Getting started on Turo

How to create a stellar listing from day one and get on the fast track to success

Getting oriented

In this guide, you’ll learn how to craft a competitive listing, tune up your settings to work best for your schedule and goals, and earn big on the world’s largest car sharing marketplace.

So you've listed your car on Turo. Now what?

Getting started

Before you dig into your listing, get started with these simple steps.

Download the app

Hosting is better and easier when you have the Turo app handy. Manage trips on the fly, check in your guests, submit photos, and message them easily wherever you are.

Building a strong foundation

Thorough listings show up higher in search rankings and attract more guests.

Optimize your settings

First, get to know your Host Hub — it’s essentially your control center where you can:

Get in the hospitality mindset

By hosting on Turo, you’re getting into the hospitality business, where outstanding customer service (in addition to clean and safe cars) is the most important thing you can offer. 

Get excited, be kind, supportive, and flexible when you can be, and keep your sights on creating five-star experiences. 

Outstanding Turo hosts, also known as All-Star Hosts, get rewarded for their hard work and all-star customer service skills with more visibility in search results, priority support, travel credit bonuses, and boosted booking opportunities.

Learn more about the All-Star Host program

Polishing up your listing

Update and optimize your availability

• Adjust your vehicle settings (under the "Vehicles" tab)
• Monitor your performance metrics (under the "Performance" tab)
• Check your ratings and reviews (under the "Reviews" tab)
• Track your earnings (under the "Earnings" tab)
• Update your account-level settings (versus your vehicle-specific settings, under the "Settings" tab)

Each trip in the US comes standard with $750,000 in liability insurance under a third-party liability insurance policy issued to Turo from Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company², and hosts can choose from five plans, each of which offers reimbursement for car repairs up to your car’s actual cash value³ in case of damage during a trip.

Get to know your options

Choose the plan that's right for you

60 plan

Why share your car?

Earning opportunities

Hosts earn an average of $706 per month¹ after listing their car on Turo, and that figure is only growing each year! 

After getting set up on Turo, many hosts earn enough to offset the costs of owning their cars, including monthly payments, fuel, and maintenance.

Average earnings per host by year

Peace of mind

All Turo guests are prescreened, and Turo hosts can choose the protection plan that’s right for them. Every host plan comes standard with $750,000² in third-party liability insurance under a policy issued to Turo from Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines.

Jump to learn more about protection plans

Tips to make your profile pop

Upload at least 6 clear, well lit photos

Include photos of both your car’s interior and exterior, and take some aspirational shots with a nice background to really stand out from the crowd.

Review the photo guide for five tips to help you with composition and lighting, and see if there’s a professional photographer available in your area to kick your photo game up a notch.

Describe your car thoroughly

List basic details about your car using the structured options, like the number of seats and required fuel type, as well as special features that make your car unique, like a sunroof or all-wheel drive. Including all the features will help beef up your listing and improve its discoverability, since guests can filter by feature.

Write a unique description. Share what’s great about your car, and remember — a little personality goes a long way! Tell your guests about your cleaning routine, fun local drives, and any other interesting under-the-hood facts to get guests excited to book your car. Be sure to write at least 100 words in your description — more robust descriptions get a little boost in search results!

Boost booking opportunities by honing your settings

Perhaps the most important setting to update frequently for hosts, both new and seasoned, is your availability calendar. 

Block off the days that your car isn’t available so you only get trips that work with your schedule. Keeping your calendar up to date will help you avoid canceling any trips and keep your performance metrics high so you can shoot for All-Star Host status.

Perfect your pricing

The easiest way to score more bookings is to price your car competitively. 

Use Automatic Pricing to let Turo pricing tools do the work for you. The algorithm automatically optimizes your vehicle’s daily price according to your local market, demand patterns, and seasonality. 

Alternatively, set your own daily rates manually. Monitor your local demand patterns yourself and flex your prices accordingly. Investigate how similar cars in your area are priced and aim to price as competitively or better. 

If you’re not getting the traction you’re looking for, try lowering your price to match similar vehicles in your local market — the most common mistake new hosts make is pricing their car too high!

Get trips that work for you

Customizing your trip preferences (at the bottom of the side menu in your “Vehicle” tab) will help you only get trip requests that work for your schedule and your car sharing goals. Get to know and optimize your trip preferences with the tips below.

Keep Book Instantly enabled

Book Instantly is a feature that lets guests book your car without waiting for you to approve each trip manually. It’s important to note that it’s enabled by default on new listings, and since guests love the instant gratification it provides, we strongly recommend keeping it enabled with your calendar up-to-date to garner more bookings. Listings with Book Instantly enabled get a boost in search ranking.

If you need more time to prep before committing to each trip, however, please disable Book Instantly to avoid last-minute cancellations.

Adjust your advance notice settings

Decide how much lead time you need before each trip — you can customize it for each location you offer.

Many guests prefer last-minute trips — about 58% of all trips get booked less than two days before the start time — so reducing your advance notice setting will increase your likelihood of booking those last-minute trips.

