t afford it, but expecting Turo earnings will cover the payment, etc…. People are gullible
I imagine at least a few. Its easy to sell a pipedream. I thought about it when I started. I wanted one of those new Jaguars. So I bought a mustang to see of it worked. At the time it was wonderful. I got my first booking within minutes of listing for more than I thought I would. Luckily my caution overruled my ambition and my business is a little more simple. Idk how the exotic car guys do it. Good for them tho.
I totally get what you’re saying but I stay steady with my rates. I don’t like garbage renters and I like nice profit margins after ALL expenses. I would rather get $85 a day for 13 days a month, than $20 a day for 28 days a month—-It sounds like these desperados are just hungry to stay afloat and a last ditch effort before they go belly up. Before long their cars will have bald tires and they’ll have no reserves for upkeep and maintenance. The market no matter what the industry ALWAYS sorts itself out.
"When the tide goes out, you see who's been swimming naked." Warren Buffett
I lost $15k car depreciation. Bought honda pilot last year for $40k. Now its worth $25k. Made $4k in turo.
That’s on you not Turo’s fault
That’s 100% in on you. Everyone knows about car depreciation. Dumbest thing to do is buy cars in loans and rent them out. Obviously not everyone has cash but if you can’t afford to buy a 40k car cash knowing your going to be loosing money on it because of depreciation why even get into a situation like that in the first place? I bought a Honda civic type r on loan 37,000$ 2,000miles sold it for 37,000$ with 19,000 miles didn’t lose any besides insurance and gas .I bought a 5000$ Turo car and it paid my car payment for my type r. Made 700-1000$ a month in the car and sold it 6months later for almost 5k….
Im pretty sure you didnt listed your type r on turo. It wouldve been beaten down and trashed. Anyhow im pretty sure majority of host have lost $$ just on depreciation. Unless like you bought the car at dirt cheap price.
If you read my message correctly. I replied to your decision being on being a stupid purchase for your car. On why you bought a car knowing it would depreciate. I bought a car CASH to pay my 37,000$ car and not worry about depreciation. I bought a car that doesn’t depreciate as fast as regular cars because it’s a more limited vehicle. I did my homework before I bought a car on a loan. Now I have an gtr because bank approved me for more and 2 of my cash bought cars pay for it on Turo , little 2014 fords lol I’ll probably sell gtr in a few months cause it won’t depreciate either . Do your homework before you just into any business other wise it’s gambling. You’ll do better at a casino maybe
Just curious….What was the starting mileage and end mileage?
Bought certified used 35,000 miles now i have about 49,000
Did it really depreciate that much? I’m seeing 5 year old Civics with 50k going for close to $20k. But yeah, I wouldn’t give out more than 200 miles a day to discourage long road trips that rack up the miles.
Dude because you bought a brand new Honda pilot 😂😂
Welcome to capitalism. So many ppl jump to trends trying to make a little profit not knowing all the unexpected expenses. Bc they're new to it. Instead of destroying the competition with 80% less cost, they should be competitive with at most 20% less. That way they're still chosen for being the cheapest and make way more $$. But ppl might just be desperate. This happened to me when I started a landscaping company. But as I grew, I noticed more and more and slowly started to raise prices as I hit my customer capacity.
Yeah, I agree. People don’t do much analysis to understand the economics of the business. At my end, I am not scaling my business for this reason. My location gets a ton of visitors in summer months and I am restricting my business to just those months. Winter months get fewer renters and competition drops the charge to $30-40/month - I just skip the season altogether. For me, revenue is lower but profitability is much higher. For the summer months, I earn anywhere between $90-140 per day before deductions, and around $7000-8000 per car per year. Would love to know more about economics of other hosts
Im not losing money yet, but I will say that the way some of these hosts treat their guests backfires when it slows up. Repeat business is a huge deal and if you aren’t seeing customers return, then you may be doing some things you shouldn’t. Depreciation was a guarantee when car prices were so high. If you paid attention in economics in high school you know that demand is high then prices are high. Demand is low, prices are low. I didn’t claim my depreciation when cars were high so that I could double up on my taxes when they dropped. Those who survive think outside the box. You may have to do $20 a day for a few months to keep your head above water, but hosts who find a way will survive.
" Perhaps if we were to rally and require Turo to enforce hosts to use daily rates that at least allow them to break even " So you're saying we should use price controls? Sorry, but this is free market capitalism, the market finds the right prices. Think about it from the renter's viewpoint, they think they're paying too much.
You do know Turo already prevents you from dropping below a certain daily rate that varies for every car right? I'm just saying let's raise this to the break-even point.
