Short answer
On Turo's US earnings plans a host keeps 70%, 80% or 90% of the trip price.
A booking website lets you keep the whole price, but you then carry what Turo provided: commercial insurance, payments, licence checks and damage claims. Turo's terms forbid finding a guest on Turo and then completing the deal outside it, so build the direct channel for new customers and keep Turo guests on Turo.
On this page
- How much does Turo keep from each trip?
- What does Turo do that you will have to replace?
- What do Turo's rules say about taking guests off the platform?
- How do you run Turo and your own site without double booking?
- How do you set up your own booking channel, step by step?
- When is staying on Turo the better choice?
- Where does Renviq fit, and where does it not?
Most hosts with a handful of cars do not leave Turo in one move. They keep Turo for the demand it brings and open a second channel, their own booking website, for everyone who finds them some other way. The direct channel pays more per trip, but only after you have replaced the four things Turo quietly does for you: insurance, payments, guest checks and damage claims.
How much does Turo keep from each trip?
Turo's help page for US hosts (last updated 21 May 2026) lists three earnings plans. The plan sets both your share of the trip price and how much of each damage incident you carry yourself:
| Turo US plan | Host share | Your damage responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| More peace of mind | 70% of trip price | $250 per incident |
| Balanced | 80% of trip price | $1,500 per incident |
| More earnings | 90% of trip price | $2,750 per incident |
All three include third-party liability cover. Turo's detailed page says "All plans provide up to $750,000 in third-party liability insurance" under a Travelers policy issued to Turo, with lower limits for New York vehicles. Above your damage responsibility, Turo reimburses eligible physical damage, up to $200,000 for a total loss. It also says plainly that US plans "don't include Loss of Hosting Income".
Turn that into your own numbers. On a $600 week on the Balanced plan, your share is $480 and Turo keeps $120. On your own site, the same week brings $600 less card processing, but out of the difference you now pay for the cover and the work Turo bundled in. The question is not "70–90% or 100%" but "Turo's share, or my insurance premium plus software plus my time".
What does Turo do that you will have to replace?
Write this list down before you build anything. Each line is a cost or a job on the direct channel.
- Liability and physical damage cover. On Turo it comes with the plan. Turo is explicit that "Turo is NOT an insurance company" and that "Physical damage reimbursement isn't insurance", and it warns that "Many private passenger automobile insurance policies exclude coverage for peer-to-peer car sharing." On a direct rental, Turo's plan does not apply at all. You need your own commercial rental policy, in force before the first direct customer drives away.
- Payments. Turo collects the guest's payment and pays out your share. Directly, you need a card processor, a way to hold a deposit, and a process for charging damage, tolls or fuel after the trip.
- Guest checks. On Turo you confirm the licence at check-in, and Turo's US page makes it a condition: Turo's US page says "You must confirm the primary guest's license before every trip or risk voiding the protection tied to your earnings plan," and lists digital licences among those you must not accept. Directly, the whole check is yours: identity, licence validity, age and how long they have held it.
- Trust and reviews. A Turo guest books a stranger because of the reviews and the platform around them. Your Turo reviews stay on Turo. On your own site, trust comes from your Google Business Profile reviews, a clear price and clear terms.
- The rental contract. On Turo, the trip runs under Turo's terms. Directly, you need your own rental agreement, and it has to be signed before the keys change hands.
- Damage claims. Turo runs the claim, with strict evidence rules: pre-trip photos taken no more than 24 hours before the start, post-trip photos taken and uploaded within 24 hours of the end, and "Photos without metadata showing date, time, geolocation will be deemed invalid." Directly, there is no claims desk. Your evidence is your own inspection record, your money is the deposit hold, and your fallback is your insurer or small claims court.
What do Turo's rules say about taking guests off the platform?
Two documents matter, and they are stricter than many hosts assume.
The Terms of Service (US, last revised 27 October 2026) list among prohibited activities:
- "Use the Services to find a host or guest, and then complete a transaction partially or wholly independent of the Services"
- "Recruit or otherwise solicit any user to join third-party services or websites that are competitive to Turo" (without Turo's prior written approval)
- "Contact another Turo user for any purpose other than in relation to a booking, vehicle, listing" or the other user's use of the Services
And in the host commitments: "You agree not to use any guest information made available to you by using the Services to collect additional personal data."
