Anyone ever rent a car through Turo instead of the big rental companies?

SWMBO and I are booking a week-long retreat in Portland this July, and looking at the typical rental car offerings has me looking for alternatives. Spending $70 a day (after fees) to be stuck in a Versa is just asinine.

I've heard a thing or two about Turo so pulled it up to look at the offerings. Yeah all the cars are older but $25 a day for a 2011 Ford Fusion is a hell of a lot easier to swallow.

Any experiences good/bad with the service? I get that it's basically the Lyft/Uber of rental cars with all the good and bad that entails, but it's not like the major rental agencies are beacons of excellence themselves...

Is Turo like wrent a wreck? 

Autoslash seems to be another option, 

They say they get a lot of discounts most people do not know about, 

Check out the good and bad on flyertalk.com forums

I used Turo for a local guys  Type R - all went well.   I would use it again.  The only hassle was leaving my truck and going to get my father-in-law to drive my truck to leave at his house.  Also I had that stupid Ricer plate on the car and no front plate which is illegal in Illinois.

I had to get the guy to agree to cover the ticket should I get one for the lack of a front plate.  The whole deal went well and was easy to use.   

The more I drove it the more cautious I got because I didn’t want to roll it into a ball of foil.  I had a good time with the car - wifey liked it too.

I'm curious about Turo as well.  I booked an Audi A4 wagon for my trip to Colorado in a few months, but I haven't met anyone else who has used the service before.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Tried Autoslash - marginally better deal (basically paying second-tier rates for first-tier like Hertz, admittedly an improvement) but still nowhere near as low as even the more expensive Turo rentals.

Slightly OT but worth noting:  try not to rent from the airport fleet. You can actually save money taking a Uber into a city and renting from a local rental branch. The rates are less and the fees are substantially less. We did this in Las Vegas and it really wasn't a hassle. Kind of nice not having to waste time at the rental desk and hiking from the garage to the terminal.

I have a friend that rents beaters through Turo all the time, often for less than $20/day. He loves it. Usually gets some sort of 15-year-old Honda, though I know he always picks the cheapest car available. 

ddavidv said:

Slightly OT but worth noting:  try not to rent from the airport fleet. You can actually save money taking a Uber into a city and renting from a local rental branch. The rates are less and the fees are substantially less. We did this in Las Vegas and it really wasn't a hassle. Kind of nice not having to waste time at the rental desk and hiking from the garage to the terminal.

I ran into this in Europe renting a car for 2 nights/3 days in Lille, France to visit some of the WWI sites. If we had picked the car up (Hertz) at the train station, airport or their main downtown location they were going to hit us with a 40 euro convenience fee but there was one location just outside of the downtown core that didn't include that. We rented from there and we arrived via bus from the train station it was a gas station with a Hertz sign and our car sitting there ready to go. We saved the fee and lines and they had to specifically run a car out for us which seemed so backwards.

Adam

No personal experience though a friend has used it a bunch of times and has nothing bad to say about his experiences. 

Also, with Portland, you can take the MAX light rail into town for pennies and pick up your rental away from the airport, etc.  It picks up directly from the terminal.  Just an FYI.

Costco and AAA can provide some discounts, plus going with the rental company directly can sometimes help.  Its irritating how difficult it is to not get screwed on this stuff.

If you need a lift while in town, let me know and I'll see if I can help out.

I don't know about Turo, but it sounds like it isn't too bad.

In reply to Stefan :

Yeah, picking up at the terminal is not a priority unless we get a killer deal on doing so (and so far, looks like that won't happen).

Portland is awesome for public transit but we want to explore during the day and go out into the mountains a bit on our own schedule so want to have a car at the ready.

So far feedback on Turo has been good both here and from my FB friends, will probably give it a shot.

I rented an older E class in Hollywood, CA for like $35 a day.  The whole thing went very smoothly.  Took photos with the app before / after, picked up / dropped off the keys, and topped off the tank when I returned it.  I’d rent via Turo again.

How much does Turo charge for a 1998 Subaru Outback wagon (so you can get the full "locals" experience in Portland)? 

I wonder what the insurance looks like as an owner. I have a line on a cheap Matrix, and I live close enough to Ohare that I wonder if I could have a decent supplemental income stream for an extra car. 

John Welsh said:

How much does Turo charge for a 1998 Subaru Outback wagon (so you can get the full "locals" experience in Portland)? 

HEY!  That's not true......

Berk.

Nevermind.