New car sharing service Turo launches in Australia

A new service has arrived in Australia that is giving users the chance to earn some serious cash with minimal work.

Australians can now sample the car of their dreams.

A new side hustle could net Aussies some serious cash.

Global peer-to-peer car sharing giant, Turo, has just launched in Australia, giving car owners the chance to make $19,000 with minimal work.

The US company allows owners – called hosts – to rent out their vehicles when they aren’t using them.

The average host in the US, UK and Canada earns about A$19,000 a year sharing their vehicle with neighbours and travellers.

Global CEO, Andre Haddad, there are two types of host on Turo and some rake in big dollars.

Andre Haddad, Global CEO of Turo.

“There are users who have one or two vehicles on the service to offset part or all of the cost of car ownership,” says Haddad.

“An entrepreneur host has a small fleet of vehicles. These hosts have five-plus cars and some hosts have hundreds of cars. There are multimillion dollar businesses on Turo in the US.”

Haddad says they have 1400 different makes and models and prices ranging anywhere from $25 to more than $1000 a day.

“We strongly believe one of the things that differentiate Turo is the very wide selection of cars, we’d love to have all the different makes and models that exist within Australia on Turo,” says Haddad. “Including newer cars, cars that are less than 10 years old, vintage cars and very accessible budget cars and the most inaccessible and unique cars.”

The owner of the vehicle sets the price for the car loan, but Turo provides detailed data on what the local patterns are so owners can make the most informed decisions.

Unlike other peer-to-peer services available in Australia, Turo skews more premium.

It has vehicles worth up to $200,000 available meaning Aussies can get behind the wheel of cars they might never have been able to before.

Vehicles worth up to $200,000 can be leased on the platform.

Models such as the Mercedes-AMG C63, Audi R8 convertible and the electric Porshce Taycan are some of the models on offer to drivers.

“We believe it’s about finding the exact right car for the trip you are doing,” says Haddad.

Haddad says one of the company’s biggest points of difference is that Turo will make vehicles available at transit points such as Airports.

“We’re going to allow our hosts to list their vehicles with delivery, where they can deliver the car to airports, train stations, to the hotels, to people’s offices. This is a huge differentiation for us in overseas markets and hopefully will be in Australia,” says Haddad.

It’s not just about finding a great car in your neighbourhood, but is about finding the right car when you are travelling he says.

Haddad even hosts his vehicles, including the new Lucid Air Dream, on the platform.

Haddad believes the customer interaction is one of the most important elements of the service.

We feel that the owners of cars that are listed on Turo are in the hosting business, which means its all about hospitality, welcoming people into their cars,” he says.

“It’s about making sure the car is in great condition, is always impeccably clean, and we have very high standards in terms of quality and cleanliness.”

Haddad even rents out his own vehicles back in the US, including his new Lucid Air Dream, an electric car with more than 800km of range and a supercar-beating 695kW on tap.

He also leases out his two Porsche 911s, one is a 2006 Carrera S manual and the other a 2016 GTS auto.

Electric cars such as the Rivian R1T are very popular on Turo in the US.

He says one of the most popular cars in the US is the new Rivian R1T electric pick-up truck and there are a myriad of quirky vehicles, too, such as the hearse from the Adams Family.

Electric cars are a big focus for Turo. Zero-emissions vehicles make up to 15 per cent of its business in the US and Australia is expected to follow suit.

Haddad said a lot of people used Turo to try living with an electric car before they buy.

Originally published as New car sharing service Turo launches in Australia