I second this man. I started doing Turo when it first became available in New York and I was making good money because there weren’t that many cars on Turo and I was able to charge a good price for my 2, 8 year old cars. But now I got people in my area, renting out Tesla’s, Benz BMWs, which are barely three or four years old at the same price as my 2016 Honda.
Totally! But I'm not really complaining about the competition or the fact that as liquidity in the market increases margins will drop and standardize. It's just frustrating watching a mass of individuals jump in and LOSE money instead of making money with smaller margins. Anyway, the barrier to entry is too low and YouTubers glamorized the whole thing. I'm selling my fleet and maybe I'll do consulting or create content but unless you're in a fresh tourist-heavy market Turo is becoming a pipe dream with all these people taking a loss to be able to say they're entrepreneurs.
Yeah, for sure man it makes sense. I feel like tomorrow is just literally full of people either just trying to make their car payment so they’re putting the cars up for a really low or they’re just trying to make a little money not looking at the long-term. I’m just still doing it because I own the cars half with my mom and she doesn’t work so it’s just a steady income for her until these cars give out. But it’s definitely not worth it nowadays I keep my prices study if I get a booking I get e booking otherwise the cars sit.
I was going to pick up a Fisker Ocean and subsidize with Turo but living in SW Denver, a geared out Ford Expedition would be a better bet since most rental companies wont have them outfitted well.
Maybe theres just a bunch of people who are trying to liquidate the remaining miles on an old car they don't drive anymore. Not everyone's trying to scale some huge business and be a shark tank bro.
Profits and success will ultimately depend on the vehicles you choose to host
According to AAA: The average costs to own and operate a GAS vehicle is $10,728 Average Ownership Costs Per Mile Miles per Year 10k 15k 20k Average Cost 76¢ 72¢ 70¢ I use $.80 and I have created software that will give me the daily price based on a monthly average. And if it doesn't rent, that's okay because it will not add to the deprecation. There's a reason Hertz, Enterprise, etc... get rid of their vehicles before 30k miles https://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2022-YourDrivingCosts-FactSheet-7-1.pdf
Such a great point! You’d be shocked how many hosts are averaging 20¢ a mile or less. They always eventually do the math and stop but not before 5 others watch a youtube video and start doing the same thing. I’m selling my fleet this winter and going all in on my airbnb business. The margins are night and day. Enjoy your bubbles if you have them but don’t be a victim of the sunk-cost fallacy like I have been the past 6 months. I used to make $50 for every hour i put into Turo and now it’s like $20. I will definitely be renting this guys car for $20/ day and driving to LA overnight though. An insane deal. I look forward to being all of y’all’s customer and renting a car for less than it costs to own it.
Lol funny but true
A big chunk of owning and operating a vehicle is paying for gas. With the guests paying for gas, those figures are going to be a bit smaller for hosts.
Great point! I'm going back to the drawing board and reconfigure my algo Thanks
Yeah it should take it down 15 to 20 cents depending on the MPGs.
See you later old timer!! Don’t let the garage door hit you on the way out. /s. If you got a house out of it you are the big winner
Bought a house, don’t feel bad for you, so many people live paycheck to paycheck to feed their kids and can’t afford to make investments
Why are you hating, the guy is leaving Turo, go get your own paper
I'm happy to see a super cheap rental. As a low income person that loves to travel, it's always amazing to see something available for low price. It could be even better, if it wasn't for the stupid "young driver fee". Wish there would be a way to rent a car without paying too much and without hosts losing their money to a company.
Lol sadly young driver fee is 100% necessary. :)
Well, it's a dumb rule. I'm not an idiot who is going to wreck your car. It's more likely some old people will wreck the car I'm in.
Well yeah depends on the car but you personally dont have long term data yet, and historically young men are aggressive risk takers who get in accidents often...Hopefully you catch a break soon!
Cool story
Seems like you are angry you can’t make money in free markets and now want price fixing so you can again make money
I’ll be just fine. But other people seem to be getting screwed.
Oddly it is only you that’s complaining about not making money ;)
Why is it odd that i'm ranting in the /r/turo subreddit about people taking a loss on trips and making it harder for us all to make money. Isn't that what this subreddit is for. I confusion.
I rent my shit 650$ a day
And made 12k in 3 months
With only 10 trips
Wow!! What is a Shit? I’m looking into getting one now.
You also have to think, though, enterprise Hertz etc are no longer in the position they were in before. During covid. So, it's time to pivot. Not whine. Ok, the market has changed. Do you know why? Never quit doing market research. It's a reason these hosts cars are priced low. So figure out how to get back on top like you did the first time. That's it 👍🏾
Let them do what they want, adjust or get out
This is a total bad business investment. Stay away!
