Stranded by Turo and out nearly $700
I'm curious if anyone here has a direct contact at Turo who can help me resolve this directly with them. If I can’t, I will file in small claims court next week.
TL;DR: My Turo rental broke down on June 1, 2026, leaving me stranded all day. A Turo agent assured me that Turo would reimburse me for the cost of trying to fix their car and get home, but now Turo is giving me the runaround and I’m out close to $700.
Details:
For context, I've been a happy Turo customer since 2013, using them for most of my car rentals about once or twice per year.
After intermittent engine trouble, my Turo-rented Kia Soul stopped running entirely, leaving me stranded in Phoenicia, New York, about 2.5 hours from home.
With phone support from the car owner's mechanic, I made several attempts to get the car running before contacting Turo, all of which were unsuccessful:
- Calling a local Kia dealership to arrange a tow
- Checking the dipstick, finding the car was low on oil, getting to the nearest gas station and buying oil and jumper cables, installing the oil and jumping the car.
While stranded, I called Turo roadside support and explained that getting me and the carload of belongings home could cost around $900 all included (that is, if I could get a same-day rental car and get to the rental location, would likely need to garage the rental overnight upon arrival, etc). The Turo roadside agent emphatically assured me that Turo would reimburse my costs to get home to Brooklyn. I asked him to send me a message with that promise in writing and he either couldn’t or wouldn’t.
After every other option failed (couldn’t get an Uber, rental cars had limited availability and closed early, etc), I took a car service home for $637.90 - Lower than the cost I estimated to Turo which they said they would cover. I also spent $49.65 on oil and jumper cables trying to fix the Turo vehicle, and the reservation itself cost $568.39, for a total of $1,255.94.
Shortly after arriving home, I provided Turo with receipts for the expenses I incurred, as well as video of the Turo car not starting (Turo sent a tow truck later that night to tow it back to the owners so...Turo should know that it broke down) and waited. I followed up several times over the following few weeks.
Turo is giving me the runaround on reimbursing the costs they promised to reimburse. They refunded the reservation but haven't acknowledged their promise to reimburse for the remaining expenses, close to $700.
I’ve called Turo multiple times over several weeks and have been repeatedly put on hold then disconnected (hung up on). Turo chat support was inconclusive and often automatically disconnected while agents were "looking into" my case. After emailing Turo's notice of dispute email address, I got a response from “Executive support” saying they were working on my case, only to hear nothing for weeks. After contacting chat support again, executive support wrote back saying they could reimburse $119.16, far less than the $687.55 I incurred.
I really liked their service but this entire experience has destroyed trust with Turo. Turo broke a promise to reimburse me, I lost a full day because of their car and even more wasted time trying to get them to cover the expenses.
I’m filing in small claims court next week if they don't commit to reimburse me for the full amount of the expenses I incurred.
