Renting a car is rapidly becoming more expensive. According to NerdWallet, while average prices of all items rose by about 23% since before the pandemic, in 2024, rental car prices have increased by 35%.
Due to these high prices, many people in need of a rental car have turned to alternative services to standard rental car outlets to get the vehicle they need.
One such service is Turo, a platform that advertises that users can “skip the rental car counter and rent just about any car, just about anywhere.” This is done by allowing users to offer their own cars for rent.
While many users have positive experiences with the app, some have shared notable negative ones. For example, one person who rented their personal car on Turo says that their renters crashed their car, then drove it 200 miles away instead of bringing it back. Another claimed that their car came back with considerable damage.
Now, a user on TikTok is causing some to rethink their use of the app after sharing a negative experience she had renting a car.
What happened to this woman’s Turo rental?
In a video with over 136,000 views, TikTok user @thepeopleschamp31 explains that she rented a car via Turo. However, while she was eating lunch, she noticed someone putting a boot on her rental car.
“I walked out and said, ‘Sir, I think you may have [made] a mistake. I’m not sure why you’re putting a boot on the car,’” the TikToker recounts. “He said, ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry to tell you this, but this car is up for repossession.’”
Not only did this spark disbelief in the TikToker, but also a host of issues. For example, the Atlanta TikToker was presently in San Antonio and needed to return to Dallas for her flight, something that would be quite difficult without the use of her rental car.
“I understand people fall on hard times. I get that,” the TikToker says. “However, what I do not get is the fact that you would allow someone to be in a predicament [where] they could have potentially missed their flight, they could potentially miss a wedding — they could potentially miss something big or grand that they may had already planned because of your negligence, because of your in incapacity to truly think about others.”
While she says the person renting out the vehicle apologized, the TikToker states that that’s not enough.
“Your ‘sorry’ don’t cut it,” she says. “Maybe you should not have had the car in an ability to rent if you knew it was in this status, ma’am.”
Turo responds to the TikToker
In a follow-up video, the TikToker explains that she has rented from Turo “a number of times” and has “never had a problem with this.” Furthermore, she says that the company immediately processed a refund for the car.
While some said that the TikToker should have simply rented from a bigger, more established car rental company, she notes that the car that she ended up renting from Enterprise cost as much for a single day as the Turo rental did for 4 days.
Still, she has suggestions for Turo.
“Turo, if you are watching this video, if you don’t have a clause that requires hosts to provide documentation that their cars are in good standing, I would recommend that you do that,” she says. “Because as you can see, people are so quick to downgrade a company based on an individual’s actions.”
How can this happen?
There are a few reasons one may find that their Turo rental has been repossessed.
In some cases, an owner may not have been making payments, and as a result, their car is repossessed,
However, this isn’t the only reason why a Turo rental might be repossessed. Renting out a car on Turo may go against the terms of a car loan that does not allow for commercial use—and there have been documented cases of cars getting repossessed once the loan holder realizes what the owner of the car is doing.
As for whether Turo checks for whether vehicles are in good standing before allowing them to be rented, this does not appear on their vehicle eligibility page. The Daily Dot has reached out to the company for verification via email.
@thepeopleschamp31 #greenscreen ♬ original sound – The Peoples Champ
‘Give me Hilton and Hertz any day.’
In the comments section, users said that issues like these have put them off using services like Turo.
“This is why I don’t fool with Turo, Airbnb, none of that… give me the Hilton and Hertz any day,” said a user. “Most people I see doing them is scammers.”
“Lesson, only rent from established car rental companies: Avis, Budget, Enterprise etc.,” echoed another. “They own their cars, not these fly by night operations.”
That said, others shared their positive experiences.
“I did turo back in December to travel from Michigan down to Kentucky to spend Xmas with my mom,” recalled a commenter. “had absolutely NO issues at all and plan to rent from the same guy in June to travel to FL for custody.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @thepeopleschamp31 via TikTok DM and comment.
Update 3:01pm ET, April 8: In an email to the Daily Dot, a Turo spokesperson shared the following:
“We’re truly sorry this guest faced such a disappointing experience. To make matters right, our customer support team immediately issued a full refund and removed the host from our marketplace for violating our clear policy requiring that any loans related to their Turo business be up-to-date. While such incidents are rare on Turo, we take them very seriously. We’re grateful the guest had a positive interaction with our Customer Support team and that she continues to recommend Turo for transportation needs.”
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