Introduction
What comes to mind first when you land at your vacation destination? How to reach the hotel with all the suitcases you have, right?
Whether you are on vacation, want to ride down the street, attend occasions, events and parties, or want to adjust more people. At the same time, if you have a single car or don’t own a car, what’s really beneficial is to have access to a car rental company that can solve all your travel-related problems quite conveniently. When we talk about the most well-known companies, there is no doubt that Turo is one of them.
Turo is one of the largest car-sharing and rental companies operational in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and France. They make people’s lives easy by providing all types of vehicles such as trucks, vans, exotic and luxury cars, SUVs, electric cars, classics, sports and whatnot. Turo is not just helpful for the people who are in need of a vehicle but also is a major source of income for the hosts as they manage to obtain a flexible and profitable business out of the company. Moreover, Turo is a carbon-neutral certified company, which proves that environmental sustainability is their priority. However, Turo has strict policies and regulations that hosts and customers must abide by. It is crucial to understand the insurance, age and legal criteria in order to have a convenient, stress-free and secure experience.
In this blog, you will find out Turo’s rental, age and insurance requirements, as well as information about insurance-providing companies such as Gieco and other insurance considerations to clear all your queries.
Understanding Turo’s Rental Requirements
The services that Turo provides can only be accessed by the ones who fulfill Turo’s requirements for security and legal purposes. For renting a car through Turo, you have to meet eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria revolve around the license, legal policies, background checklist, past record, insurance and age of the one who has to rent the car.
Age Requirement
Generally, age criteria vary with the type of vehicle you want to rent. For instance, if you want to rent a super deluxe & specialty, you should be at least 30 to rent it. Similarly, if you aim to rent an exclusive car that comes lower in the category than super deluxe, you should be at least 25. Whereas for almost all the other cars, your age should be 20 and above to fulfill the eligibility criteria. You will learn more about age requirements in the following heading.
Background check
Apart from a specific age, you should pass the Background check. The background check involves verification of the identity of the person, their criminal record, education, employment history and other activities.
License
You should have a license that is not expired and is valid to drive in the respective country. The granted license should belong to the same country where Turo is operating. For instance, if you are renting a car via Turo U.S., then you must have a valid U. S. License.
Driving Record
Your driving record should be free of major accidents or law-breaking incidents in order to be eligible according to Turo’s policies.
Insurance
The insurance you have signed up for should be eligible for Turo’s insurance criteria. You will learn more about insurance policies related to Turo in subsequent headings.
Apart from these policies, what else plays a crucial role in renting a car is your legal understanding and practices while driving a car. It would be best if you were certified legally to drive locally and should follow local traffic laws. In addition, if you rent, returning the car in its original condition is mandatory. If you fail to do so, then you should take complete responsibility for it. In addition, you should research more local policies and fulfill them to become eligible for renting cars via Turo.
Turo Age Requirements
As mentioned above, Turo is operational in five countries, i.e., the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. Interestingly, the minimum age requirement varies with the country where you opt to rent via Turo. For example, the age requirements for the US are different from that of the UK. Turo also offers Minimum Protection plans and Standard protection plans. The minimum Protection Plan is basic, whereas the standard protection plan has extra coverage and is valid for guests older than the ones eligible for the minimum protection plan.
Young drivers also have to pay a fee per day, depending on their age. Their validity depends upon the minimum age in each country.
Details of minimum age requirements, fee and vehicle restriction according to countries is mentioned below:
United States
The minimum age requirement is 18 years.
Protection plans: If you are 18 – 21, then it is mandatory to have either a Minimum Protection Plan or a Standard Protection Plan.
Young Driver’s Fee: If you are 18 – 20, then you have to pay a fee of $50/ day, and if you are 21 – 24 then you will pay $30/ day.
Your eligibility to drive specific cars according to your age in the US is mentioned below:
- 21 years or above: Any vehicle that has a value of more than $20,000.
- 25 years or above: Deluxe Class car
- 30 years or above: Super Deluxe car or specialty vehicle.
United Kingdom
The minimum age requirement is 21, and the maximum is 75 years old.
Young Driver’s Fee: If you are 21 – 25 years old, then you have to pay a young driver’s fee of £25 per day. Also, note that you can only rent cars graded 1 – 16 by the Association of British Insurers if you are below 25 years of age.
Your eligibility to drive specific cars according to your age in the UK is as follows:
- 25 years or above: Deluxe Class Car
- 30 years or above: Super Deluxe Class Car.
Canada
The minimum age requirement is 23 years.
Your eligibility to drive specific cars according to your age in Canada is as follows:
- 25 or above: Deluxe Class Car
- 30 or above: Super Deluxe Class Car or specialty car
Australia
The minimum age requirement is 21 years.
Young Drivers fee: If you are 21 – 24 years old, then you have to pay a young driver’s fee of $15 per day.
Your eligibility to drive specific cars according to your age in Australia is as follows:
- 25 or above: Deluxe Class Car
- 30 or above: Super Deluxe Class Car
However, it would be best if you kept in mind that the age requirements, vehicle restrictions and young driver fees are dependent upon your age at the time of booking and not at the time of your trip.
