LIVING in the middle of a city makes owning a car impossible for most people my age – so whenever I need one, I’m forced to fork out hundreds of pounds to rent one.
But I’ve discovered a new secret site which means Brits like me can rent cars for a fraction of the cost… and the best part? They drop it off at your front door.
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Welcome to the AirBnb for cars, otherwise known as Turo.
The app is the world’s largest car-sharing marketplace – meaning Brits can list their cars for rent when they are not using them, much like renting out your home on AirBnB.
Over the last bank holiday weekend, I was quoted £80 a day to rent the cheapest car available at my local hire shop.
It was 8 miles away from me – over an hour on public transport – and the fees and insurance made the grand total for a four-day trip over £500 – and that’s not even considering the additional costs of petrol.
It made the trip I was planning to do up to the Lake District for four days – a place where you really need a car – out of my budget.
In a desperate Google search for cheaper alternatives outside London, I stumbled across Turo and after a quick search found countless options which were much closer to my house – and, more importantly, substantially cheaper.
The app is extremely easy to use. Much like on AirBnB, you input the dates you want a car, the location and your budget and you are served a list of local cars which match your preferences.
I immediately found a Fiat 500 for just £25.28 a day that was available for my dates. The terms stated that I could drive the car up to 200 miles per day – or 800 miles over a four-day window.
But the best part was that for £80, I could have the car both delivered to me and picked up on my return – saving me carting my bags all over London.
I was sold.
To my delight, further discounts were added at the checkout – £17.36 for length of hire – but VAT of £41 was also added.
Make over £6k a year renting out your car
Listing your car on Turo is easily done in 4 simple steps…
- Sign up – Listing your car takes about ten minutes. There are no sign-up fees or monthly charges. All you need are your car’s details to get the ball rolling.
- Set up your profile -Set your preferences, including when your car is available and your daily price. Add some photos and a description, and you’re good to go.
- Welcome your guests – When a guest books your car, you’ll get in touch with the details. The Turo app walks you through everything you need to do.
- Sit back and earn -You’ll get paid by direct deposit within three days of each trip. You’ll earn 65% or 75% of the trip price, based on the level of Turo protection you choose.
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I chose the Premier Protection – but there were two cheaper tiers available too – and additional drivers are free to add.
I popped in my preferred times and my car and host arrived bang on time a week later the night before my trip.
The app allows both host and driver to upload photos of the car at that point, and on collection – meaning there are never any disputes on damage.
I also loved that there was no time wasted at hire car counters – the entire pick-up took less than five minutes.
My host explained how to use the car and told me to return it as it had been dropped off – with a full tank of fuel.
The next morning I packed up my lovely red Fiat and set off on my road trip feeling totally at ease.
The car was super efficient, using minimal fuel and I loved that the host had left me bottles of water and mints for the drive.
Once you’ve set off, you have instant messaging access to the host – which was great for me when I couldn’t work out how to open the fuel cap on my first refill stop.
Turo: The facts
Turo is available in over 16,000 cities across the US, UK, Canada, France, and Australia. Many Turo hosts offer delivery.
Cars sit idle 95% of the time – the average host in the UK makes £414 a month per car.
Turo has approximately 140,000 active hosts, 338,000 active vehicles and 3.5 million active guests from around the world.
The car was perfect for me as I was looking for the lowest hire price possible.
But there were absolutely loads of other models on offer – including a BMW for just £41 a day or a Lexus 200 for £63 a day if you wanted something much jazzier.
The app also offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before – and the option to request an extension while you’re away, which I ended up doing as I loved the experience so much.
I genuinely couldn’t fault it – and will be using Turo for many more trips in the future.
