The Ups and Downs of Car Sharing through Turo - Expert Edition Episode 48
In this episode, I share my rollercoaster experience with Turo, from becoming an all-star host to navigating a car total loss. I discuss the surprise of high gas prices after switching from a Tesla to a minivan and detail the challenges I faced with Turo and insurance after an accident. Despite these obstacles, I still find value in Turo for covering car expenses. This episode offers insights and tips for anyone looking to use their car as a rental, wrapped up in stories of resilience in the sharing economy.
Mentioned Episode:
Our Turo and Airbnb Earning - Conversations with a CFP Episode 29
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TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Naseema: So it is mid January, and I just posted to my stories that I just again, became an all star host at Turo. And there is definitely a story behind this. I just started using Turo again at the end of last year for my extra vehicle. And I used to be a big Turo fan until 2021, when my vehicle was totaled and it was a whole ordeal.
I had sworn off a Turo, first of all, let me do a little disclaimer here. Listen. Don't buy stuff when you're pregnant. There is some kind of pregnancy psychosis around security and wanting things that are just needing things like you need these things. For example, when I was pregnant with my first daughter, I was going to buy a house.
That's fine, right? Buying a house is fine, but. I was buying this new construction, and of course, they have several floor plans. And of course, I needed the biggest house, a 5 bedroom, 5 bath, 4, 000 square foot house for me and my family. Unborn daughter make that make sense. Anyway with this last pregnancy I had three car seats in my back row of my car and it gave me anxiety So I was like I need a minivan.
I love minivans never had a minivan But I always wanted one because I think they're super convenient So I was like I have to get a minivan It was searching for a minivan found a great deal on a minivan despite the interest rates and all but Then got the minivan and shortly after Had to fill the minivan up with gas and let me tell you how much anxiety that gave you For a little bit of context I have had a tesla since 2017 So when I got my tesla, I got unlimited supercharging.
Therefore. I have not looked at the price of gas I don't know how gas works. I barely even know how to pump gas anymore so seeing how much I had to pay for gas and my tank was like halfway full and it was still like 60 something dollars. I was like, this is crazy. I really did not understand how people do not strike because of the price of gas.
Like it is ridiculous out here. I don't understand, like y'all not boycotting. I don't know. Anyway listen, that Was enough to put me over the edge to where I didn't want to drive my van anymore But it's still nice to have around for convenience and so I was like Let me put this thing on to roll because for the most part it was just sitting around and we were using Occasionally we would do stuff with my bigger family.
But again, I didn't need this damn van. It's nice, but I ain't paying for gas. So I decided to put it back on Turo with some reluctance and the reluctance was about what happened to my car on Turo in 2021. Now if you listen back to the old nurses on fire podcast, which is what this podcast used to be called
until I rebranded it in 2022 to the financially intentional podcast, used to be called nurses on fire. And I have an episode on there, which I'll tag in the show notes with Leisa Peterson, where I talked about how I use. Turo to decrease my expenses and just a general rule of thumb. Your 2 biggest expenses are going to be your housing expenses and your transportation expenses.
And I house hack meaning that I always have a room in my house. That's available for a travel nurse to rent out, which decreases. My living cost. And then I usually have an extra car and when I'm not using that, I usually put that on Turo to decrease my transportation costs. So anyway, you want to learn more about that.
I have that episode there back when I started Turo. And so what happened in 2020, I really wanted a Tesla model three, cause I liked them first. Actually, I wanted a model Y cause they had just came out. And I went to go test drive it and I didn't like it because I have a model X and I was like, this kind of seems like a imitation version of the model X and it was heavy and clunky, but then I test drove the model 3 and I loved it.
It was super zippy. It was hitting corners. Hello. And I was just like, Oh, I like this car. And so I got it as a second car. Cause it was really cheap. I got a super low interest rate on it and it would be nice to have another car. Plus I knew. Yeah. That I could potentially cover the cost of the car with Turo.
Cause I had already been during, doing Turo on my primary car. And then we had a Highlander at that time. So anyway, again, you want to hear more about that story, go back and listen to that episode. I'll tag it in the show notes anyway. I got this Tesla model three and loved it. Put it on Turo.
It was doing a really well until September 21st, 2021. Late at night. I get a call from Tesla stating that my car had been in an accident. Now if you don't know anything about Tesla's they are smart cars They will call 9 1 1 for you when you get into the accident.
