I know, I know…I haven’t written anything new here in quite some time. So here’s a quick recap of my Turo business since my last post (wow…the last one was in November of 2024). I plan on expanding a few of these into full blog posts to provide additional details, but here are the highlights.
Another car in my fleet was totaled.
Unlike the last time when my Tesla Model 3 was wrecked, Turo initially low-balled me on the payout. It wasn’t until a second inspection (by a body shop I chose) that the car was declared a total loss. I didn’t replace it with another car, so my fleet is currently at 8 vehicles.
I’ve moved my primary location into Manhattan.
Since the start of this Turo journey we’ve operated close to home in the Hudson Valley of upstate NY, and offered delivery into NYC with an added fee. To combat the local slower seasons (Fall and Winter), I decided to try something new, and listed a couple cars in Manhattan in October. It worked well, so I kept adding more until my entire fleet was moved into the city. Although I’m getting more bookings, the added time, hassle, and expenses have made this a huge challenge. I’ll have to dedicate an entire blog post to this experience.
I’m getting nervous about Turo continuing to operate in New York State.
Turo has sent me a couple emails asking that I reach out to my local government representatives to let them know how my carsharing business has helped me financially. They also expressed how insurance requirements and other laws are making it hard to keep operating in the state. That’s enough to make me start exploring exit strategies. Not to mention….
My car insurance premiums are going up again by A LOT!
I wrote a couple posts last year about Lula and ABI’s Turo-specific insurance programs and how my costs pretty much doubled when I had to switch to ABI once Lula went out of business. Well, ABI just sent me my renewal and the rate is going through the roof again. This also has me exploring exit strategies for my Turo business, as profitability will seriously be compromised with the added expense.
We’ve added rental properties to the business.
With all the uncertainty with Turo, we added some additional income streams by purchasing a couple duplexes. I’m excited for this new “division” within our business, and will give some details in a separate post soon.
Overall, our Turo business has been facing some real challenges since the Fall, and we’re seriously considering our options for moving on to something else. This June will make 3 years in operation, but things feel different now. I know all businesses have problems, but if the path to profitability has fundamentally changed then we’ll need to pivot. The last thing I want is for Turo to abruptly shut down (again) in New York and for me to be left with 8 cars that I can’t rent. So I’m just trying to stay ahead of things. I will keep you posted on how things play out, and promise to write on here more often with new updates as they occur. Check back in soon!
