Mike K's all Things Turo Thread
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So I let the thing sit all day today and it's already a lot better. The $250 would be deserved and easy to get and it was a dick move to smoke in the car but I don't want to take $250 from some kid just because he was a dumbass, especially if there are no long term effects.
Days like today I wish I was a bigger asshole.
Days like today I wish I was a bigger asshole.
I don't have parking otherwise I'd scale up pretty bigly once I get some stuff factored. The problem I'm having right now is I guess a good one to have: I'm getting too many reservations. I made the car available on the 31st of January. It rented on the 31st through the 2nd, the 2nd through the 4th, the 14th through the 26th and literally as I typed that last post, someone booked the 6th through the 12th.
So now I have another problem: miles. At an allotment of 100 miles a day these guys are going to chew through my lease miles in a month. It's not the end of the world. Tesla only charges 25 cents a mile over but still... Someone rents the car for 10 days, gets 1000 miles of allotment, I net $750 and have to give $250 of that to Tesla. It will do for now because the car will still pay for itself but it's not ideal.
The nicer problem: I need another car.
No, you can set it yourself but if you go under 100 miles you won't really get any renters. I am going to raise my prices though. I'd rather get some use of the car and make 15% less than have it gone all month. It's a fine balance.
Who's got some suggestions for the other car? Current shortlist is another Model S, a Panamera or a 4 series convertible.
Who's got some suggestions for the other car? Current shortlist is another Model S, a Panamera or a 4 series convertible.
So I had *another* change of heart after driving the car last night and realizing that after the windows are up and the AC on, it does still smell, though less than when I initially picked the car up. Still, didn't want to rake this kid over the coals so here's what I sent him:
He accepted it and covered the $50 and also apologized again. So many 22 year old guys are assholes that you really want to help out the few that are nice and just doing normal stupid 22 year old guy stuff. So that worked out fine.
Turo Customer Support
This is the bigger story though. When I opened the report with Turo support I expressed some concerns that their valet service checked the car in as not having any smoke smell. To my surprise, their support staff responded not once, but twice with long emails that were written in English, by someone that seemed to actually care about the problem, apologized that their valet team missed the smell and then credited my account $50. It was real customer service. I didn't even know that existed any more!
Anyhow, off to find me a convertible today?
He accepted it and covered the $50 and also apologized again. So many 22 year old guys are assholes that you really want to help out the few that are nice and just doing normal stupid 22 year old guy stuff. So that worked out fine.
Turo Customer Support
This is the bigger story though. When I opened the report with Turo support I expressed some concerns that their valet service checked the car in as not having any smoke smell. To my surprise, their support staff responded not once, but twice with long emails that were written in English, by someone that seemed to actually care about the problem, apologized that their valet team missed the smell and then credited my account $50. It was real customer service. I didn't even know that existed any more!
Anyhow, off to find me a convertible today?
I think that's the most cordial way you could have handled this. He seems to not be so bad to accept and apologize too. You could have been a real ass about it, hopefully he chalks this up to lesson learned for the future. Well done.
A couple notes... All scenarios assume a termination at 36 months. So I'm either selling the car or giving it back if it's a lease. It just makes the comparison a little more apples to apples. The monthly income assumes 16 days of being rented a month and these are very conservative prices. If I punch my existing Tesla in at the same prices as these cars it's only netting $100 a month even though this month, my first, it's netting something like $900.00 profit.
You can really see the risk/ reward here. The potential for the Audi to make serious coin is there and it's a 4.2 model I'm looking at so theoretically maintenance and reliability wouldn't be an issue. It also only has 25,000 miles on it so assuming my depreciation estimate is somewhat accurate, I'd have $10,000 of equity in it after 3 years. But there's a big wildcard with potential repairs. The 4.2's are apparently really reliable and relatively easy to fix but they're still exotic cars.
There's the other problem where I'm putting a lot of money on the line and I can't really use the car as a replacement for the Tesla when it's not being used. So that's an issue. Practically speaking, the Panamera seems to come in a distant second place but I'm risking much less money albeit for less reward.
Leasing a base model 530e seems enticing because I'm not dealing with the fuel expenses of a gas car, I get $1500 cash from California now and it's a really practical car. The downside is that there's mileage limitations. 10,000 miles a year and I'd potentially be running into the same problem I have with the S where I'm having to set aside a portion of my earnings to pay for inevitable mileage overruns.
A Couple Other Upsides
6 trips to Turo's valet lot and back each month is $240 but Turo only charges $10.00 a day to store your car at their lot on days it's not rented and if it's renting well, this is theoretically 10 days a month tops. So $100 and a lot less hassle because you're not going back and forth from LAX to the Hollywood Hills.
So with a "fleet" of two cars I would be able to keep one at Turo's valet lot at all times and when the other rents, I could take the other one home if it's there.
A lot of variables to consider.