They're gonna send an alert to your app They're gonna call you and see if you're okay. However, I was not driving the car It was rented out on Turo to the driver Who told me that they were coming down the grapevine if you don't know what that is it's like when you're coming out of LA and it's like It's big, steep hill and they were coming out of the grapevine and they had the car on auto steer auto drive.
It was in control basically cruise control and a semi truck ran into the back of them and the guy was driving, but his wife and baby were in the backseat and. The car and they were rushed to the hospital because the car was horrible, but they ultimately were okay. And so I immediately filed a claim with Turo and, they started working on it as soon as possible and they told me that the car was towed to a place close to the grapevine and then they were going to take the car.
To the Tesla dealership and the closest Tesla dealership was in Bakersfield and they were going to give me an estimate. So that was on the 22nd on the 28th. I received an estimate and minus my twenty five hundred dollar deductible. They paid me out for this estimate They said it was going to be about fourteen thousand dollars worth of damages And they were good about just like sending me a check, but I was like, hold on Where is my car?
Like they didn't call me from the Tesla dealership and have it a Tesla for a long time. Your car tells you where's that. And Tesla always gives you a notification. And when your car is being serviced by Tesla, it comes up in the app. Every step of the process comes up in app. And I'm just like, this is not coming up in the app.
And when I called the Tesla dealership, they were like, we don't have that car, but maybe it was dropped off and we just haven't inventoried it. And so I'm hitting Turo, yo where's my car? It's not at the Tesla dealership. And they're just like from our understanding it's at the Tesla dealership.
Okay, so they sent me this payout and I'm looking at it. And I was like, this car looks totaled and knowing how much parts cost for Tesla. I was like, Hmm, this estimate doesn't seem right. And Lo and behold they do a lot of things automated. It's a system called swoop that they used to give an estimate based off of the pictures that were submitted, by the tow company.
And so I was just like, I need a 2nd opinion. Like, how does this work? And they were just like you can bring it to whatever auto repair shop you want. To get a second opinion and I was like, cool. First of all, the car was in Southern California. I live in Northern California. I was like, all right, can you have the car towed to this place closer to my house?
That deals with Tesla and they, Tesla's and they were like, yeah, sure. So on October 4th. The tow truck shows up at Tesla Bakersfield and when they was like, there's your car is not here. And I was like, what? So where's my car? So I'm going back and forth and back and forth with them. And then I get this notice in the mail that there is a lean on my car from the tow yard.
The tow yard put a lien on my car because it was never picked up and it had now been there for a couple of weeks. And so they were going to put it up for a lien sale, which then triggered my car financing company. My car was financed through Chase and they were just like, why is there a lien on your car?
And I'm just like, I don't know what is going on. So I'm I was going back and forth with Turo and Turo does a good job of everything that's automated. But once you have to deal with humans, it gets wonky. Okay. And so nobody knows what's going on.
And so finally I called the place and was like, is my car there for sure? They're like, yes, for sure. And it needs to get picked up. Are we going to put a lien on it? So finally on October 12th, it finally is picked up. So Turo finally sends a tow truck to the right place to get picked up and It gets delivered actually it wasn't on the 12th It was around the 10th Because it took two days from the car to get south to Northern, California to get picked up So the car was picked up October 12th and dropped off at this auto repair shop by me Okay, so it takes until, okay, check this out.
I said it got there October 12th, right? It takes until November 5th for an insurance appraiser to come and finally say that my car is in fact totaled. Mind you. The car had been sitting there for a month. Okay, this is not my house is not sitting in my house It's taking up space At an auto repair shop and they're like we charge daily storage and it's in the 100 a day range and so the insurance appraiser comes and tries to do some slick stuff like say you know We know you're charging this hundred dollars a day.
We are just gonna pass this storage fee down To the owner of the vehicle and people at the place was like, hold on, it's illegal. So let me holler at her. I'm a caller on the phone. So they called me on the phone. It was like they're trying to do this illegal stuff where they're trying to pass this down to you and then the appraiser went on to say, we're not paying this storage fee.
We're just going to abandon the vehicle here. So it's like this threat thing to try to get them to take down their storage fees, sir. The vehicle had been on the lot for over a month. What do you want them to do anyway? So I'm going back and forth now with the people at the repair shop with Turo trying to figure out what they're talking about.
