Would you rent out your car to a stranger? Or rent from a person?

[funksouljon]

Just saw an add for car rentals. P2P via app. No rental company, etc, etc. Direct rental. I know for a fact I wouldn't be renting out my car to a stranger.

I highly doubt I would be interested in renting a car from a person. The prices seem to be all over the place. Some options are comparable to a rental company, some seem to be better for luxury cars, and some are much steeper. Thats just based on a quick search / small sample.

Turo is the company.

Just saw someone who is renting out a "Ford Miatang 5.0 Convertible 1988" for $50 a day. Gonna pass on that unless Rob Van Winkle comes to visit me.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Wth is a Miatang? Someone weld together a Miata and Mustang?
Pass on both!

But sure I'd rent from Turo. No qualms with that whatsoever.

 

[LesClaypool]

Must be for city-dwellers.

If you live in the burbs, I can't fathom there are many people that can do without their car for a day, let alone longer.

 

[MIKE_G]

I'd rent out just about anything if the price was right....

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

No. Much more comfortable to do business with a business.

 

[Dr. Nole]

Yes, if they promised to not bring it back

 

[Buddy Green]

I've seen the commercials and I don't get the concept at all. Looks like the perfect deal for criminals. Need a car for a robbery or drive-by? Just call some schmuck who will rent you his car for a couple hours. Its a head scratcher. I'm sure the average person's auto insurance doesn't cover "commercial rental" useage either. With all the problems that have arisen with "Air B&B", this looks like it would be even worse.

 

[funksouljon]

I've seen the commercials and I don't get the concept at all. Looks like the perfect deal for criminals. Need a car for a robbery or drive-by? Just call some schmuck who will rent you his car for a couple hours. Its a head scratcher. I'm sure the average person's auto insurance doesn't cover "commercial rental" useage either. With all the problems that have arisen with "Air B&B", this looks like it would be even worse.

Ha, I hadn't even considered the insurance part, but I certainly did go to the "who knows WTF this person is going to be doing in my car". Dirty Mike and the boys and what not. Not sure about the rental for crime.

 

[cfbfan23]

With all the problems that have arisen with "Air B&B", this looks like it would be even worse.

You only hear the bad stories about AirBnB. Most property owners are quite satisfied with the service. I don't think I'd ever rent out my vehicles, but I'm not ready to poo-poo the business model.

 

[SeaPA]

I can’t imagine renting out my Jeep unless the price was extremely high (as in “high enough that nobody would pay that price” high). But I would certainly consider renting someone else’s vehicle.

 

[OrlandNole]

Must be for city-dwellers.

If you live in the burbs, I can't fathom there are many people that can do without their car for a day, let alone longer.

I work from home, ride my bike and rent a car for work trips. I put 4,000 miles on my car last year.

That said, I care way too much about car to let some schmoe drive it for a few bucks.

 

[Gonolz]

Ha, I hadn't even considered the insurance part, but I certainly did go to the "who knows WTF this person is going to be doing in my car". Dirty Mike and the boys and what not. Not sure about the rental for crime.

Yeah, so I'm looking for a car. How big is your trunk? Would it fit, say 4 bodies in it?

 

[billanole]

Yeah, so I'm looking for a car. How big is your trunk? Would it fit, say 4 bodies in it?

Big uns? Skinny bennies? We have a ride that is kinda a tweener, so you may have to do some measuring or ciphering.

 

[funksouljon]

Yeah, so I'm looking for a car. How big is your trunk? Would it fit, say 4 bodies in it?

No, but it will tow just about anything so you can drag a chipper into the woods for those bodies.

Otherwise, consider a Caddy?

 

[ReliableOstrich]

I've seen the commercials and I don't get the concept at all. Looks like the perfect deal for criminals. Need a car for a robbery or drive-by? Just call some schmuck who will rent you his car for a couple hours. Its a head scratcher. I'm sure the average person's auto insurance doesn't cover "commercial rental" useage either. With all the problems that have arisen with "Air B&B", this looks like it would be even worse.

Turo provides significant insurance on cars should they be damaged, destroyed, stolen.
https://turo.com/insurance

If you've got a standard car out in the driveway that you're not using a ton, this is a good way to monetize it. If you want to get a new car but don't want to pay for it, this is a good way to afford it.

I see a lot of folks making more commoditized car purchasing decisions, picking pragmatic cars and not a car they're going to dote over.

Makes a lot of sense in this day and age. If humans are part of the gig economy, their cars can be also.

 

[NebNoles]

Turo provides significant insurance on cars should they be damaged, destroyed, stolen.
https://turo.com/insurance

If you've got a standard car out in the driveway that you're not using a ton, this is a good way to monetize it. If you want to get a new car but don't want to pay for it, this is a good way to afford it.

