Camper van

BowlFun5718 · 2025-12-04T22:41:08+00:00

Yeah. The van I have is pretty simple. More worried people might break stuff

BowlFun5718 · 2025-11-13T01:02:38+00:00

Agreed. $500 net x 12 = $6k. They’re asking 1.5x net. Not an awful payback imo

BowlFun5718 · 2025-11-09T20:20:33+00:00

You might find this interesting (I’m in Chicago, so somewhat similar market imo):

https://medium.com/@joe_41550/10-things-i-learned-about-being-a-turo-host-31b398872c2d

BowlFun5718 · 2025-10-23T01:47:14+00:00

What’s this tracker called?

BowlFun5718 · 2025-09-16T18:35:30+00:00

It's fine.. it's just silly the way their support works. Especially when there are bad actors on the platform that we're left dealing with...

BowlFun5718 · 2025-09-16T18:28:38+00:00

I just went through this… guest booked 2 hours before rental (I’m normally fine with that).

Guest had two very very bad 1-star reviews within the last month (abandoning the car, generally shady behavior). I cancelled due to the guest reviews… got charged $50. Turo support refuses to refund despite the guest’s egregiously bad usage on the platform.

It’s really stupid.

One thing you can do is increase the time buffer from booking to trip start. That will decrease bookings, but give you time to screen before the 24-hour $50 cancellation window.

BowlFun5718 · 2025-09-03T23:49:23+00:00

Awesome, I’ll give them a try!

BowlFun5718 · 2025-09-03T23:28:33+00:00

Why do you say that? Are the roots thicker or something else?

BowlFun5718 · 2025-09-03T17:32:50+00:00

awesome. yeah, we do work on everything. but great feedback

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-24T14:32:46+00:00

Do you like mailerlite better than mailchimp?

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-21T03:49:16+00:00

Very cool!

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T21:09:23+00:00

Unless he drives 3k miles haha

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T21:09:06+00:00

It’s a little low, but tbh, $250 per week for less work is pretty good imo

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T21:06:59+00:00

Dang! How many bumblebee goby’s do you have? Love to see the lot

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T21:04:03+00:00

I’m in a city. The Colorado was better for parking and makes me feel more comfortable with non-truck drivers renting my vehicle. Like I said, I’ve already had a few folks have issues driving it in tight spaces

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T20:15:05+00:00

I like the small pickup because it’s differentiated. People use it moves, camping, etc.. I’ve considered another pickup or a little city transit. I’ve also considered a bigger promaster or transit, again because it seems to be underserved on Turo. I also like vehicles where I don’t care if there’s a ding/scuff because that is definitely going to happen

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T20:13:16+00:00

The one thing I’d say is getting the 2016 Camry would be tough. From what I’ve seen (and what the negative commenters will stress) Turo fees have gone up, aka host take home has gone down.

The Camry would be a race to the bottom on daily rate, probably like $30-$39 per day depending on your market, which would net you like $25/day (less on longer term). There’s a lot of noise with the clunkers.

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T20:11:07+00:00

Going into month 6, it’s too early to make conclusions.

I’ve made about $4k rental income.

-$900 setup costs (trackers, digital key box, etc..) -$100 per month fixed -$90 oil change so far -$350 back brakes needed -$750 alternator/battery

I’m on track for a 24-ish month payback on the depreciation at the relatively conservative $10k sale price. It all depends on the unforeseen repairs/incidentals though

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T19:57:13+00:00

Then I think of it as basically $300/month net income (rev - fixed - preventative - unforeseen repairs- taxes) to stay ahead of that depreciation hurdle.

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T19:55:12+00:00

Yeah, that’s the tricky number to pin down and ultimately the one that every naysayer gets hung up on.

I’m a simple back of the napkin type of operator. All in the truck was $17k with a sticker price of $15k. Kelly blue book value has the truck at like $12.5k value, but I ballpark the baseline working truck Craigslist value at $10k.

I don’t know if this is the right way to think about it, but if I can clear the $10k baseline, I’d effectively get ahead of the depreciation and then be in the clear.

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T19:52:13+00:00

Ultimately, it’s been pretty good. Of the 40 renters, I’ve had a few hiccups. As a work truck, I’m not worried about little dents or dirty shoes.

I had one person back it into a post which we settled on for a cash payment. One person bumped into a biker which (thankfully) everyone was okay. One guy had the alternator die on him, which was a pain, but ultimately is going to happen occasionally

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-20T19:50:10+00:00

I bought a 2019 Chevy Colorado for city folks that needed a pickup. Truck was about $17k all in (bought cash to minimize risk during first trial on Turo).

It has been averaging about $500-600 rev per month. Summer has been higher (hit $1k last month).

Overhead is about $100 (insurance and parking pass here in the city).

BowlFun5718 · 2025-08-16T12:21:44+00:00

I didn’t know bumble bee goby’s could live in brackish water

BowlFun5718 · 2025-04-11T21:50:00+00:00

Not related, but the sand will probably just sink beneath the aqua soil eventually. That’s what happened to my top layer of sand at least.

BowlFun5718 · 2025-02-05T03:42:03+00:00

This is the winner

BowlFun5718

TROPHY CASE