Why are they doing this illegal stuff with my lender who was saying, what's going on? You got this lien against your vehicle and we need this paperwork from Turo to let us know that it's okay. And I'm also just, it's just back and forth, like just too many things. And meanwhile, I'm still paying my car note.
I'm still paying my insurance and I ain't got no damn car. Okay. So the car still sitting there on November 25th, they did appraisal and said that the car was totaled on November 5th, November 25th and by the way, this place is between my house and my job. So I would go by there and see if the cars on a lot.
And every time I say go on a lot. So I went in there. I was like, what can I do? And it was like, you need to file a claim with the California Department of insurance because what is doing is. Illegal so on November, 25th, I filed a complaint with the California Department of insurance and because there was like, they still hadn't picked up the car.
And then I sent a notice that I did that. Then, miraculously, on November 30th, the car got picked up by Turo, but only after they agreed to pay the lot, just for letting the car sit there so long, which is of nobody's fault, but their own, they had to pay the lot 6, 500 for 37 days of storage, plus they were still like a small, like labor fee, but that was like under 100, 6, 500.
They had to pay out to these people just for the car sitting there. And mind you, they were trying to reduce. They were trying to take that out of my settlement payment. Please okay. So on december 2nd, I finally got a response from the california department of insurance And this is so crazy. I have to read it to you guys because This is something that's super important that I don't think Most people know
It says, thank you for your request for assistance dated November, 25th, 2021, your request for assistance regarding a claim. You have filed against insurance agency LLC. It appears this type of coverage is not underwritten by insurance and in fact, it's a contractual agreement between yourself and Turo insurance agency LLC providers of this type of coverage may offer such coverage without it being underwritten by an insurance carrier.
In such cases, Turo insurance agency lLC is backing the coverage and is ultimately responsible for paying any covered claims because the coverage is not an underwritten insurance product. The coverage is not under the regulatory jurisdiction of the California Department of Insurance.
You may wish. To consider consulting an attorney of your choice in order to obtain information about any remedies that might be available for you through litigation. Although we are not able to assist you in this matter. We thank you for writing to us with your concerns. All right, so this threw me for a loop because when you log on to Turo, it says all these great things on how you're covered by Liberty Mutual on all these kind of things where it's just like a front really You don't have any kind of contractual agreement And so I had to look through their legal information on Turo site and then I found this so this is something that's important to know under their legal information under the FAQs, which I didn't obviously know.
So liability insurance is provided under a policy issue tutorial by Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation, a member of Liberty Mutual Group terms, conditions and exclusions apply. The Liberty policy does not provide coverage for the damage to the host vehicle for questions or information about third party liability insurance that is included in protection plans.
Then you have to reach out for them. is not an insurance company and contractual reimbursement for physical damage to your vehicle is not insurance. Will reimburse host for eligible physical damage cost in excess of their deductible subject to terms and exclusion for lesser than the cost to repair the actual cash value of the vehicle or 125, 000 dollars.
It says it here, but. They do such a good job of promoting that they're covered by Liberty Mutual. Like nothing is going to happen to your car. If you put it on in Liberty Mutual, you pay for all these protections. And I had the highest plan which they take.
25 percent of every rental that I get and some of it goes towards those higher insurance costs. But anyway, that was a rude awakening and something that you should keep in mind when you place your vehicle on Turo so that was like, okay. Whatever, then finally, finally that happened.
And so they picked up the vehicle and I am writing them saying, okay, the vehicle has picked up when can I expect payment? Mind you, like I said, I've been paying on this vehicle. Since September, so this is now December. The car note and the insurance on it. And I can't do anything until I have proof that the, everything was like written off, right?
So this happened in December. I did not get a remedy on this until the middle of. February. Okay. The middle of February, I finally got my full notice that the vehicle was totaled the payoff everything. Okay. However, I will say that this was like a crazy time in the economy where used cars were being sold.
Heck a high and I pay After taxes fees and everything about 39, 000 for this car had had it for a little over a year before it got totaled. So I had paid it down significantly. And after all was said and done true, I had to cut me a check for 42, 000. So I actually did come up a couple thousand.
It was like 10, 000. Some of it was paying me back, but it was okay. But like the lesson learned there was you can go through Turrell's process where you pay that 2, 500 and they made it seem like they were going to do everything for me. What I really should have done was go after the semi truck who hit my car and go through their insurance and have them cover everything.