Set your trip duration parameters

Set the longest and shortest duration trips you’ll accept, and try to allow shorter duration trips if possible — nearly half of all trips are two days or shorter, so accommodating shorter trips will help you book more!

Review your distance limits

You can set how far your guests are allowed to travel for each day of their trip. Offer at least 250 miles per day to stay strong in search results, and offer even more to sharpen your competitive edge.

Keep in mind, people don’t like being bound by limits, but often don’t go as far as the limits allowed. 

Set your pickup & return hours

Your pickup and return hours (found in your “Settings” tab in your Host Hub), indicate your availability to meet your guests for check-in or checkout. If you can, consider offering contactless check-in and checkout so you can accommodate broader pickup and return hours.

If you’d rather meet your guest in person, take note that most guests prefer to pick up cars before 10 am, so try to leave the mornings open!

Kick it into high gear with delivery and Extras

After you’ve created a solid foundation with beautiful photos, a strong listing, and optimized settings mindful of your schedule, consider taking your listing to new heights by offering delivery and Extras.

Offer outstanding convenience with delivery

Offering to deliver your car to your guests makes your listing stand out even more — it really sets you apart from car rental companies, and keeps you competitive within the marketplace. You can charge for deliveries to earn more per trip.

You can offer delivery to hotels, train stations, airports, and other popular locations, and pocket a delivery fee in return for just a little bit of legwork.

Go the extra mile with Extras

Extras are optional add-ons that your guests can purchase on top of their trip. You can provide amenities like camping equipment, a picnic basket, or a child safety seat, or offer to make their Turo experience hassle-free with prepaid refuel or post-trip cleaning. 

Like delivery, Extras are extra-special options for Turo hosts to offer that both sets your service apart from rental companies and gives you an additional income stream. Many Extras end up paying for themselves after just a few trips!

Most-purchased Extras:

• Post-trip cleaning (average earnings $21/trip)
• Unlimited miles (average earnings $59/trip)
• Prepaid refuel (average earnings $43/trip)

Wrapping your mind around vehicle protection

75 plan

80 plan

85 plan

90 plan

What happens if my vehicle is in an accident during a Turo trip?

In the rare case that your vehicle is involved in an accident, your guest should report it immediately. If you notice damage at the end of a trip and your guest hasn’t yet reported it, it’s important to report it immediately at the claims resolution center.

To ensure eligibility for reimbursement under a protection plan, hosts must:

• Report damage within 24 hours of the end of the trip. A Turo associate will then reach out and guide you through the process.
• Take clear photos to document the vehicle condition at the start and end of each trip. Use the in-app check-in and checkout features to take and upload the photos.⁵

If you have any questions or concerns, talk to your insurance professional.

Gearing up for your first trip

Your pre-trip checklist

• Message your guest to coordinate a pickup time and location
• Clean and disinfect your car thoroughly, following the enhanced cleaning and disinfection guide 
• Refuel or charge your car for your guest so it’s got a full tank or a full charge when they pick it up
• Take clear pre-trip photos documenting the vehicle’s interior and exterior condition and upload them to the “Trip photos” section — this step is crucial to be eligible for your protection plan! Turo needs pre- and post-trip evidence when processing claims⁴
• Check in your guest using the Turo app when the trip is starting, verifying their driver’s license
• See them off, respond to any questions, messages, or extension requests that may roll in, and otherwise sit back and relax until it’s time for checkout! 
• Get paid — after your guest returns your car, you’ll get paid by direct deposit within three days

Once a guest books your car, you’ll get a notification in the app and via email. Then follow this checklist to ensure you’ve covered all your bases:

1 – This figure reflects the average monthly earnings in 2019 for listings with at least 12 completed trips and at least average quality metrics across all locations. Actual earnings may vary.

2 – All protection plans include coverage under a third-party automobile liability insurance policy issued to Turo from Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company. Liability coverage is $750,000 for all host protection plans, except in some states and at some airports that require additional coverage. In New York, the liability coverage is $1,250,000. For questions or information about the third party liability insurance that is included in protection plans, consumers in Maryland and the licensed states listed here may contact Turo Insurance Agency at (415) 508-0283 / claims@turo.agency. For questions about how damage to a host’s vehicle is handled, visit https://help.turo.com.

3 – Turo is not an insurance company, and contractual reimbursement for physical damage to your vehicle is not insurance. Turo will reimburse hosts for eligible physical damage costs in excess of the deductible, subject to terms and exclusions, for the lesser of the cost of repair up to the actual cash value of the vehicle or $125,000. For the Tesla Model X, Tesla Model S, and Tesla Model 3 only, Turo will be responsible for the cost of eligible repairs, after the deductible, subject to terms and exclusions, for the lesser of the cost of the repair up to the actual cash value of the vehicle, even if it is more than $125,000.

4 – If a host elects to receive loss of hosting income on the 60 plan, they won’t be eligible for any replacement vehicle reimbursement, and vice versa — if a host elects to receive replacement vehicle reimbursement, they won’t be eligible to receive loss of hosting income.

5 – Exceptions may apply for trips that used Turo Go remote unlocking technology. Review the FAQ for more information on remote handoffs.