Plenty of people have decided to get in on the Turo “side hustle” as a way to either straight up make money or to help finance their dream car. However, some individuals using the peer-to-peer car sharing service have learned that thieves can use it to steal your ride and there isn’t much to be done about it.
Toyota Supra rented off Turo raced at the Texas Mile.
One of the more painful recent cases comes out of Wichita, Kansas with KWCH highlighting how a man bought a 2022 Chevy Corvette and used Turo to help float the rather steep monthly payments on the mid-engine sports car. However, when it came time for one renter to return the ride, the OnStar system showed it was hours away.
Long story short, the C8 Corvette disappeared and the renter tore out the GPS tracking, tossing it in the middle of the Mississippi River. This Turo user realized afterward that the driver’s license the renter presented was in fact fake. Thieves are exploiting that weakness in the Turo service to the grief of car owners.
In another case out of the Atlanta area, a woman had her Jeep Wrangler stolen. At first the renter claimed it was in an accident, then he just cut off all contact. When the owner of the Jeep contacted police, Fox 5 reports she was told it was a civil matter since she and the renter had entered a contract and she handed the keys over to him. That’s another potential pitfall of using the peer-to-peer sharing service.
We even found cases of criminals renting cars through sharing services, then using the vehicle in the commission of another crime. In some cases the rental vehicles were involved in high-speed police chases. It’s all part of the risk of lending your ride out to strangers.
Turo says all people renting out their ride through the app are covered with up to $750,000 in liability insurance. Plus, the car itself is protected against theft and any physical damage, barring owners carrying a commercial rental insurance policy. But, in the case of the stolen C8 Corvette from Wichita, Turo told KWCH it would reimburse the owner for the car if it isn’t found within 30 days. In the meantime, he’s on the hook for the next car payment while losing any potential revenue from renting it during that period.
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