Why Turo?

Why Turo?

A few weeks ago I rented my Tesla Model 3 on Turo on a 1-Day rental. I?ll share exactly how it works, how much money I made and why I?ll never do it again

If you?ve never heard of it, Turo is like AirBnB but for your car, preferably for your sexy car.

Spoiler: My car is fine. This post is about being transparent about everything that goes into renting the car so you know all the time and costs associated.

Background

I purchased a Tesla Model 3 in Dec 2018; at 31 it?s my first car and biggest personal purchase ever ? I didn?t even have a driving license when I got it.

Story behind it here.

Image for postProud Model 3 Mom ?AKA Catmobile

I?m an entrepreneur and I like the idea of creating an asset out of liabilities so I wanted to experiment with the idea of renting the car out on Turo when I didn?t need it. Since I work from home and live pretty close to everything I need, I could do fine without a car for a few days a month which would cover the car payment. When I researched I saw that my Tesla Model 3 could pick up anywhere from $129 ? $311 for a day. Pretty cool.

They seemed to have legit insurance so if anything happened they would cover it.

  1. Sign up for Turo (get $25 credit if you use this link)
  2. Create your car listing
  3. Select your insurance choice
  4. Set calendar availability & pricing (if you want to do custom)
  5. I chose Turo Premium insurance as I wasn?t willing to take any chances for an extra 10%, this meant I collected 65% of rental cost.

Here?s my listing:

Take a trip in Cathryn’s Tesla Model 3

Rent Cathryn’s Tesla Model 3 for $153/day on Turo, where you can rent unique cars from local hosts, up to 35% less than?

turo.com

You?ll see I have 1 Five Star review for the grand whopping one time it?s been rented out.

My first booking

My first booking came in it at 2 am and asked that the be car dropped off at 10 am that same day (8 hours later) about 20 min away. It was pretty darn inconvenient.

Due to it being too short notice for me I had to cancel it. Usually, a cancellation costs you $50 fee but due to it being my first time I didn?t get charged.

Action: Updated my settings to require a 24-hour notice period for bookings and didn?t allow for instant bookings that required drop-off somewhere else.

When I got my next booking I had a few days notice so that was do-able.

Car Preparation

The Catmobile was going on her first big trip! How exciting that it would be starting to pay her own way in life?

To prep the car for the trip I had to charge to 200+ miles. I don?t have a charger at my apartment building so I either charge at a Tesla SuperCharger 20 mins away (and work from my car which I weirdly enjoy) or there?s a spot 2 min away I can charge for free by leaving the car there for a few hours.

Unfortunately, due to Austin being overtaken by SXSW that particular week my usual spot was closed off and the supercharger didn?t seem worth it as it?s 15 min away and I wanted to enjoy SXSW.

Time & Costs Associated with Rental

Here?s how my time broke down for the car rental.

Charging ? 30 mins

Between dropping the car off to charge and picking it up later it took around 30 mins and cost $8.30.

Car wash ? 30 mins

I wanted the car looking pretty so I decided to get it washed for my booking.

Due to the Tesla needing to be hand washed (the chemicals in the machines can damage the paint) I got a year membership for unlimited car washes at a local Austin spot. It can be expensive otherwise at around $45 per wash.

My membership is $450 a year, I average 2?3 washes per month = $18.75 per wash.

Pick up & Tesla instruction ? 40 mins

Unlike most regular cars, Tesla needs instruction to drive it. This makes it a higher touch rental that most cars don?t require.

The guy who?d booked the car had never driven a Tesla before and wanted to test drive it before he purchased his own. This meant taking 40 mins to explain the car to him, self-driving features and how to charge etc.

Pre-Trip Photo?s ? 5 mins

Prior to pick-up, I needed to photograph the vehicle so there was a record of the car prior to them taking it for insurance purposes.

Post-Trip Photo?s & Drop off ? 10 mins

At drop-off, I?m also required to take photo?s to document the condition of the car.

Final Numbers

Here?s an overview of the trip:

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