I see a lot of folks making more commoditized car purchasing decisions, picking pragmatic cars and not a car they're going to dote over.

Makes a lot of sense in this day and age. If humans are part of the gig economy, their cars can be also.

This. And then when you want to dote over a car, rent something special for that special occasion.

The most obvious thing for me is renting a truck. Rent one for $50, haul that couch and chair or whatever. Beats those delivery prices out there. And beats owning a truck you never drive that you have to insure and pay taxes for.

 

[LesClaypool]

I work from home, ride my bike and rent a car for work trips. I put 4,000 miles on my car last year.

That said, I care way too much about car to let some schmoe drive it for a few bucks.

Yeah but you’re a weirdo.

 

[RunRonnieRun]

Turo provides significant insurance on cars should they be damaged, destroyed, stolen.
https://turo.com/insurance

If you've got a standard car out in the driveway that you're not using a ton, this is a good way to monetize it. If you want to get a new car but don't want to pay for it, this is a good way to afford it.

I see a lot of folks making more commoditized car purchasing decisions, picking pragmatic cars and not a car they're going to dote over.

Makes a lot of sense in this day and age. If humans are part of the gig economy, their cars can be also.

Let’s not bring facts and research into this Kill-It-With-Fire conversation.

 

[OrlandNole]

Turo provides significant insurance on cars should they be damaged, destroyed, stolen.
https://turo.com/insurance

If you've got a standard car out in the driveway that you're not using a ton, this is a good way to monetize it. If you want to get a new car but don't want to pay for it, this is a good way to afford it.

I see a lot of folks making more commoditized car purchasing decisions, picking pragmatic cars and not a car they're going to dote over.

Makes a lot of sense in this day and age. If humans are part of the gig economy, their cars can be also.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea and more evidence that we're moving toward a model of shared mobility. For people who aren't OCD about their cars, it's a great option.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Let’s not bring facts and research into this Kill-It-With-Fire conversation.

I swear, no one even wants to take a split second to do some actual research.
They just assume what they feel must be right and no one was smart enough to think of the thing they thought of. Sigh...

 

[SeaPA]

Yeah, so I'm looking for a car. How big is your trunk? Would it fit, say 4 bodies in it?

I might rent you my Jeep because I know you're rich enough to afford my price. On the plus side, it can get you to some areas that a normal car cannot. On the negative side, the storage area of a Wrangler is so small that the President of Frontier Airlines says "damn, they need to come up with a bigger storage area"; the only way it will fit 4 bodies is if they are newborns.

 

[OrlandNole]

="ReliableOstrich, post: 4020135, member: 3968"If you want to get a new car but don't want to pay for it, this is a good way to afford it.

Actually, this could be an interesting business model. Procure a small fleet of boutique vehicles (European sports cars, convertibles, etc.) and offer perks (curbside delivery/pickup, gift baskets, etc.). This would work well in a tourist town like Nashville.

 

[SeaPA]

Actually, this could be an interesting business model. Procure a small fleet of boutique vehicles (European sports cars, convertibles, etc.) and offer perks (curbside delivery/pickup, gift baskets, etc.). This would work well in a tourist town like Nashville.

I know there are some businesses in Vegas that do so; during a hot streak on the craps table last year I was thinking about renting a Lambo or a Ferrari for a quick trip around the Red Rock Canyon loop. A series of ill-timed 7s, along with a wife, squelched the idea.

IIRC the company I'd glanced at had a pretty nice inventory (in addition to the Lambos & Ferraris, they also had a couple of Bugattis, Rolls Royce, Porsche, McLaren, etc).

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Actually, this could be an interesting business model. Procure a small fleet of boutique vehicles (European sports cars, convertibles, etc.) and offer perks (curbside delivery/pickup, gift baskets, etc.). This would work well in a tourist town like Nashville.

There are certainly already car rental companies established in all parts of the luxury car market.
However, Turo is interesting in that you could lease a Lambo (monthly payments ~$3,000) and rent it out for about $500/day 5-6 times a month and drive it the rest of the month for nearly free - or rent it out more than that for a pretty good profit provided there's enough demand.

Whole cottage industries sprouted up around Airbnb and eBay, this may be no different.

 

[cfbfan23]

There are certainly already car rental companies established in all parts of the luxury car market.
However, Turo is interesting in that you could lease a Lambo (monthly payments ~$3,000) and rent it out for about $500/day 5-6 times a month and drive it the rest of the month for nearly free - or rent it out more than that for a pretty good profit provided there's enough demand.

Whole cottage industries sprouted up around Airbnb and eBay, this may be no different.

What's the annual mileage on that lambo lease?