Turo Insurance Requirements
Turo protection plans include three elements, i.e., a physical damage contract, roadside assistance and third-party liability insurance. All these provide extra protection to the rental car. Out of these three, we will discuss the third part, liability insurance, that Turo offers with the help of insurance providers. One of the most well-known auto insurance companies is GEICO, but unfortunately, it doesn’t offer insurance to Turo rental cars. GEICO doesn’t even provide vacation liability to Turo rental cars. Vacation Liability is paying for the external damage to the vehicle or property loss on the vacation site. This is so because GEICO and many other reinsurance companies don’t consider Turo as a traditional rental company. However, there are some exceptions. Details of them are mentioned in subsequent headings.
Nevertheless, there are three types of protection plans for the guests. Minimum Protection Plan, Standard Protection Plan and Premier Protection Plan. Protection Plans are important to minimize your responsibility if the car gets damaged. The higher the cost of the plan, the lower the responsibility. However, the plans don’t remove the responsibility for interior damage.
Minimum Protection Plan
A minimum Protection Plan is included in all Turo rentals. It costs 18% and 25% of the total trip cost, depending on whether it is above $250 or below $250, respectively. It includes a minimum amount of third-party liability insurance coverage required by the state where the car is registered, limits damage responsibility of $3000 and no contractual responsibility limit of damage to the interior.
Standard Protection Plan
As compared to Minimum Protection Plan the Standard Protection Plan is optional and can be used as an add-on. Its cost is 40% of the total trip expense. It includes a minimum amount of third-party liability insurance coverage required by the state where the car is registered, limits damage responsibility of $500 and no contractual responsibility limit of damage to the interior.
Premier Protection Plan
Premier Protection Plan costs 60% of the total trip expense. It includes liability protection of up to $ 1 million and a deductible for the damage that is your responsibility for the damage removed completely.
Does Geico Cover Rental Cars
The Government’s Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) was established in 1936 and is America’s private auto insurance company. It is functional all around the US. It offers affordable and convenient insurance plans for both minimum and comprehensive coverage. GEICO covers several types of insurance. However, there needs to be clarity around whether or not GEICO offers rental car insurance such as Turo rentals.
The GEICO insurance for your primary car automatically becomes valid on your rental car as well. The rental insurance is in the US, Canada and other territories. However, when it comes to Turo rentals, unfortunately, GEICO considers it commercial and doesn’t generally cover the insurance for the rentals. However, GEICO does offer insurance programs. If you opt for a standard protection plan by Turo or if you are a business owner with a commercial policy, then GEICO does extend its insurance programs for rentals.
Hence, we can say that the GEICO insurance policy for Turo rentals varies. Searching about GEICO’s policy and aligning it with your requirements is always a good idea.
Additional Insurance Considerations
GEICO has additional insurance that can be taken into consideration while opting for insurance for a rental car.
For instance, you have a car that got into an accident, and you think of renting a car till your car is being repaired. In this case, GEICO has a Rental Reimbursement policy. That is, if you have coverage and if your GEICO insurance policy mentions collision or comprehensive coverage then GEICO will cover the cost of the rental car.
The amount of cost covered depends upon per claim limit or per day. For instance, if you have a limit of $25/ $750 per claim rental reimbursement limit, then GEICO will pay $25 per day but not more than $750. This policy only applies if you claim within 30 days of the accident. You can also choose a rental car from any rental company; however, you have to pay the cost upfront, and GEICO will reimburse up to the rental reimbursement limit. Unfortunately, GEICO doesn’t offer car rental reimbursement for Turo rental cars. In this case, people can opt for Turo’s own rental reimbursement policy.
However, Neither GEICO nor Turo provides loaner cars. For information about loaner cars, you can directly contact your rental car company if they have a loaner car policy. On the other hand, both GEICO and Turo provide liability. GEICO offers up to $1 million in renter liability insurance, and Turo offers up to $750,000 in liability insurance. Hence, it is safe to use Turo rental car coverage if you rent a Turo car.
Conclusion
Turo is one of the US’s most well-known car rental companies and is operational in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia and Canada. Turo provides the best experience to the guests by providing a wide range of cars and other vehicles to choose from and is a source of great business for the guests who can safely rent their cars and earn passively. However, there are certain policies to take into consideration. Turo’s eligibility criteria include a valid license, driver’s age, insurance, driving record, background and other legal concerns. The minimum age to drive in different countries varies; hence, Turo rental policies, vehicle restrictions and young drivers’ fees also vary.
Turo’s insurance policy includes protection plans for the guests, which have three categories, i.e., minimum, standard and Premier Protection plans, that include liabilities and deductibles for damage. However, there are many insurance coverage providers in the US. One of the most well-known among them is GEICO. GEICO usually offers insurance and rental reimbursements for rental cars but generally doesn’t provide insurance for Turo rental cars. Some exceptions are there, such as if you own a business with a commercial policy, you might get geico insurance for your rental car.
Due to several aspects of GEICO insurance policy, especially variations related to Turo rental cars, it is always better to research and know about Turo Rental insurance and other insurance providers’ policies, such as GEICO. This will help you to have a hassle-free, secure and informed Turo Rental experience.
