Ever rented a car abroad? You have my sympathies. Every single last one of them.
You’re fresh off a long-haul flight, have to stumble through a rental car depot that looks like it hasn’t been updated since the ’90s, stand in a queue behind 10 other dazed travelers, only to finally get upsold insurance you probably don’t need and watch them swipe your card for a deposit more expensive than your car rental. Or, at least, that’s how it usually goes for me.
But on my latest trip abroad, I tried something different. I visited San Francisco from the UK and decided to rent through Turo instead. Honestly? It made the usual rental car routine look like a relic of the past.
Turo is a car-sharing platform — basically Airbnb, but for cars. Instead of dealing with rental car corporations and endless paperwork, you’re borrowing a car directly from its owner. Or host, as Turo calls them.
They list their vehicle on the app, you choose what you want, and the rest happens in a few taps. It’s been growing in popularity in the US, especially for travelers who want something a bit different — or just want to avoid the calamity that is the rental counter.
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A car waiting for me to hop in and drive off
The Turo rental car was parked in the garage waiting for me to unlock it with the app, hop in and drive away.
For this trip, I went for a 2026 Tesla Model Y. Because if you’re in California, you may as well lean into it. Plus, it’s a familiar (and great) car to drive, and the Tesla app makes the Turo process even easier. Almost laughably easy, in fact.
The car was waiting for me in the SFO International Garage (Turo’s got a permit to operate in Garages A and G), and I didn’t even need to meet anyone. Turo makes it dead simple to do everything in-app. You can handle all the ID verification before the trip, so there was no need to flash my ID in person. All I needed to do at pickup was take photos to validate its condition. 28 photos, to be exact — just to cover all the bases.
The host had given me their number in case anything went wrong, but there wasn’t a single issue. They also shared access to the Tesla app with me the day before my trip. This gave me full guest functionality of the Tesla app. Remote unlocking, climate control, Sentry Mode, Summon, charging stats — just like it was my own car.
This level of integration made the entire thing feel seamless. No key fobs, no lockers, no awkward meet-ups.
The car was near full on charge, freshly cleaned, and looked pristine. Genuinely cleaner and in better condition than any rental car I’ve ever been handed the keys to. I then got in the car and drove off. The whole process from arriving to driving off took maybe five minutes. Try doing that at the Hertz counter and see how far you get.
Everything is handled in the app with Turo: booking the car, paying for your trip verifying your ID and collecting the vehicle.
Drop-off was just as painless. I returned it to the same garage and could leave it in any open spot. I just took a photo for the host, so they could easily find it. The host handled the parking fees, so there were no nasty surprises there. After locking the car remotely, I was done.
A day later, I got an invoice through the app for tolls and Supercharging — complete with receipts — and paid with a single tap using the card on my Turo account. Couldn’t have been easier.
As for the cost, I’d say it was pretty fair. Perhaps even cheaper than a car rental agency. I paid slightly over $400 for 72 hours, which included 900 miles of driving, Tesla Full Self-Driving enabled, full Tesla app access, $16 in tax, a $50 airport fee, and a $90 under-25 driver surcharge. So realistically, for anyone over 25, it would’ve been closer to $250. Considering the car was brand new and immaculately kept, that’s a solid deal.
For context, I’ve paid $340 for a five-day Jeep Wrangler rental from Avis before, and $350 for a 48-hour Mustang rental in Vegas. Turo isn’t always the cheapest option, but for this level of convenience and quality, it’s well worth it.
Sure, not every Turo experience might be this smooth — I can imagine some pickup locations might be more difficult — but mine was practically flawless. No lines, no counter, no pointless paperwork. Just a few taps on your phone and a car that feels like it’s already yours.
If this is what the future of car rentals looks like, rental desks should be sweating.
