Review: Renting a Car With Turo

During my recent trip to The Big Island of Hawaii, I decided to give Turo a shot since car rental prices for a 5-day trip were ridiculously expensive. When I entered my travel dates on Kayak, the cheapest rate I found was $568 for a Ford Fiesta. Having a car in The Big Island is almost a necessity if you don’t plan on spending your entire time on a resort because the island is bigger than all the other Hawaiian islands combined. If you’re staying near one of their two major towns, Kona or Hilo which are on the opposite sides of the island, the driving time to get from one to another is about 2 hours. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is closer to Hilo and a 2-hour drive from Kona without making any stops. The time will increase significantly if you stop at viewpoints and other points of interest along the way (you really should). You can also take the mass-transit bus but it’s more than 3 hours each way and you’ll regret not being able to stop at places along the way. But man, $568 for a Ford Fiesta. I was looking for a compact car that would get great gas mileage but also comfortably fit an infant car seat such as a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Those types of cars were going for $615 for 5 days and since my goal was not to offset the savings I had on my flight (I redeemed AA miles) by splurging on a car rental, I turned to Turo and see what they offered.

 Booking Process

Turo markets themselves as the Airbnb for cars. Regular people make their cars available to rent and you can often get luxury cars or convertibles for the price of a standard car at a rental company like Hertz. I found a compact car (Dodge Dart) going for $280 for 5 days on Turo and the car owner had a near perfect rating with over 30 reviews.  I booked the Dodge Dart which also included 500 miles (extra 45 cents/mile if I went over) and bought their standard insurance coverage for $10 a day. Even after adding that to the cost of the rental, it was still significantly cheaper than what the standard car rental agencies were offering.   It is important to note that credit card companies will not cover damage on car rentals from Turo. If you decide not to purchase any of the three tiers of collision coverage that Turo offers, you will be liable for any damages.

                                     Picking Up The Car

Prior to departing DFW for our flight to Kona, I gave the car owner our flight info and he responded back immediately with directions on how to get the car. Once we landed, he sent me a video which showed me where the car was parked in the airport parking lot and how to walk over to the parking lot. It was right across the street from the baggage claim with the keys in the glove compartment. No lines, no waiting, no hassle. Since he took a ticket to get the car into the parking lot, he told me to pay whatever the total amount was upon exiting and to keep the receipt. That fee would be reimbursed. He also gave me his cellphone number and told me to give him a call in case any issues would arise.

The Dodge Dart I rented was big enough to fit two suitcases in the trunk and had plenty of space to install the base of the car seat as well as the car seat itself. Gas was $3.62/gallon for regular so having a fuel-efficient car was optimal since I knew I’d be driving at least 450 miles in the 5 days we were there. I ended up driving 494 miles, most of that being the round-trip from Waikoloa to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Everything worked as it should and the AC was very cool and needed for the mid-80’s temperatures.

Returning The Car

We were set to return our car to the airport parking lot by 8 pm but our flight was closer to midnight. Our car owner (Anthony) said it wouldn’t be a problem at all if we returned the car at 10:15 pm so we would not have to spend close to 4 hours at the airport. I got to the airport parking lot, pulled out a ticket, and parked the car near the same area where I picked it up. I took a picture of the car and texted it to show him where it was parked. This was basically the “checkout” process. The picking up and dropping off process may differ with every car owner. I was very happy with my experience renting from Turo as it saved me both time and money. Anthony was an awesome dude and he asked me to spread the word about his cars. He has multiple cars available for rent in Kona on The Big Island, Kauai, and Honolulu. His rating is close to perfect so I highly recommend renting from him. In addition, if you use my link right here, you will save $25 off your first rental from Turo.