In this thread I'll discuss my experiences using Turo, the online car sharing app. If you don't know what Turo is, it's basically AirBnB for cars. What that means is that you can rent people's personal cars. They get money and you get a pretty good deal on cool cars. The Model 3 I tested came from Turo as did my first Model S experience back in the day.
If you want to buy something but want to have an extended test drive first, Turo is the way to go. If you've never used it, sign up here and we'll both get $25. Isn't that swell? Now with the business out of the way, let's talk about what really excites me about Turo: buying cars I couldn't otherwise justify owning.
In the past I've discussed buying a Porsche Cayman or Panamera just for the sole purpose of renting, hoping it pays for itself and then getting to use it when it's not being rented. But I never did it because when push came to shove, I didn't want to commit. But then I drove the 3 and Tesla won't let me out of the lease on my P85D to buy my 3 and so a couple weeks ago I cleaned the S and then listed it on Turo to see what would happen.
Nothing
For about a week I let them price it and I got zip. Things weren't looking great but perhaps I wasn't being patient enough. Then when I was in Chicago last week I got a notice on my phone that someone had booked the car for a couple days this week. Net proceeds (after Turo's cut): $135 for two days. Shortly after that someone else booked it for 12 days and another $635. Then someone else booked it yesterday for 2 days this weekend, picking it up from LAX. The beauty of that is the guy renting it now will drop it off at Turo's lot tomorrow where the next renter will pick it up from them and then drop it off when he's done. I'll never even see the car. Proceeds from that two day trip: $185.
All said and done, the car will net $955 this month while being used for 16 days which pays for itself and more. Best of all, as the car get's more trips and I don't have the "no trips" badge next to my ad, I'll be able to raise the price about 30%. This covers my lease payment as well as insurance which effectively gives me a free car to use for a couple weeks a month and allows me to buy my Model 3 without waiting for the S's lease to expire.
More importantly, I've been researching which cars rent for the the most but cost the least (BMW 4 series convertible, Boxster, Panamera, Maserati Ghibli) and assuming this first month goes well, I'll likely be grabbing one of those with the thought that I'll drive the car that's not rented or I'll drive my wife's i3 in case both are rented.
It's not all roses
I'm dancing on a cloud right now but I haven't received the car back from this first renter and so far he's politely bitched about some stuff (key fob works but it gave him a battery warning, pano roof squeaks when it opens) and he's suggested that I give him more miles which I'm not willing to do. So I have to see what condition the car comes back in, what kind of difficulties (if any) I have with him regarding the non-issues he brought up, etc. But overall, it seems that if you have something cool and you're willing to shell out the cash, it can potentially pay for itself.
This is especially cool for you guys because in LA our market is kind of saturated. There are tons of Teslas, probably over 100 listed. In Chicago there were barely any and the people that had them wanted hundreds a day when you can rent them all day long for $100 a day in LA. It seems like there's an untapped market there. Buy something cool and rent it mamajamas.
If you want to buy something but want to have an extended test drive first, Turo is the way to go. If you've never used it, sign up here and we'll both get $25. Isn't that swell? Now with the business out of the way, let's talk about what really excites me about Turo: buying cars I couldn't otherwise justify owning.
In the past I've discussed buying a Porsche Cayman or Panamera just for the sole purpose of renting, hoping it pays for itself and then getting to use it when it's not being rented. But I never did it because when push came to shove, I didn't want to commit. But then I drove the 3 and Tesla won't let me out of the lease on my P85D to buy my 3 and so a couple weeks ago I cleaned the S and then listed it on Turo to see what would happen.
Nothing
For about a week I let them price it and I got zip. Things weren't looking great but perhaps I wasn't being patient enough. Then when I was in Chicago last week I got a notice on my phone that someone had booked the car for a couple days this week. Net proceeds (after Turo's cut): $135 for two days. Shortly after that someone else booked it for 12 days and another $635. Then someone else booked it yesterday for 2 days this weekend, picking it up from LAX. The beauty of that is the guy renting it now will drop it off at Turo's lot tomorrow where the next renter will pick it up from them and then drop it off when he's done. I'll never even see the car. Proceeds from that two day trip: $185.
All said and done, the car will net $955 this month while being used for 16 days which pays for itself and more. Best of all, as the car get's more trips and I don't have the "no trips" badge next to my ad, I'll be able to raise the price about 30%. This covers my lease payment as well as insurance which effectively gives me a free car to use for a couple weeks a month and allows me to buy my Model 3 without waiting for the S's lease to expire.
More importantly, I've been researching which cars rent for the the most but cost the least (BMW 4 series convertible, Boxster, Panamera, Maserati Ghibli) and assuming this first month goes well, I'll likely be grabbing one of those with the thought that I'll drive the car that's not rented or I'll drive my wife's i3 in case both are rented.
It's not all roses
I'm dancing on a cloud right now but I haven't received the car back from this first renter and so far he's politely bitched about some stuff (key fob works but it gave him a battery warning, pano roof squeaks when it opens) and he's suggested that I give him more miles which I'm not willing to do. So I have to see what condition the car comes back in, what kind of difficulties (if any) I have with him regarding the non-issues he brought up, etc. But overall, it seems that if you have something cool and you're willing to shell out the cash, it can potentially pay for itself.
This is especially cool for you guys because in LA our market is kind of saturated. There are tons of Teslas, probably over 100 listed. In Chicago there were barely any and the people that had them wanted hundreds a day when you can rent them all day long for $100 a day in LA. It seems like there's an untapped market there. Buy something cool and rent it mamajamas.