'Here's How I Found Out:' Man Rents Out His Car on Turo. Then He Discovers a Customer Swapped Out His Transmission
One man says that a person who rented his car through Turo intentionally caused serious damage to the vehicle.
Now he isn't sure if he'll ever get his money back. He wishes he had never done business with Turo.
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TikToker Pauli (@champagnepauliiiii) recently revealed what happened when he rented his car on Turo.
Pauli explains that he had a 2016 Ford Mustang in addition to his everyday work car.
To make some extra money, he decided to rent the Mustang on Turo.
'I only rented it out once, and the piece of [expletive] swapped the transmission in my car,' Pauli says.
'I'll never rent on Turo again,' he adds.
His post has over 112,000 views as of this writing.
What Is Turo?
Turo is like Airbnb but for cars.
Instead of going the traditional route of renting through a place like
Enterprise
or Avis, it allows you to rent others' personal cars.
Like how Airbnb disrupted the hotel market, Turo is disrupting the rental car service industry by offering cheaper prices, a wider selection, convenient pickup, and longer rentals.
In most states, you can even rent a Turo through
Uber
. It's called Uber Rent, and they have access to Turo's car selection.
How Did He Realize They'd Taken His Transmission?
Pauli may never have known what happened if his Mustang didn't have a manual transmission.
He says that after he got the car back, he had to change out the clutch multiple times within a few months.
At first, Pauli says he just thought he didn't know how to shift properly.
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But eight months and two clutch replacements later, he took it to the Ford dealership to try to get to the bottom of the persistent issue.
'These bolts have been replaced. These were not screwed back in properly,' he says the mechanic told him.
Then he contacted Turo. He says they 'were not much help.'
'When you steal from a person that is trying to make it or an individual that is just trying to find a way to make a couple bucks, there is a real special place in hell for pieces of [expletive] like you,' Pauli says.
'I hope they got what they deserved."
What Should He Have Done?
Pauli's options are most likely limited.
If he had opted into Turo's protection plan, Pauli would have had to send documentation of the vehicle's condition and file a damage claim within 24 hours of getting his Mustang back.
Pauli doesn't say in the video whether he signed up for the protection plan. But since he didn't know about the damage until eight months later, he wouldn't have been able to file a claim within 24 hours, anyway.
He could also sue the renter. This is probably his best option, but there are still roadblocks to relief.
To prevail, he'd need proof the transmission was swapped out and that they were the one who did so. He'd also need their identifying information, such as name and address, which he might need to get from Turo.
This is further complicated by the fact that Turo's terms state that if you sue a renter, they may charge you $5,500 for breach of contract. So he could win a new transmission and still lose money.
Is There Another Explanation?
Multiple commenters said that there could be another reason why his transmission had new bolts. It's nowhere near as nefarious as a customer stealing it.
'Transmission has to be unbolted from the engine to do a clutch job,' wrote one. 'If clutch was replaced twice already by a 3rd party shop more than likely the bolts were replaced by the shop.'.
'Can't put that on the Turo ride. U had it opened up twice for clutch jobs. Could have been done wrong during that,' another said.
Motor1
reached out to Pauli for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to Turo via email. We'll be sure to update this if they respond.
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