# Promotion of Electric Cars via Turo



## Uricasha (Feb 19, 2017)

I've been in the market for a used electric vehicle to rent it out on Turo and drive when its not being rented out.

Since it's so hot in Phoenix, AZ, I didn't want to buy a Nissan Leaf (or MiEV) because of the battery issues here, therefore, I told myself that I would buy any electric car with active battery cooling when the price was $6,000 or less. Lo and behold, Smart Electric cars have been coming off their leases and being sold for rock-bottom prices at auctions in California.

I was able to pick one up in great condition for $5,900 (plus tax / registration) last week.

























​Even though it takes like 12 seconds to go from 0-16, this thing is super fun to drive. My girlfriend likens it to driving a golf cart.  I have been driving it to work over the past week and originally had some range anxiety (because of its 65 mile range) but only after one week I no longer carry that anxiety. For instance, today I ran a bunch of errands putting me at 60 miles but the car handled it beautifully with no problems. Now that I'm on the lookout for charging stations, I was able to get some free juice at a Whole Foods Market.

If you want a 3-year old (new to you) car for under $8,000 this car is great.

On to the original point of this thread:

It is my plan to list this car on Turo next week to see how much income I can gain from renting this car out. From my calculation, if I list the car at $23 per day, I would need to rent the car out 4 times per month to pay for the insurance/cleaning fees.

Turo takes a 25% cut from the rental cost to insure the vehicle and vet the renters. 23*75% = $17.25 per day in my pocket.
To get a complete return on my investment, I would need to rent out the vehicle another 347 days over and above the 4 day per month I need to pay for insurance.

If I rent out 13 days per month, car is "paid off" after 3 years.
If i rent out 17 days per month, car is "paid off" after 2 years.
Furthermore, my payoff time will be faster if I choose to drive electric vs my gas car.

25 mpg @ $2.25 per gallon yields $0.09 / mile
3.3 miles per kWhr @ $0.05 per kWhr yields $0.015 / mile
I save 7.5 cents per mile just on the cost of propellant. Assume I exchange 6000 miles over the coming year, I will save $450 which knocks off 7.5% of the car price.

Anyways, I plan to update this post as I list the car on Turo and start renting it out. I know Turo can help some of us with the cost of the Model 3 and I'm testing it out with a cheaper car to see if its worth putting my Tesla Model 3 on the website for rent.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

Really interested to see how this works out for you. I've got a second Model3 reservation to utilize the Tesla Network idea. Plan to just bump the reservation until the idea is a reality and then run the car as often as it possibly can. If that goes well I may try expand into 3 or 4 cars. I've had enough miserable taxi experiences over the years that I'd love to put 50 autonomous cars on the road and drive some of the locals out of business.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

Matthew Morgan said:


> I've been in the market for a used electric vehicle to rent it out on Turo and drive when its not being rented out.
> 
> Since it's so hot in Phoenix, AZ, I didn't want to buy a Nissan Leaf (or MiEV) because of the battery issues here, therefore, I told myself that I would buy any electric car with active battery cooling when the price was $6,000 or less. Lo and behold, Smart Electric cars have been coming off their leases and being sold for rock-bottom prices at auctions in California.
> 
> ...


Matthew - we just paid Thrifty $475/5 days for a compact (Accent I think it was) from PHX. Think you could easily charge more than $23/day


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## KennethK (Oct 13, 2016)

Matthew Morgan said:


> It is my plan to list this car on Turo next week to see how much income I can gain from renting this car out. From my calculation, if I list the car at $23 per day, I would need to rent the car out 4 times per month to pay for the insurance/cleaning fees


I recently found out about Turo, so I decided to rent a car for a vacation. By doing so, I avoided all of the airport tax and got a better vehicle suited to my needs. Taxes amount to about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rental costs.


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