Turo

Sharing my first experiences as a new Turo customer:
First attempted rental:
My first attempt to rent a car resulted in a 3 week delay while Turo confirmed that my picture matched my driver’s license. I was eventually approved to rent, however this was two weeks past the date of my trip (Av!s to the rescue).
Months later… My second attempted rental:
Now approved, I was confident that things would go without a hitch. I selected a reasonable car at a seemingly fair price. The car was confirmed but the service told me that my payment failed. Apparently the charge tripped my bank’s fraud alert. After calling the bank and clarifying that Turo is (I think) a legitimate rental company… I proceed to
to continue with payment. Now the price had increased by an additional $ 35… why? I called Turo and a sincerely helpful and calming support representative explained to me that the owners may change pricing at anytime… even while confirming a rental. Fair enough… If the airlines can get away with it, why not. Turo gave me a credit to compensate for the difference. Convinced that all was now made right… I continued my attempt to complete the rental. The website now displayed a dialog indicating that the price may have changed… please try again (repeatedly). I called Turo customer service yet again to figure out what the problem was. They stated that a software glitch might have been the cause for the error message and offered to manually place the charge. I agreed.
Now paid and ready to go… I awaited my rental start date and even reached out to the owner to confirm readiness to meet at the coordinated location… no response. Upon arriving at the location at the agreed upon time (and after a $ 27 cab fare), the owner informed me (through the app, rather than a call) that the car was unavailable due to damage caused the night before. On canceling the ride, Turo’s app stated their policy was full payment for same day cancellations. I called customer support and they, understanding the situation, reversed the charge. Oddly they can take money out of my account immediately, yet it will take them 3 – 5 business days to return the money to my account. I know, probably not Turo’s fault… but allow me to rant on. :)
Now still without a car for my business trip, I’m on to my third and fourth attempts to rent a car.
Attempt #3: I tried to select another vehicle that was listed as available for my dates on the Turo website. On confirmation… the Turo website asked me to upload pictures to verify my identity before I could be authorized to rent… What the? I thought I did that two months prior. I clicked OK to upload new pictures and nothing. No confirmation that my rental was even requested. I tried again and it seemed to take this time. I went about my day waiting for the vehicle owner to confirm. By the end of the day there was ultimately no response from owner and the request was cancelled.
Attempt #4: Owner declined the rental with no reason given. Why even bother to list it on the site as available for rent? Confused, I double checked my profile picture to confirm that I didn’t have food stuck in my teeth or a spot on my collar.
Now three days, one round trip cab ride and five calls with Turo customer support later … I gave up and went to Av! s. Thirty seconds later my rental was confirmed for pickup tomorrow.
Turo seems like a really good concept… and I would say that the customer service was as helpful as they could be, but at the end of the day the service is only as reliable as the people providing the cars… which is to say, «Not Very» Whatever money I might have saved on rental costs were spent (and then some) on a three day epic search to find someone who actually wanted to rent me a car.
–TC

Since Friday night I have tried to rent six different vehicles for obvious days that had not been blacked out by the owners. Well it seems that it is a policy that owners don’t have to meet nor live up to the expectations of the customers. Six times I was simply told that the days every single one of the owners had committed to rent… they simply did not feel like renting. Oh and TURO’s official reply was not to give up that they were confident I would eventually have luck… what a joke and a Farse they are!!!

I tried to book a car twice. Have family coming over in December. I found a good deal on a van. Booked it. Owner confirmed. Than randomly a week after I got an email from relay rides saying the driver cancelled. I’m glad I booked way in advance otherwise this would have been a disaster. You basically have no control the owner of the car can cancel on you as long as he gives a 72 hour notice. The second time I tried to book a van I got a message from the owner saying his rates were different than advertised. Seemed like a cool concept but very unreliable.

As an update to my prior review, I am still renting out my cars on Relay Rides on a regular basis. The rental pool in Houston has grown tremendously, but the demand has grown faster. All three of my cars are being consistently rented. That’s good, because it means they’re always earning money. I use the money to pay for my own insurance, registration and maintenance. And I have a lot left over. When I need a car for a road trip, I reserve my own car. And when I don’t need it, it’s more than paying for itself.
As the service has grown more popular, RelayRides has expanded a lot of price customizations for owners, and streamlined to booking process for renters. They’re still selective in who is allowed to rent. If you have reckless driving or DUI convictions on your record, you probably won’t be able to rent on RelayRides.
I have seen my share of bad renters. Usually the problem is merely forgetting to fill up or leaving the car dirty. When renters are responsible for damage, RelayRides responds fast. One recent renter smoked in my car, damaged the bumper, and returned the car a full 24 hours late. I contacted RelayRides about the situation, and they reimbursed me for the cost to remove the smoke odor, charged the renter a late fee, and sent me a check to fix the bumper far faster than any insurance agency would.
Always take pictures before and after the rental to document the condition of the car!

I’ve just completed my second rental from Relay Rides in the past year. Last year I mentioned how wonderful it would be to be able to rent a car from friends and neighbors instead of the mega corporations. Then an ad popped up on Facebook describing just what I spoke of. I’d rather rent from RR before ever considering the mega companies. The only grip I have is the condition of the cars when rented. Out of 6 rentals, I’ve only had 2 cars that were cleaned. One owner stated he only cleans cars on rentals on 1 week or more. Poor presentation.

RelayRides is by far the best way to rent a vehicle. You can find a car for a fraction of what the rental companies will charge. Your experience will vary depending on the person renting their car, but I’ve had great experiences so far.

The new and improved way to rent vehicles! Highly recommend using this app to rent a vehicle. With a variety of styles, makes and models you can actually choose yourself, RelayRides lets you choose the best option for any situation you may be needing a rental for. Will be using this app in the future!

My sister and I wanted to take a road trip to Austin, but didn’t want to drive my manual transmission, loud, rather unreliable car. So, we found a nice little two-​door toyota on RelayRides and took our road trip with no worries! RelayRides is perfect for those times when your car just won’t do, or if you’re looking for a less expensive option to a car rental company. We had a great experience and would recommend RelayRides to anyone!

I was looking to borrow a truck to haul some carpet to the dump, but was having no luck. I didn’t want to spend a million dollars for a rental. Luckily I found Relay Rides — it was perfect! I had a really easy time finding what I needed, the guy was easy to get ahold of and make arrangements with, the app was totally easy and helpful … All in all: good and easy! Need to remember, however — this IS a personal vehicle you’re renting. It’s not guaranteed spotless, perfect, whatever. It’s like borrowing a friends car when you need it. Great idea. Will absolutely use Relay Rides again. Only caution: I use a debit card, and had to be able to let go of a $ 250 security debit for about a week until it was replaced again after the truck was returned.