You can really see the risk/ reward here. The potential for the Audi to make serious coin is there and it's a 4.2 model I'm looking at so theoretically maintenance and reliability wouldn't be an issue. It also only has 25,000 miles on it so assuming my depreciation estimate is somewhat accurate, I'd have $10,000 of equity in it after 3 years. But there's a big wildcard with potential repairs. The 4.2's are apparently really reliable and relatively easy to fix but they're still exotic cars.
There's the other problem where I'm putting a lot of money on the line and I can't really use the car as a replacement for the Tesla when it's not being used. So that's an issue. Practically speaking, the Panamera seems to come in a distant second place but I'm risking much less money albeit for less reward.
Leasing a base model 530e seems enticing because I'm not dealing with the fuel expenses of a gas car, I get $1500 cash from California now and it's a really practical car. The downside is that there's mileage limitations. 10,000 miles a year and I'd potentially be running into the same problem I have with the S where I'm having to set aside a portion of my earnings to pay for inevitable mileage overruns.
A Couple Other Upsides
6 trips to Turo's valet lot and back each month is $240 but Turo only charges $10.00 a day to store your car at their lot on days it's not rented and if it's renting well, this is theoretically 10 days a month tops. So $100 and a lot less hassle because you're not going back and forth from LAX to the Hollywood Hills.
So with a "fleet" of two cars I would be able to keep one at Turo's valet lot at all times and when the other rents, I could take the other one home if it's there.
A lot of variables to consider.
I'm not hugely passionate about the 530e I was looking at. It's missing some key options and doesn't compare well to the leased 530e which now that I look, I accidentally included maintenance on to the tune of $1500 which would be an expense that car wouldn't incur. So the net profit on the 530e would actually be $12,596.
But leasing that car is a guaranteed 3 year commitment which I'm not sure I'm down with.
As far as risk/ fudge factor, can you elaborate?
was just wondering what your assumptions or estimates were and the occupancy rate. are you able to surmise that for other cars or assuming similar demand as tesla etc. i see you using 16 days a month, just wondering how you came up with that and how confident you are in it or what the range would be. pretty solid rental if that's a realistic conservative estimate.
Honestly? There's some guessing but I'm trying to guess really conservatively. For instance, pretty much all of the Panameras are renting for $150ish a day, even the ones that have the most trips. $150 a day after Turo's fee is $112.5 net but if you look you'll see I put $82.50 net per day on my Panamera column. So I'm basically going really conservative and figuring that even if I can't get as much, I can lower the price and rent more. There is no shortage of people wanting to rent cars. The Tesla already has a $520 booking for next month. It's just a matter of finding that balance between lower pricing and more rentals or higher pricing and fewer rentals. Given the mileage limits on the S, I'd rather charge a bit more and have fewer rentals then charge less and have it always rented.
I've already raised the price on the Tesla from $95 a day to $115. Every time I make a change like that I wait nervously for the next booking to see if I've totally screwed it up.
Not really because they're still charging out the nose for them. With National an Infiniti is still something like $80 a day. I think the only real challenger is Silvercar who rents nothing but well optioned A4's for $50 a day. But to rent a Tesla out here you'd go to one of the exotic rental places and pay a few hundred a day.
Car updates... I think I've got it narrowed down to two:
2014 Cayman - I almost bought one yesterday. 2014 (new body style) with 52,000 miles on it for $40,000 out the door. That's a pretty sick deal for that car.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...archRadius=50&makeCode1=POR&modelCode1=CAYMAN
2013 Panamera - I was going to look at the one in the link below but it was just sold. There are a decent amount of them out there for similar prices though. A 2013 base model with some options. I want the V6 because the V8's had some issues and people aren't renting these for speed; they're renting them to be seen in a Porsche on vacation. Nobody that rents them even differentiates what they have.
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/ctd/d/2013-porsche-panamera/6471370987.html
I think I prefer the Panamera because if I'm driving it I can still use it as a car. The Cayman would be nice to have around and fun to play with but it wouldn't exactly be a car I could through the kids in and go for a Sunday drive. The Panamera I could and I'd actually want to.
What should I do? #zxmustangproblems
2014 Cayman - I almost bought one yesterday. 2014 (new body style) with 52,000 miles on it for $40,000 out the door. That's a pretty sick deal for that car.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...archRadius=50&makeCode1=POR&modelCode1=CAYMAN
2013 Panamera - I was going to look at the one in the link below but it was just sold. There are a decent amount of them out there for similar prices though. A 2013 base model with some options. I want the V6 because the V8's had some issues and people aren't renting these for speed; they're renting them to be seen in a Porsche on vacation. Nobody that rents them even differentiates what they have.
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/ctd/d/2013-porsche-panamera/6471370987.html
I think I prefer the Panamera because if I'm driving it I can still use it as a car. The Cayman would be nice to have around and fun to play with but it wouldn't exactly be a car I could through the kids in and go for a Sunday drive. The Panamera I could and I'd actually want to.
What should I do? #zxmustangproblems
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