And I, it would've took me some leg work, but in the long run, this took me way more leg work. Cause like I said, They touted as as dumb for you service when it really wasn't like the amount of work and emails and calls and back and forth with all these people that ended up happening was ridiculous.
But yeah, I would have done that. What am I going to do going forward? If my car gets totaled like my minivan gets total, it's going to be a little bit different process of the Honda Odyssey parts are a little more readily available. I don't know. I'll probably just get rid of it. Like I said, I already have anxiety about that car.
I already have anxiety about putting gas in that car. So it's not like I would miss it that much. I'm still rolling my Tesla Model X, which is paid off. That has free unlimited supercharging. And so basically I have zero costs to that car besides like maintenance and tires, which is pricey, but compared to a new car.
And also when that car. Say for instance, the battery dies or whatever, like worst case scenario, I'm not getting a new car, even though they tried to tempt me by saying I can transfer my unlimited supercharging over to a new car. I was like, no, honey, worst case scenario, I'll just upgrade the hardware because there's some newer stuff.
Like I can't watch netflix and stuff in my car because my hardware is predated and I need more cameras for upgraded systems. So that would be like $2,500 and a new battery is around $10,000. So worst case scenario, I pay like $12,000 to basically get my car to look new cause the model X is still look the same.
I might get my car wrapped like a mat wrap. Other than that, I ain't getting no new car. I'm a rock this thing until the wheels fall off. As far as my Honda, if something were to happen to that now I know all the games that they play. I probably try to go through another insurance company, or if I still have to go through Tesla, I will be on their ass and have an attorney ready.
You hear me read D like nugget. If you buckling my attorney is always ready for this kind of stuff. I wish I would've got him involved in this, but I didn't think it was going to be so crazy, but yeah. So when people ask me if Turo is a great site to host on my blanket answer is it depends. If you're like looking in the tech end is so great.
The platform is seamless as far as listing your car, checking out everything that is like automation that is built in, they have amazing software engineers now on the customer service side and having to deal with human beings. They have a long way to go, but mind you, I haven't had to deal with them.
Since 20 21, 20 22. So hopefully they've gotten better. If you guys know any difference, please let me know. But yeah, this is my experience with Touro and so far so good. Since I have been using it, it basically has covered the cost of my car for the last couple of months. And so I have an extra vehicle that it typically gets rented over the weekend.
So I have use of it during the week if I need to. And just. Being rented on the weekends, it covers the cost of my car and insurance. So it's not a bad thing. What I would not do is I would not try to start a tour business, meaning that you buy a car just to put it on tour.
I see people have successes with that, but unless you have a fleet and you're like, really trying to run a business it's not a side hustle. That's like passive. Some things that you have to keep in mind is that every time you pick up the car. And check it out. You have to take at least 30 pictures of the car inside it out.
You have to keep it in tip top condition. So it's always getting serviced, make sure the brakes are good. All of those things. You would do on your typical car, but you got to take it to the car wash every time or get it washed. So those are expenses that, most people don't calculate, but it's also the time I don't like watching my own car.
So it annoys me a little bit. When I have to wash the car, so I have to make sure I'm available to pick it up. Wash it, take pictures, communicate with the guests, but I've done a good job so far. Another thing to consider is you have options of dropping off the car at different locations.
When I lived in Oakland, I was right down the street from the Oakland airport and right over the bridge was a San Francisco airport. It was nothing to take it there. And when you're close to an airport, and you can do pickups and drop offs, meaning that you have a 2nd, person to help you, or you're close to public transportation, where you drop it off and get on public transportation.
You can make a killing because. You can charge convenience fees for that, and your car will probably always be booked if that's what you're looking for. But I live in the suburbs. I just put the car by a park in my house. I don't ever publicly list, like, where I live. I drop it off at a park, which has a, a public address and people pick it up from there.
So I don't interact with it. Face to face with the renters but that's convenient for me. I'm not about to pick it up and drop it off anywhere. So those are things to know. But yeah, hit me up with your questions. I hope you find this interesting. Let me know what you think. Let me know if is something that you're thinking about doing, or you have done it and what your experiences were.
Hey there I’m Naseema
My dream is for everyone to know that financial independence is attainable with a little intentionality. Learn how I can help you finally break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
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