Turo is a new kind of car rental service, but how much money can you make with Turo?
Renting your car on Turo can be a great way to make some extra money, especially if your car isn’t your daily driver. Instead of letting your car sit unused in your driveway, you can rent it out and keep up to 90% of the listing price.
For renters, this is a unique way to reduce rental costs, because Turo prices average 25% less than big rental companies. It also gives renters a wider selection of vehicles, from classic cars, sedans, SUVs, super deluxe class cars, and more.
Today’s article is going to cover everything you need to know about listing and renting your car out on Turo. You’ll learn how much you can make with Turo, how to list your car, what extras you can add, all about insurance, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Make money renting out your car with Turo in 2021
What is Turo?
Turo is best described as the Airbnb of cars. Rather than renting a car from a big rental company, people can rent cars from individuals. And the average host makes $545/month on Turo.
Turo’s motto is that they want to “let your car work for you.”
It’s an interesting way to make money while offsetting the cost of your car payments. It’s also a fairly passive source of extra income. That means you’re not trading time for money — you list your car when you know it will be available, and earn that extra cash with very little work.
Read more at 8 Weird (But Legal) Ways to Make Money.
How does Turo work?
Over 350,000 cars have already been listed on Turo, and listing your car is free and takes around 10 minutes.
Here’s how listing and making money on Turo works:
- Create a free account on Turo
- List your car on Turo (listing is free and you can get an estimated daily rental price with Turo’s Carculator). You’ll need to describe your vehicle and take high-quality photos showing its features.
- You’ll receive a notification when someone requests to book your vehicle.
- If you agree to the request, you meet your guest a predetermined location, check their license, do a walk around, make a note of fuel and mileage, and hand off the keys.
- Meet the guest when the trip is over and check out your car.
- Get paid.
Turo pays via PayPal for international hosts and ACH payments for U.S. hosts. You’ll be paid for your first trip up to 72 hours after the trip ends. However, if the trip is more than a week-long, Turo will pay you in partial payments starting after day seven.
Read more at 22 Best 2021 Side Hustle Ideas (Make $1,000+ Per Month).
How much money can you make with Turo?
The Turo calculator, or Carculator, will give you an estimate of what you can earn per day for your car. You can search by city, but if your city isn’t listed, you can get the U.S. average for your car.
The Carculator starts by looking at up-to-date market value from Edmunds or Canadian Black Book and Turo’s Automatic Pricing, which includes
- Age and condition
- Style/trim and features
- Ease of pickup and drop off
- Ease of parking
- Other Turo cars in the area
The estimate you get from the Carculator is just an estimate, and you can set your own pricing (minimum of $10/day) and turn Automatic Pricing off in the app.
Turo says Automatic Pricing will boost your earnings by adjusting the price to match demand. You may see the price change based on time of year, day of the week, events in your area, etc.
To make your car more attractive to renters, you can set weekly and monthly discounts, and you can even accept custom price requests, especially if you find a loyal renter.
You keep 65%-90% of the daily rental price of your car. Turo keeps the remainder of the rental cost for insurance, roadside assistance, and customer support. Turo reports that U.S. hosts make an average of $545/month.
You can earn 90% of the rental fee if you offer Extras (I’ll explain this further down). You receive 100% of reimbursements incurred by your renters, including fuel replacement, tickets, tolls, and cleaning or smoking fees.
I was interested in how much Turo would value my car, a 2010 Subaru Outback. Turo suggested my daily rate be $48, and I would make $36/per day.
Best cars to rent on Turo
Turo has a nice guide that explains the best-performing models, defined as earning over double their estimated monthly payments on average. Jeep Wranglers are Turo’s best-performing model, but here are some other cars that do well on Turo by class:
- Daily drivers: Fiat 500 and Ford Fiesta
- Sports cars: Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro
- Luxury cars: Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class
- Trucks and SUVs: Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Cherokee
- Vans and Minivans: Dodge Grand Caravan and Nissan Quest
Read more at How to Make Money From Home in 2021: Make Money In Your Underwear.
Sample Turo listings
To give you an idea of what cars are listed for, here are a few listings from my area. You can see that there is a pretty wide range of vehicles you can list on Turo.
Adding Extras on Turo
If you want to know how much money can you make with Turo, adding extras is one way to increase the amount you earn. Adding extras increases your earnings to 90% of the trip cost. For example, if I add just one of these extras to my Subaru Outback, my take-home would go from $36/day to $43/day.
