If you are looking to use Turo for the first time, you may be wondering, “Is Turo a scam?” As an all-star host myself, I can tell you that Turo is not a scam and is actually a very useful platform for renters and hosts. Overall, it can seem scary to download an app onto your phone and rent a car from some random person that you hope is real. There are several ways that a new renter can spot a safe host from a potential scammer.
Overall, Turo is a trusted company with more than 12 years of experience, 85,000 hosts, and millions of renters each year. Not only is the carsharing behemoth credited with the Better Business Bureau, it also provides strict guidelines for any hosts to operate on their platform. Those guidelines include passing a background check in order to create an account, providing contactless pickup, and ensuring that cars are regularly maintained so they don’t break down on your trip.
Turo has an experienced CEO, operates in several countries, and is looking to go public very soon with their IPO filed in 2022. The only reason your experience with Turo may not be trustworthy is because of a bad host. Unfortunately, as with any peer-to-peer sharing platform such as Airbnb or Neighbor Storage, there is always an occasional bad apple. Luckily, there are ways to spot a bad host that may be a scammer compared to a generous and reliable host.
Reviews Can Be A Background Check
Contrary to what some believe, Turo does not perform a background check on its hosts. While this would seem to be a simple way to weave out the scammers, Turo has a different method instead: Reviews.
Turo hosts are required to reach certain requirements in order to run the platform such as a reliable car, eligible car insurance and identification, certain age requirement, and more. One of my most important words of advice for any renters is to check the reviews of the host. Guest that leaves reviews will often mention any car maintenance problems they come across, any problems with the host, and their overall experience. If you find a host that has a huge list of 5-star reviews you are most likely going to be safe choosing that host.
There are many hosts on Turo that truly try to provide a good rental experience even as a full-time job. Every host has to start fresh with zero reviews at some point, but going with an all-star host is even less risk for you to worry about.
Turo Go Is Your Safest Option
Turo Go has become very popular within the past couple of years for a very good reason. Turo Go allows the renter to rely on contactless pickup with very flexible pickup and dropoff hours. This is a phenomenal option for renters that costs nothing extra.
Turo Go will lead you to your rental car, help you unlock the car remotely from the app, and be on your way. This emits the need for a host to ever meet you in person. Turo Go is one of the safest and most trustworthy options that Turo has to offer.
If you want to know more about Turo Go, head this way.
Here’s Why You Can Trust Your Turo Car Is (Most Likely) Reliable
Cars on Turo’s platform must meet several requirements for them to be listed. Here is just a couple of them:
- 12 years old or newer
- Fewer than 130,000
Once they are listed they must get an annual inspection and comply with local guidelines for vehicles. Hosts must complete an inspection every trip too. If vehicles break down due to a lack of regular maintenance such as lack of oil changes, replacing headlights, not replacing tires when they are nearly bald, etc, then Turo will fine the host up to $200 and they may be removed from the platform entirely. This is to ensure hosts keep safe and reliable vehicles for renters.
A second reason to trust your Turo car is Turo’s recall guidelines. If a vehicle has a recall announced, the vehicle will be pulled automatically from Turo’s platform until there is proof that it has been fixed by the dealer. As I was listing our 2015 Nissan Rogue it told me there was a recall for it. Sure enough, there was and the dealer ended up fixing it for no charge. This should help reduce overall safety concerns.
Another reason why Turo is trustworthy is because of their protection plans.
Thanks To Turo’s Protection Plans, You Don’t Need To Worry About Damage
Thanks to Turo’s selection of protection plans, you can be confident that you are protected regardless of the host. It is always my advice to choose the plan with the lowest deductible. This would come in handy if you ever damaged your Turo car whether it was or wasn’t your fault.
Have you ever rented a car from a traditional rental car company and received a call or email from them stating you damaged their vehicle? Well, Turo’s protection plans will eliminate the need to haggle about who damaged what. You can also work with the host if there ever is any damage instead of dealing with a large corporation.
Turo Is Trustworthy But You Should Always Be Extra Careful
My Turo profile currently has more than 20 reviews with a 100% 5-star rating. Guests have never mentioned anything about not being safe or trusted during any trip. Here’s a summary of what to look out for especially if you’re wondering how trustworthy Turo may be:
- Use Turo Go for contactless pickup and have more flexible pickup and dropoff hours
- Find an all-star host with lots of good reviews. Good reviews are the biggest indicator of a trusted host.
- Choose a high-protection plan with a low deductible. Regardless of who your host is, you will guarantee your own protection.
- Look at the host’s bio where they can have their social media pages linked.
Even with all of these tips and precautions, it’s best to always take extra measures to be safe. In fact, here are some additional tips on being safe on your next Turo trip.