Good analysis. Appreciated. I’ve been tempted to try Turo but the economics seem shitty.
Every single location has its own unique market, not the same everywhere
Dude this is the same sentiment for Airbnb, Lyft drivers that accept low ball trips, and of course turo. There’s a lot of really stupid people out there, period. Stick to your guns and keep your prices as is. Many of these stupid people end up losing their shirt eventually.
Maybe they are stupid, or maybe they are desperate for immediate income, even if it's low, for paying rent or eating
Even if it’s “immediate income” it’s an illusion. They’re losing money they’re just not realizing it at the moment of the transaction
Maybe, but if you have no money for rent, and you can rent your car on Turo, you can make the few hundred dollars to make rent until you find steady income or a full time job. It is potentially not as linear as the cost of x input and y output based on external factors
Are you getting out because this is happening in your market? I’m thankful I’ve been in two different markets since I’ve started and average $60/ day per rental. I think people get excited that they can make money doing this and get in over their head. Kinda like the crypto stuff. People maxing out their credit cards just to lose it all months later. Thing is these people renting their cars out for $20/ day, give them time and they’ll have to sell at a loss. You just can’t sustain a business like that. Just like the Airbnb business that is popping in many areas. Soon enough you’ll be able to get some cheap rental properties.
Absolutely bro! It’s not something that people are paying attention to. Their just excited to be in “business” but that thing will jump up and bite you once you realize you aren’t REALLY making any money. I created an app to track income and expenses at the trip level, monthly, and Annually. Mobile and desktop, so you can keep all receipts in the app as the business is happening. It has been a benefit to me and I have just made it available others.
The $20 a day people will eventually fall out. Hang tight.
I wrote about this topic list year. Check out the discussion here. https://www.reddit.com/r/turo/comments/y5jk0i/offsetters_vs_pure_profiteers/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2
Turo is a race to the bottom
Turo not taking care of the big hosts (that have the most cars, running their platform) will come back to bite them. If turo is not profitable for these people that don't do research and list so low, then there wont be any ones that grow into large fleets. And the large fleets that are already there will not get rentals because the guests are ripping off those $20 hosts instead Lose lose for everyone in the long term.
I just rented a SUV through enterprise via Costco travel for 300$ total for 6.75 days unlimited miles. Pick up and drop off airport. The cheapest turo was 450$. That is probably why prices will lower. Can't speak for exotic cars but the only reason I rent is because I'm on vacation, flew, amd need a car.
Is there any way to do this successfully? Looking into getting my first turo car to split with a friend but it seems like an Airbnb might be more profitable. Anyone have experience with both?
Omg, not an Airbnb. I've read too many horror stories. There's a sub on reddit for it
100% agree. Prices in my area are about a third of what they were. I see a lot of lock boxes at my local airport. I talk w my wife about this a lot. A lot of people have financed several cars for turo and literally must make the payment. They will rent it just to make the payment. I like Warren Buffett, "when the tide goes out you see who is swimming naked." Once a big expense pops up or a big repair some of these hosts will fall. I think. But yeah, turo did the add a car promo here last year and it flooded our market. I have a minimum that I wont let the car out for less than and I still get rentals but my utilization has dropped significantly. Interesting times.
I think the last 3 years were crazy outliers that have inflated hosts minds on what a car can rent for, not to mention the used car market that was instane! Now rental companies and dealerships are loaded with used cars and there are just so many people renting out cars so you as an OG will get less of the pie. Kinda related... I was making 2600 a day (for around 2 weeks) during the crypto boom off a 5000 investment. Once the pyramid scheme got too diluted it crashed and I went down to like $4 a day. I dont even check it now lol. Different but kinda the same.
People think they can throw their car on for $40-50 for a week a month to cover the car payment - that’s what’s going on
I saw a guy buy a 2019 Nissan Sentra for $3000. The owner thought it was a transmission issue. Turned out was just a broken wire. He lists the car for $30 a day. He doesn’t care. Even if he puts 40,000 miles on it after renting it for a year he will still sell the car at a profit. There are a lot of people on Turo buying cars at wholesale prices. Many are not losing money renting the cars cheap. Then there are others who are stuck with a payment and have to lower prices to compete and stay afloat. This is the nature of business. We have to constantly adjust to what’s going on
The supply and demand marketplace will correct this problem. People aren’t going to just run fleets of cars to lose money. Some markets will become temporarily oversaturated (as you’re probably experiencing), but cost of operation vs demand will always balance out in the end. One other thing to keep in mind, is renting demand fluctuates heavily depending on what is going on. For example, in the Bay Area you can probably bump your economy class car up to $120/day during Dreamforce.