Hey everyone, it’s been quite some time since I’ve updated this blog! I could offer a million excuses for the delay, or I could just acknowledge that YouTube is seemingly rendering blogging obsolete, but for those of you who still prefer to read nerdy written words about cars, chow, and so much more, here you go!
I recently took a three-day, two-night trip to the Disney parks in Florida (more on that in a future post, or perhaps not because, well, YouTube > blogging). For this trip, I rented a car through Turo. For those who don’t know, Turo is to car rentals what AirBnB is to lodging rentals. In other words, when you rent a car through Turo, you are renting a car owned by an individual (or an LLC, though that’s a discussion for another post). It has its own set of pros and cons compared to the enterprise known as traditional car rentals, and whether it hertz more or less depends on your budget, and your circumstances. (See what I did with all those car rental puns?!)
I’m going to start by sharing some context relevant to my personal situation and my personal deal-breakers, in the form of a little anecdote. Like some folks, and unlike others, I absolutely cannot stand the smell of cigarette smoke, including the residual smoke stench found all too often in rental cars (despite the scary “if you smoke, we’ll take all your money” warnings). In June, as I was on my way to educate some young minds in the areas of music and hilarious puns, a bird thought it would be cool to fly in front of the grille on my 2023 Acura Integra. The poor bird didn’t make it, as expected, but neither did the grille on my car, nor did the integrated parking sensors.
Thankfully, the kind folks at GEICO covered the repair under the “comprehensive” line on my policy, and the kind folks at Enterprise put me in a new-ish Nissan Rogue SV while my car was being re-grilled. I have several thoughts on said Rogue (to be shared separately), but personal opinions aside, it had a bit of a cigarette smoke smell. While it seemed minor at first, it was enough that, after the first day of the rental, I drove my 21-year-old Acura CL with over 208K miles to my work instead of the nearly-new Rogue.
I swapped the Rogue out for a similarly new-ish Sentra SV a couple days later, and realized that, though not as strong as in the Rogue, the odor of cigarette smoke still existed. Fortunately, my Integra was fixed a day later, and I returned the smoky Sentra only one day after picking it up. (As a side note, the shop did an amazing job detailing the exterior AND INTERIOR of my Integra, which essentially turned my $200 deductible into a $200 detail fee and a fully free repair.).
Why am I sharing such a lengthy anecdote? I share it for one reason alone, and that is to drive home the point that when you rent a car the “traditional” way, you can very easily wind up with a smoked-in car, and find yourself powerless to rectify the situation. This is especially true if you are in a foreign town, with little ability or energy to return to an airport and swap the car out for another.
Enter Turo. With Turo, and other similar services, you can read reviews on specific cars, written by the actual humans who rented said cars, before booking said cars. If a car has a smoke smell, it’s highly unlikely that said car would receive many glowing reviews with nary a mention of the smell. Ditto for other defects.
When I reserved my car rental on Turo for my Disney trip, I vetted several possible cars by reading the reviews, and eventually settled on a 2016 Hyundai Sonata Limited. While I have thoughts on the Sonata (as I did on the two Nissans I drove when my car was being repaired), I’ll share those in another post. I will say, though, that partially due to there being no smoke smell, I far more enjoyed my time in this eight-year-old car than I did in either of the two nearly-new Nissans I rented the traditional way.
Some other considerations that I have learned over several rental experiences, both traditional and through Turo:
— Insurance in a traditional rental: Though it’s always wise to read the fine print to be fully sure, your regular car insurance policy will most likely extend to a traditional car rental, and if you have a major credit card, your credit card agreement might actually carry secondary and/or supplemental protection. With this in mind, you might be able to safely decline most or all of the (overpriced) supplemental insurance options they often try to up-sell people on at the counter. Again, knowing EXACTLY what your insurance and/or your credit card agreement covers before renting the car would be smart, both from a personal injury/liability standpoint AND a property damage / collision standpoint.
— Insurance in a Turo rental: Conversely, most insurance carriers do NOT extend their coverage to Turo rentals, so if renting through Turo, I very strongly recommend springing for one of their three tiers of protection (varying in out-of-pocket deductibles). I often go for the zero-deductible option despite its higher pricetag. All Turo protection plans include state-minimum liability insurance. While I’d personally prefer higher limits on the liability end (or for my own insurance to apply), I can work with state-minimum limits simply by not driving like an idiot. In other words, by not texting while driving, by not driving while otherwise distracted, by pulling over if lost and figuring out my way while stopped, and by driving reasonably and prudently, I can all but eliminate any chance of myself causing an accident and being insufficient covered by a Turo protection plan. If someone else causes an accident, the zero-deductible protection plan covers me, and they would then be responsible for any liability issues.
— Procedures: That said, when doing a Turo rental, it is critical that check-in steps are followed completely and punctually on the Turo app, including taking and uploading ample photos at the start and end of the rental. This ensures that the protection plan kicks in and is fully in effect. I also recommend taking lots of photos when doing a traditional rental, to avoid being charged for damage you didn’t cause, but unlike with Turo, the applicability of your insurance coverage doesn’t depend on photos with a traditional rental.
— Price Comparisons: With traditional rentals AND with Turo, it’s often necessary to click through a few screens to see the TOTAL price for a rental. Both situations often involve several fees that don’t necessary pass the “is this or is this not bullshit” test, but that you’re stuck with regardless. Turo rentals sometimes include a charge for the host to bring the car to a convenient destination, and sometimes a renter through Turo will be responsible for nominal parking fees in the economy lot of an airport (if that’s where the host leaves the car). All of that said, from my own experience, I have regularly found that I can rent a nicer, better-equipped (though sometimes older) car on Turo than by going the traditional route, even when the Turo price factors in a protection plan and the aforementioned delivery charges, and the traditional rental includes neither item.