 

[funksouljon]

Let’s not bring facts and research into this Kill-It-With-Fire conversation.

Only fact I need is that I don't want some strangers in my car. Same with my primary residence when Im not around.

Just asking who would use a service like this P2P.

 

[Gonolz]

I know there are some businesses in Vegas that do so; during a hot streak on the craps table last year I was thinking about renting a Lambo or a Ferrari for a quick trip around the Red Rock Canyon loop. A series of ill-timed 7s, along with a wife, squelched the idea.

IIRC the company I'd glanced at had a pretty nice inventory (in addition to the Lambos & Ferraris, they also had a couple of Bugattis, Rolls Royce, Porsche, McLaren, etc).

In the game of life, wives are the seven out.

 

[TripTych]

This type of mobility service is on the horizon for OEMs and the service will probably be managed and operated by OEMs, but that is still to be determined. I can see a service that provides a Lime/Bird type interface for all vehicles that have the ability to automatically loan out your vehicle rather than have it sit in a parking garage all day. The concept of a 'virtual key' will be appearing in MY20/21 vehicles for at least two lower-cost OEMs of which I am aware, which will make the operationalization of this model much more appropriate to the use case. There will no longer be a need to drop off or deliver the vehicle to the subscriber, but the consumer should be able to pull up all available vehicles in their immediate area and automatically unlock and start the vehicle through their OEM native application. The vehicle owner will have the ability to set to auto-allow based on a user rating or certain other filters, or will have to manually approve and share the virtual key. But yeah, obviously this service is not for everyone, but it helps mitigate the issue of having millions of vehicles idle during the day and allows the consumer to say rent a vehicle for the day to perform ride-sharing opportunities throughout the core, then return to the garage before the owner returns home.

 

[Wendy79]

My cousin's husband rented a Tesla for a weekend last year to test it out. He used Turo (or some other similar P2P app). Insurance was included in the price. The owner of the car apparently rents it out a lot.

 

[LT4PLY]

There is no model where renting your car through turo makes sense. The prices are so low the owner ends up losing no matter what... between wear and tear, mileage, maintenance, etc. the math simply doesn't work.

The Lambo lease is a perfect example. First off, a lambo lease around 3k per month is going to require a 20k down payment on one of the cheaper models. It will also have a mileage limit of about 2500-3000 miles per year.

Another example I actually ran... there is a guy that lives in Palm Bay that uses Turo on his Corvette. 175 bucks a day for up to 200 miles. Figuring clutch wear, brakes, tires, oil, and a general dumbass tax for the people that rent that car who have never driven something that low before there is no way he's making a dime.

Also... even rental car companies don't really make money off of renting cars. They make money on the add on features (tank fill up, insurance, etc) and on buying a crap ton of cars at huge discounts and reselling them.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

There is no model where renting your car through turo makes sense. The prices are so low the owner ends up losing no matter what... between wear and tear, mileage, maintenance, etc. the math simply doesn't work.

The Lambo lease is a perfect example. First off, a lambo lease around 3k per month is going to require a 20k down payment on one of the cheaper models. It will also have a mileage limit of about 2500-3000 miles per year.

Another example I actually ran... there is a guy that lives in Palm Bay that uses Turo on his Corvette. 175 bucks a day for up to 200 miles. Figuring clutch wear, brakes, tires, oil, and a general dumbass tax for the people that rent that car who have never driven something that low before there is no way he's making a dime.

Also... even rental car companies don't really make money off of renting cars. They make money on the add on features (tank fill up, insurance, etc) and on buying a crap ton of cars at huge discounts and reselling them.

Some fair points, which really just reaffirm @TripTych's post.

Companies like Turo (there are several more) are building out the baseline business model. Any number of ways they could go from here, e.g. car financing for 'owners' who list their car for rental x% of the time. And of course OEMs getting involved in the rental game.

It's interesting that car sale data hasn't reflected much of a downtrend yet but anecdotally I've seen a drastic decline among friends.

 

[surfnole]

Friend rented a 4x4 in Central America. Raising hell and rolled it and dented it all to hell. Delayed his trip a few days while he found a local to bondo all the dents and paint, then returned and got the hell out of the country.

 

[totallynot321Nole]

Another example I actually ran... there is a guy that lives in Palm Bay that uses Turo on his Corvette. 175 bucks a day for up to 200 miles. Figuring clutch wear, brakes, tires, oil, and a general dumbass tax for the people that rent that car who have never driven something that low before there is no way he's making a dime.

Also... even rental car companies don't really make money off of renting cars. They make money on the add on features (tank fill up, insurance, etc) and on buying a crap ton of cars at huge discounts and reselling them.

I wonder if the guy is taking tax write offs for the car? Seems like it wouldn't make sense otherwise.