beginner turo host blueprint

New to Turo? Start here.

01. market

Do your research

Knowing your market is crucial to starting on Turo and location does matter. Most markets favor economy cars but select few favor luxury vehicles. A quick actionable step to find out what your market is like is going right to the source.

Go to Turo.com or the app and enter in your zip code as if you were a guest. Take a good look, this is your competition. What do you see? Take note of car types, years, and quality of photos.

Pro Tip: If the nearest listing is 15 miles or further away from your location you NEED to consider listing your vehicle closer to the nearest city or offering delivery.

02. what car do i list?

economy

You are not reinventing the wheel. The fact is that ~78% of bookings on Turo are for economy vehicles. Most people just need to get from point A to point B. Cater to those customers.

Turo Eligibility

  • Must be under 130,000 miles

  • Must be 12 years old or newer

  • Must have a clean Title (No salvage, branded, flood, etc)

  • Cannot have any open recalls

  • -Kia Forte

    -Hyundai Elantra

    -Ford Fusion

  • -Kia Sportage

    -Hyundai Tucson

    -Honda CR-V

  • -Any vehicle over $25k

    -Car brands with known issues

PRO TIP: Look for open recalls on a vehicle you are eyeing up. If there is an open recall with NO remedy available it cannot be listed on Turo. On to the next.

04. what do i price at?

dynamic

Turo uses an algorithm to recommend a price for your specific vehicle. Follow it, you are a brand new host with no reviews. Don’t expect to make a killing your first month. Price at or just below the dynamic pricing structure Turo gives you. Your main focus is getting positive reviews.

-Positive reviews builds more trust.

-Trust builds more bookings.

-Bookings build more money in your pocket for the next car.

Do not stress if your car does not get a booking instantly, while yes some first time listings get booked the first day some may be 7 days.

PRO TIP: If your car has been listed and has no bookings within 7 days you NEED to lower your price or change locations. Every day that goes by unbooked is a loss.

05. where do i park?

proximity

As you are starting to realize, Turo has two roles in your car rental business. Marketing and protection. Everything else is up to you to figure out.

Most people do not want to strangers coming to their driveway every time someone books their car.

When first starting out you need to be creative with where you park your cars for pickup / drop-off. Do not go out and pay for commercial parking spaces when you have just one car.

Park here:

  • Shopping Centers

  • Train Stations

  • Park & Ride

  • Hotel

PRO TIP: Try to find somewhere that has free parking and not heavily monitored. Make it convenient for yourself, some places you may only be able to park during the day, so make sure it is close by and within walking distance if possible.

this is just scratching the surface

Want the rest of the system?

This guide is the starting line. The Surge Host Blueprint is everything else I use to run my fleet: 6 modules and 22 lessons on stress-testing your market, buying a car without overpaying, setting up your LLC, handling claims, tickets and tolls, and knowing when to buy car #2.
$47, one time.

Get the Blueprint