Turo empowers hosts to become entrepreneurs or offset daily costs

The Turo community represents people of all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life. Whether by creating opportunities in entrepreneurship and an extra source of income for hosts, or by providing affordable mobility access and a way to explore local communities for guests, Turo has established itself as a platform to support others. In February 2022, we surveyed our hosts and guests asking about their thoughts and experiences with Turo, and received over 600 host responses and 7,000 guest responses. Survey findings revealed how diverse the community is, the economic impact Turo provides for hosts and guests, and how Turo helped our community navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

The economic impact of Turo and peer-to-peer car sharing benefits both hosts and guests in positive ways. Turo has increasingly become a tool of economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, allowing people to create their own business or supplement the cost of living or other financial needs. Guests are drawn to peer-to-peer car sharing for its affordability and say they appreciate the opportunity it creates to empower and support local communities. 

The primary way surveyed hosts indicated that they use their earnings was to offset the costs of car ownership. Hosts also indicated that they used their earnings to add to their savings, pay off personal debts and immediate costs, in addition to numerous other purposes.

Because offsetting the costs of car ownership was the top answer, we explored this a bit more. Turo's positive economic impact was especially felt by Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latinx, and low-income members of our community. We found that 20% of Black/African-American surveyed hosts, 16% of Hispanic/Latinx surveyed hosts, and 25% of surveyed hosts who have a household median income of $75,000 or less (which is around the median U.S. household income for 2020) said that they would be behind or at risk of defaulting on car payments without their earnings from Turo. 

Guests are a key component of creating a positive economic impact for our host community. Not only are they able to enjoy the unique adventures enabled by each host, but they also economically empower the communities they visit by supporting local hosts in rural, suburban, and densely populated areas. 91% of the surveyed guests found value in supporting and spending money in local communities when they book a car on Turo.