Illinois Wesleyan students can earn a little extra cash over upcoming breaks with the carsharing service Turo.
Turo is a carsharing service that allows individuals to share their personal cars with others at a fee set by the car owner.
The service benefits both those who want to earn some extra money sharing their own car, and those who don’t have a car but need one for a short period of time. In Bloomington, the cheapest car available for sharing is listed for $39 a day.
U.S. News reported in 2018 that the average percentage of students who brought cars to campus in the 2016-2017 academic year was 46.8 percent. Many college students have a car on campus solely to drive home for weekends or breaks, and Turo allows those students to make some extra money when they aren’t using it.
Turo markets itself as a peer-to-peer car sharing service that enables individuals to make their privately-owned vehicles available to others for short periods of time, at a fee set by the individual host. Cars are then listed on the website for a daily price.
Turo sets a car’s price based on market value, location, time of year and other data sets to maximize the host’s income and boost the listing’s competitiveness. Hosts can also manually set their own daily price.
Turo pays hosts via direct deposit within five days. Hosts earn 65% to 85% of the trip price, depending on the vehicle protection package chosen. If the host has commercial rental insurance to cover themselves, their car, and their customers, a host can earn up to 90% of the trip price.
Currently, there are seven car rental services based in Bloomington, but Turo is the only one that specifically tailors their service for peer-to-peer sharing.
Students looking for an extra income outside of jobs on campus are encouraged by the company to register as hosts— Illinois hosts earn an average of $375 a month.