One of the struggles of solo travel at age 22 is not being able to rent cars. It’s not that I’m not eligible to rent them…. it’s just that they tack on SUCH a huge fee that it almost becomes impossible to afford. I was researching on how to save money as a younger traveler and came across “Turo” and decided to give it a try.

 

If you read my post “Hiking Bear Lake Trail at the Rocky Mountain National Park” you might have seen a little peak at the orange Jeep I rented. Yup, that’s a Turo rental!

 

Oh, and before I start giving you all this information about the app, let me just say that I’m not being paid to make this review or anything. I’m just trying to help out the youngsters that are out there traveling the world because it’s a bitch having to pay extra money to travel the world. Hopefully this information helps you all out a little bit!

 

Turo: What is it?

Turo is a car rental app similar to AirBnB. It allows real people to rent out their car when they aren’t using it to help make sure extra cash. It helps you out too because it’s typically cheaper than the every day car rental companies you’re used to seeing.

 

What type of cars are there to rent?

Pretty. Much. Anything. I, personally, rented a Jeep Wrangler (insert heart eye emojis here). You can see it in the picture below, I was in love with it! I could have picked something cheaper but Jeep Wranglers are my dream car, and it was wayyy cheaper than getting a basic car rental from someone like Hertz or Enterprise. So I had a “what the heck, let’s do it!” moment.

 

 

Turo Cost

Like I said, each car is owned by a different person… so each car has different prices. You can find basic cars on there for only $10 a day while at the same time you can find a Mercedes Benz, Audis, Corvettes, and Porsches for hundreds a day. Depends how high class you feel like being during your trip.

Here’s two different cars you can rent in the Chicago area. Prices are pretty different, aren’t they?

 

 

 

Turo Age Limit

The bad news is, yes, there is an underage fee. The good news is that each car has a set price for underage drivers. If you are under 25 you will be required to pay this underage fee. To see this fee you’ll need to go to checkout, where there will be a list of all the fees on the right hand side including the “Young Driver Fees.” Always be sure to check that out if you are under 25. My fee for the Jeep was about $15 a day but I have seen others that are only about $7 a day. This is CRAZY CHEAP compared to the fees from Hertz, Enterprise, Budget, etc. Usually when I rent a car the price will DOUBLE just because I’m young. Turo is changing the game though! This is the #1 reason I tried them out and I was not disappointed.

Here’s some screenshot examples of different underage fees:

Typically the nicer the car, the higher the price. For example, that last one is $120 a day. SO EXPENSIVE. But that’s also not priced for a crappy car – that was if you wanted to rent a Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.

 

Turo Insurance

Most of the cars will have the option of paying extra for insurance. This is always up to you. Sometimes your insurance company will cover the rental during the period you are driving it but this is not guaranteed. Especially since Turo involves individual owners instead of just one company. This is something to get ahold of your insurance about to see if they accept it or not. If your insurance won’t cover the rental, there is an option of paying a small fee to be covered by Liberty Mutual. Always remember: Insurance is important!!!!! 

 

Is there a limit to how many miles you can drive?

Yes and no. Since each car is owned by different people, each car has different rules. The Jeep I rented specifically had a limit of 150 miles a day and if you went over that amount, you were charged per mile ($2 per mile in my case – OUCH!). This is similar to normal car rental companies but the only difference is you may not be able to get unlimited miles with a longer stay. Be sure to check on that before renting your car. It’s extremely important.

Also important: They have an option in the app where you can take and save pictures of the car before, during and after. Both you and the owner can see these pictures. At the beginning and end of the trip you take a picture of the odometer and save it to the app as proof of exactly how much you drove.

 

Are there extra perks of Turo?

Yes! There are many people who will bring the car to you at the airport (or wherever you are) when you arrive. That way you don’t have to worry about finding other transportation to get the car. Plus, you won’t have to stand in line at the airport waiting for other people to get their cars first. Service at it’s finest.

Note: Not all car rentals provide this service. Turo makes it easy to filter through the car rentals though. There is an option that you can click saying “Have the car delivered to you.” Just choose that option and it will show you all the car rentals that have that service!

 

My Final Opinion

Although I have only used them once so far, I would definitely try it out again! I had a good experience from being able to pick my car up super late because the owner was flexible along with having such a cheap fee for being young.

If I could change anything, I’d want the miles allowed per day to be more just because when I’m on a trip I want to go EVERYWHERE and definitely don’t want to be limited on what I can do just because I don’t have enough miles to get there.

Luckily, the pros outweigh the cons. I recommend Turo!

 

Still not hooked on it?

Check out the reviews on the cars to see the experiences others had with that car and the owners (because let’s be honest – you don’t want to rent something from an asshole). Reviews always help settle my mind, especially it’s there are hundreds of good reviews for something.

 

Have you rented from Turo before? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!