OUT OF BODY (AND MECHANICAL EXPERIENCES

Turo Turo Turo

by THOMAS GRECO, PUBLISHER

Even though I’m closing in on senior citizenship (I actually used my first senior discount – ouch), I try to be hip. You know, “groovy,” “with it”…All those wonderful catch phrases from the sixties. I am also a bit of a tech nerd. I was the first person I knew with a VCR, a DVD, a DVR, an Ipod and an iPad. I started buying Mac products in 1984, so I was definitely ahead of the curve on that (wish I had invested in it like in Forrest Gump). When new technology comes around, I always like to give it a whirl. One of the latest new apps becoming popular is something called Turo, which is a unique car rental concept that all the “youngsters” are raving about. It’s an app on your phone that is basically a peer-to-peer car sharing company that allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles.

Honestly, I had no plans to use the app even though my niece strongly recommended it. But when I went to rent a car on vacation through the traditional car rental agencies and saw the pricing, I was like, “Wait a minute. This is insane. I am NOT going to spend $225 a day plus fees.” So I took a look at Turo and found a 2019 Tahoe for $80/day. I’m a born skeptic, so when I contacted the owner of the vehicle and closed the deal, it seemed too good to be true.

The person I dealt with was great. We had originally scheduled to travel to Orlando the week of September 28, but a little thing called Hurricane Ian squashed that. When I rescheduled to October, the Turo owner had no problem. He met me at the hotel with the car, and everything ran smoothly.

Until I had to return it. The Turo owner was supposed to pick up the Tahoe at 10pm on the night of the return. At about 8pm, I received a text asking where the car was. I responded that it was back at the hotel, ready to be picked up. Their next text sent me a different location, about 20 minutes away, to drop the vehicle off. Wait a minute. The pickup location was the same as the drop off – the hotel. I texted back a screenshot of the information, and the Turo owner said okay, but indicated they would get there later, around 11pm. At about 10:30, as I was enjoying my postdinner peach smoothie, I got a call from the owner. He said he couldn’t get a ride to the hotel and that he would pick it up the next day. Well, that was a problem. I told him that wouldn’t work because if I kept the car overnight, the hotel parking would be $50. I also told him if I brought the car to him, taking an Uber back to the hotel would also cost about $50. He said he would call me back.

With my smoothie melting from my aggravation, I came up with an idea. I called him and said I would drive the truck back to him if he would then drive me back to the hotel. He agreed. End of story, right? Of course not. It’s never that simple with me. I picked the truck up from the valet, punched the address into my phone and started heading to the guy’s house. I did have some reservations about this since I know nothing about the outskirts of Orlando. But before I could worry about that, something more immediate crept up. I had made it about a mile away from the hotel when Mother Nature decided she didn’t like this solution and forced me to turn around and return to the hotel. Trying to be inconspicuous, I pulled in and told the valet I forgot something and that I’d be right out. I’m sure he wasn’t fooled. After tending to those needs, I jumped back into the Tahoe and headed towards Route 4. Once I got on the interstate, I looked down at my phone for directions…and there it was, the dreaded low battery warning: five percent left. I was never going to make it to the destination without the GPS. I had no charger, so I started to panic. There was also no way I was driving back to the hotel. The valet would think I needed a diaper. But I thought quickly. I started taking screenshots of the directions. Once I had the three shots, I shut off the phone and then turned it on every few miles to check. And it worked. I made it to the address (which was in the middle of nowhere).

Unfortunately, it was a condo complex. And by now, the phone was dead. I had no way to call this guy. So, I sat outside the gates for 45 minutes thinking I was going to either get shot or eaten by an alligator. Finally, some guy came walking through the gates. It was the Turo owner. He took me back to the hotel safe and sound. On the way, he explained how lucrative this Turo thing is. He said he had 15 cars on the road, and he was making a killing. Might be something to look into.