Some of the most popular Extras are:
- Prepaid refuel or prepaid EV recharge. Your guest doesn’t have to refuel or recharge your car before returning it.
- Unlimited mileage. Turo suggests pricing this as a per-day option so you can account for any wear and tear if your guests requests and you approve a trip extension. If you add in the feature to your listing, you aren’t eligible for submitting it as reimbursement.
- Post-trip cleaning. Your guest doesn’t need to clean your car before returning it, but if you select this option, Turo won’t reimburse your for it unless your car is extremely dirty.
- One-way trip. This option allows guests to drop off your car at a different location, but make sure you list what is and isn’t acceptable. You’ll also need to coordinate the details in advance and build in any costs related to picking up your vehicle.
Guests can purchase these Extras or not, and Turo recommends keeping track of which they select so you don’t submit ineligible reimbursements.
Read more at How to Make Money: Top 44 Ideas for 2021.
What you need to know about insurance
Turo protects you and your vehicle with a $1 million liability insurance policy from Liberty mutual. This policy protects you in the event of damage or theft. Turo also offers renters a 24/7 roadside assistance and customer support.
If you’re interested in learning more about Turo’s insurance policy, you can read through it here.
FAQs about Turo
Do I have to pay taxes on my Turo earnings?
Yes, the money you make on Turo is considered income and needs to be reported to the IRS. You can read more about taxes and your side hustle in How to Handle Taxes for Your Side Hustle.
Is it okay to have GPS or dashboard cameras in my car?
Yes, but you must disclose if you have a dashcam. You’ll need guest consent to have it on during a trip. You may also have telematics devices installed in your car.
What if I list my car but it won’t be available for an extended period of time?
You can “snooze” your Turo listing if you know it won’t be available for an extended period of time, and you can “unlist” your car if you aren’t sure when it will be available again. During these periods, your car won’t show up in listings.
For snoozed listings, your listing will show up when the period ends, but unlisted cars will have to be re-listed.
I have a really expensive car, will Turo let me list it?
Yep! Turo offers listing for special classes of cars known as Deluxe and Super Deluxe, and it takes extra security measures when letting guests book high-value cars. Here’s an example of one in my area.
Deluxe Class vehicles are specified as having a market value of $55,000-$85,000. Super Deluxe is valued at $85,000+. Guests will need to pay a security deposit to book these cars and pass an additional screening.
What if I need to cancel a booking?
Turo highly recommends that you avoid this as much as possible. Think about how awful it would be if your rental company canceled your listing at the last minute.
If you do need to cancel and it’s more than 24 hours before the start of a trip, Turo will deduct a $25 fee from your next payment. For cancellations less than 24 hours, you’ll be charged $50. And if you regularly cancel, it can affect your ratings and where your listing shows up in Turo’s search results.
Read more at How to Make More Money: A Total Beginner’s Guide for 2021.
Is Turo worth it for you?
Turo isn’t going to be for everyone, and that’s totally fine. It would be really difficult to make money on Turo if your only car is your daily driver. For some people, the added wear and tear on their car might not make Turo an appealing option.
However, if you don’t use your car on a regular basis, Turo is an easy way to make some passive income from your car. You can use it to offset the cost of your car payment, save up for a new car, put in an emergency fund, pay off debt, etc.
If you rent your car on Turo, it will be important to keep up with routine maintenance, meaning oil changes, new tires, new brakes, etc. You want your car safe for you and anyone renting it. And keeping your car clean for guests is obviously important, too.
How much money can you make with Turo, the final word
For the right kind of people, Turo is going to be easy money. Listing your car takes just 10 minutes, and the Turo app makes it easy to maintain your listing and connect with guests.
The reality is that your car is a depreciating asset, so if you can find ways to make extra money with it, why not give it a try. There are also plenty of other options for monetizing your car, like driving for Uber or Lyft, or delivering groceries with Instacart.
The possibilities for making extra money are there, but it’s on you to take a chance and try one.
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About Ariel Gardner
Ariel Gardner is the editor-in-chief of M$M, an elder millennial, and really wants to keep her lattes. She’s seen both ends of the financial spectrum, from trust funds to a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, and uses that experience to empathize and connect with a wide range of readers. She has been editing and writing professionally for personal finance websites since 2015.
