An Update to the "1 of 15 individual yellow BME m3". You were right, the host is trying to scam me, and Turo is letting them.
The original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/turo/comments/1st2ywq/is_this_normal_host_seems_a_little_over_the_top/
During the drive I took the car on some nice roads at a very moderate pace, nothing reckless or even bordering it. I rented an M3 for this purpose instead of a point A to B car. Anyway, during the drive the host messages me a number of times saying he forwarded the tracking information to Turo. Ok whatever, I drop off the car 30 minutes early to the airport in the exact same gargage on the same floor. I take 50 drop-off photos, the car is in the exact same condition I pick it up in.
A few hours later, I check the invoice and notice an additional 50 dollar improper return fee. I call Turo, they aren't sure what that's about and reverse it. A few hours later I get a notice about a damage claim. The host is claiming a nail in the front driver tire. That'd odd, when I dropped off the car there was no TPMS light and all tires were inflated fully, my drop-off photos show this.
The host uploads a blurry photo with what appears to be a nail about 1/3 from the edge of the tire and claims its a sidewall nail and needs a new tire. I dispute the claim since my photos show a fully inflated tire and no TPMS light. The host also hits me with another 50 dollar improper return fee. This time I call Turo and they say they will stop the host from claiming this as the GPS data shows I dropped off the car appropriately. The host does not respond to my messages questioning the 50 dollar fee.
I dispute the damage claim and lose. When I call Turo I have to wait to get a call back from a supervisor. When I finally do they say the reviewers did not look at my photos. Supposedly I have a good chance since my photos show a fully inflated tire and no TPMS light. Well they re-review the case and the reviewers apparently again side with the host. They claim the nail probably closed a slow leak and didn't show up until hours after I dropped off the car. It is impossible to actually speak to anyone on the team that reviewed the damage claim, which is frustrating.
If it's a slow leak that didn't show up, how can they prove it happened while I had the car? Of course I didn't take any photos of each tire's tread when I dropped of the car, but neither did the host when they dropped off the car. It is certainly possible the nail happened while I had the car, it's also possible it happened a week before I picked up the car. It's impossible to know, that nail could have been in there for weeks.
Turo says without any proof that the nail did not happen under my time, they will continue to support his claim. Why is the burden of proof on me? Why isn't the owner required to have the same burden of proof? This is the same host who already tried to fraudulently charge me 50 dollars twice and Turo agreed they were fraudulent and reversed them. Who is to say he didn't let some air out of the tire, push a superficial nail 1mm into the tire, take a picture, and profit 400 dollars? Normally I'd say that's ridiculous but that pattern already exists here. He already proudly told me he collected over 11,000 dollars worth of damage on this car and had 6 drivers banned. This is so frustrating.
Any logical person would just pay 30 dollars to plug the tire. Instead he found a way to profit an extra 400 dollars on this 700 dollar rental already. He didn't provide a receipt, he just showed a screenshot of what a new tire would cost from tire rack.com. I doubt he got a new tire, he probably just plugged it (if it's even real), and gets an extra 400 for me.
Turo is really disssapointing. I can't get a hold of anyone without a significant language barrier. It's obviously just scripted customer service with no real possible neutral person looking at this entire file. The claims department says they can't take into consideration the other fraudulent charges because claims is separate from regular customer service.
This is all so frustrating. I'm done with Turo, they got me for an extra 400 dollars. My other experiences have been great but when there's no real means for an actual review of these claims the renter is just completely disadvantaged.
I hope it was worth it Limitless Rentals and the owner (I won't publicize his name). I reported your Montana plated car which has evidence of exclusively being used in California since 2024 to the state of California DMV. Turns out you can't evade taxes for a car personal or commercial exclusively used in California. You chose the wrong person to scam.