— Essential Items: When renting on Turo, you can check and see that the car will include specific features you need and/or desire, and you can often add extra items at checkout (car seats, pre-paid fuel, camping equipment, etc). Sometimes, these listings aren’t fully accurate, so it can be smart to either look in detail at the vehicle pictures, and/or to look up the feature and spec lists for the year/make/model of the car you are considering. With a traditional rental, you will more likely be left at the mercy of the kind person behind the counter, and you might not get a car with a feature you really want or need. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come to mind, as they allow your phone’s native GPS app to be displayed on the car’s infotainment screen, which can be enormously helpful when driving in an unfamiliar area. (Pro-tip, make sure you bring both a USB-A and a USB-C cable that will fit your phone, to ensure that you can connect without issue.). Most new cars have these features; some still don’t. My point is that going into a rental experience knowing for sure that your car will have the features you want and need, and that you won’t be pressured into a pricier rental car at the last minute, can alleviate a good amount of stress.
— Renting a stick shift car: If you, like me, prefer driving manual shift cars to automatics, you will need to go the Turo route if you want a manual rental car. Traditional rental companies in the USA, to my knowledge, don’t rent stick shift cars, well, because so few people know how to drive them, and even fewer know how to drive them without frying a clutch. Contrastingly, some Turo rentals have manual transmissions. I’ve had two really good manual transmission rental experiences on Turo (a 2016 Mazda Miata and a 2013 Fiat 500). That said, when renting a manual car from Turo, please make sure the car is ACTUALLY a manual shift car (check the interior pictures); several cars are inaccurately listed as manuals when, in fact, they are two-pedal machines that may or may not have semi-manual flappy paddles on the steering wheel. Also, I’d strongly recommend (a) making sure the user reviews don’t make any mention of a soft clutch, and (b) notifying the owner of the car before commencing the rental if you feel that the clutch is on its last legs. The last thing you would likely want to deal with after renting a car is being charged for the replacement of a clutch that you didn’t fry, but happened to drive most recently before the owner discovered it was fried.
Pros of a Traditional Rental:
— Your own insurance will likely extend to the rental car.
— You don’t need to coordinate drop-off and pick-up with a host.
— You’re likely to get a nearly-new car with current features.
— You might save money compared to Turo if “newness” is a priority.
— The check-in procedures aren’t as involved as with a Turo rental.
Pros of a Turo Rental:
— You can pick the exact car and be reasonably sure, based on reading the reviews, that you won’t have to deal with cigarette smoke or other hidden “surprises.”
— You can rent a manual transmission car if you want to do so.
— You can be sure the car will have the features that are most important to you (example: the 2016 Sonata I rented in Florida had ventilated seats, and I knew that going on, and my rear end was THANKFUL after every long day at the theme parks.).
— You can often rent cars that you’ll almost never see on a traditional rental lot (certain sports and luxury cars, specialty vehicles).
— You can rent Honda/Acura products — unlike most mainstream companies, Honda and Acura almost never do fleet sales, so good luck finding on a traditional rental lot.
— You can often get more features for the money, even if the car itself isn’t as new.
Cons of a Traditional Rental:
— You might get a smoked-in car.
— You often don’t get a choice as to the specific make and model.
— You can’t rent a manual-transmission car, and you won’t have as many niche or specialty options.
— You might get something without an essential feature, and be forced to upgrade to a pricier car to get something you might think should be included in all rentals.
Cons of a Turo Rental:
— If you don’t fully “check-in” and upload lots of photos, your protection plan might not apply. That, and the check-in process is more involved than with a traditional rental.
— Your insurance most likely won’t extend to a Turo rental, so a Turo protection plan is a must-have.
— You might need to pay a parking fee, delivery fee, or other extra fees based on how and where you pick the car up.
— WIth costs being equal, you’ll likely get an older car (albeit possibly better-equipped).
— Building on the previous point, while user reviews would likely indicate whether any components were truly unsafe, you might be more likely to encounter shocks, brakes, tires, etc. that don’t feel quite as new.
Conclusion:
Do the math, compare the full prices (inclusive of all fees, and making sure insurance coverages and protection plans are as close to apples-to-apples as possible), and see how everything stacks up relative to your needs, wants, and goals of your rental experience. If you’re not a car nerd like me, don’t want to put in as much effort and energy at pick-up and drop-off, don’t want to allocate as much time to research, and aren’t bothered by potential weird smells in a car, a traditional rental might be your ticket. If you are more particular about what you drive and are okay putting in some extra work and research time, and/or if you want a Honda/Acura or a manual shift car, you might get better bang for your buck with Turo.
My personal experience has been that I have, more often than not, gotten better-equipped, better-smelling, and nicer (albeit older) cars through Turo than I would’ve gotten through a traditional rental company, but that’s partially due to me likely spending more time than most people researching my various options, and I realize that some people don’t always have as much time or energy at their disposal to do this level of research.
All of that said, I love nerding out about this stuff (and about anything and everything automotive), so please drop me a line if you’d like my thoughts on which rental route would better suit your needs and wants.
One final thought: Now that Turo is in New York State, it can be a compelling option for local rentals of vehicles that are only needed once in a blue moon (a pickup truck when you need to move something, a convertible when you have a hot date lined up, etc.).
