Guest charges for damage claims

 What would I owe if my host’s car is damaged during my trip? 

You’re responsible for any eligible damage that occurs during a trip, whether or not you’re at fault or caused the damage. By choosing a protection plan available through Turo, you can limit the amount you’d have to pay out of pocket if your host’s vehicle is damaged during your trip. See a summary of the guest plans available through Turo in the US, Canada, and the UK. For more information, read complete details of the guest plans in the US, guest plans in Canada, and guest plans in the UK. 

The amount that a guest would owe for physical damage to a host’s vehicle is determined by three factors. 

1. The amount of eligible damage, including costs and fees. 
2. The amount that your personal auto insurance pays for those damages.
3. The out-of-pocket maximum included in your purchased protection plan.  

How are my out-of-pocket costs determined when there’s a damage claim?

When damage is reported following a trip and either you or your host elects to have Turo handle the claim, we’ll do the following:

• Turo will investigate to verify that the damage occurred during the trip and that it is eligible damage. If it is, you’re responsible for the damage and related costs, regardless of whether you caused the damage. If you were charged a security deposit for your trip, those funds will be held and applied to any balance due.  
• If the damage is eligible for reimbursement to the host, Turo will:
• Charge you a damage deposit in line with the extent of damage and the protection plan you chose:
  •  $500 or $3,000 (US)
  • $500 CAD or $2,000 CAD (Canada)
  •  £500 (UK)  
• Get an assessment of the damage to determine the repair/replacement cost
• Add related costs and fees under your chosen protection plan, if any. 
• Once the final claim cost is determined, if there’s a third party that was identified as being at fault and we can collect from them, we’ll pursue that source first. If we can’t recover from the third party’s insurance company, what we do next depends on the protection plan you chose. If you chose the Standard or Minimum guest plan, we’ll try to recover the damage costs, claims processing and appraisal fees from your personal insurer, if you have one. If you chose the Premier plan, the plan serves as your primary protection in the case of physical damage, so we won’t try to recover anything from your personal insurer. 
• After we recover costs from your personal insurer (if possible), we’ll check to see if there’s still an outstanding balance due. If there is, we’ll compare it to the amount of out-of-pocket costs you’re responsible for based on your protection plan. The protection plan limits the amount that we’d collect from you to reduce the outstanding balance. Providing that you’ve complied with Turo’s Terms of Service, the most you’d ever have to pay out of pocket is the maximum on the plan you chose. If there’s no balance due or if the amount due is less than the amount of any deposits we’ve charged you, we’ll refund the remaining deposit amount.
  

To better understand how a guest protection plan works when it comes to determining your out-of-pocket costs, see the example below. 

Example 

Jeff is a US guest who purchased the Minimum guest protection plan for a recent trip. This plan limits Jeff’s personal responsibility (aka liability) for eligible damages to the host vehicle to $3,000. While the vehicle was parked at Jeff’s hotel, vandals broke into it and caused damage. Jeff has a personal insurance plan with Mighty Insurance, which comes with a $1,000 out-of-pocket maximum (aka deductible).

Turo or its third-party claims administrator evaluated the claim and found that the damages were eligible damages that occurred during the trip. Turo charged Jeff an initial damage deposit of $500. The amount of damage was determined to be $1,900. Related costs and fees were $75 for claims handling and $75 for appraisal estimating. That made the total cost $2,050. 

Turo presented this amount to Jeff’s insurer, Mighty Insurance. Mighty Insurance subtracted Jeff’s $1,000 deductible from the bill as well as the $150 related costs and fees, which they did not cover. Mighty Insurance paid $900 of the damages. Since there was still a balance due, Turo presented Jeff with a final invoice for $650.

Total damage of $2,050 - Insurance payment of $900 = $1,150 total owed -  $500 damage deposit = $650 final invoice. 

Why was I charged more for a damage claim than my host was paid?

Keep in mind that host and guest protection plans are separate. You’re responsible for eligible damage costs up to the limit of the protection plan you choose. You agree to take financial responsibility for damage to and accidents involving your host’s vehicle during the reservation period. The amount a host receives for a damage claim is based on the plan they chose. It does not affect the amount you may owe. See the real-life example below of the way host and guest protection plans operate separately during a claim. Protection plans available to hosts in Canada don’t have deductibles, so guests charges would not exceed host payments and the examples that follow aren’t applicable to guests in those regions.

Example 

Mary is a frequent guest with Turo in the US and always purchases the Minimum protection plan. This limits her financial responsibility to $3,000 out of pocket for amounts not covered by her own insurance. During a recent trip, a hit-and-run driver lightly rear-ended Mary, causing $900 in damage to the host’s car. Turo evaluated the claim and determined that the damage occurred during the trip and is within the scope of the protection plans. Given that, Turo charged Mary an initial damage deposit of $500 after the claim was filed. 

The host has a protection plan that includes a $250 deductible. Turo pays the host $650 ($900 minus the $250 deductible) and sends a final invoice to Mary for her total out-of-pocket cost of $1,050. This is the $900 in damages plus $75 estimating fee and $75 handling fee. 

Had the host and guest resolved this claim independently, they could have both saved money. They potentially could have made an arrangement in which Mary paid the host the $900. The host would have received the full damage cost, and Mary could have avoided paying the handling and estimating fees.