The gray market transaction policy (last updated 28 April 2026) says "Turo prohibits hosts and guests from requesting, accepting, or making payments outside of Turo," and that "Participating in a gray market transaction will void the protection tied to your earnings plan" for that trip. Turo may also charge "a $150 violation fee", remove you from the platform and seek liquidated damages of $5,500. The same amounts appear on Turo's violation fees page.
What follows in practice, reading only those words:
- Do not put your website, phone number or a discount code in Turo messages, in the car's glovebox for Turo guests, or in your Turo listing.
- Do not export Turo guests' details into your mailing list.
- Do not take cash, Venmo or a deposit outside Turo for a Turo trip. The policy names deposits, extras and trip costs among the payments it prohibits.
The honest version of a direct channel is therefore simple: it serves customers who did not come through Turo. Google searches, your Google Business Profile, local businesses, hotels, word of mouth, corporate clients, people who walk up. Whether a customer who first met you on Turo may later book you directly is a question the quoted terms do not answer in your favour; if you depend on it, ask Turo in writing before you act.
How do you run Turo and your own site without double booking?
The danger is one car, one weekend, two customers. The cure is one rule: every channel's booking is blocked on every other channel the moment it lands.
- Pick one calendar as the master. The calendar you work from every morning. Every Turo trip and every direct booking ends up there.
- Turo booking lands → block the same dates, plus your cleaning gap, in your own system before you do anything else.
- Direct booking lands → block the dates on the car's Turo calendar straight away.
- Trip extended on Turo → extend the block the same hour.
- Leave a buffer. A late Turo return should not collide with a direct pick-up an hour later. Put a turnaround gap between trips on both sides.
- Split the fleet if you can. The simplest way to never double book is to keep some cars Turo-only and some direct-only, and move a car between channels by whole weeks rather than by day.
Do not count on the booking page to catch a Turo trip. A direct booking with a saved card or a prepayment can confirm itself, and it checks only your Renviq calendar, which knows nothing about Turo. So a car that is also listed on Turo needs every Turo trip entered in Renviq as a booking the moment it lands, or that car stays direct-only.
How do you set up your own booking channel, step by step?
Get commercial insurance first
Ask a licensed agent for a commercial rental or fleet policy that covers renting to the public, for every car you will rent directly. Get liability limits, physical damage cover and the deductible in writing, and check whether the policy has conditions you must meet at every rental (licence checks, minimum age, signed agreement). Business registration, sales tax and state rental surcharges come in the same step; see starting a car rental business in the US and car rental tax by state.
Publish a booking page with real availability
The page should show only cars free for the chosen dates, the full price before it asks for a name, the deposit as a separate amount, and your cancellation terms, minimum age and mileage limits. Link it from your Google Business Profile and your own website. What converts and where direct customers come from is covered in direct online bookings.
Take a card and hold a deposit
A booking with no card behind it is the easiest to no-show. Save the customer's card at booking or take a prepayment, then place a deposit hold on the card before pick-up. Card authorisations expire, so a hold for a two-week rental has to be renewed; see card deposit holds.
Check the licence and the driver
Check the same things Turo makes you check: name and date of birth match the booking, the photo matches the person, the licence is valid for the whole rental and not restricted. Add your insurer's rules on minimum age and years licensed. Charge a young driver fee if your insurer prices it in. See driving licence check.
Sign a rental agreement before handover
Your own contract replaces Turo's terms: rental period, mileage, fuel, deposit, damage responsibility, tolls and tickets, additional drivers. Have the customer sign it electronically, and sign it yourself, so both signatures and the time are on record.
Do a photo inspection at pick-up and return
The habit Turo enforced with its 24-hour photo windows is now your whole damage case. Photograph every side, the interior, fuel and odometer at pick-up and return, mark existing damage, and have the customer acknowledge it. See the vehicle inspection checklist.
When is staying on Turo the better choice?
Be honest with yourself on these before you spend money on a direct channel:
- You have no demand outside Turo yet. A booking page with no visitors earns nothing. If nobody finds you on Google today, the direct channel is a marketing project first.
- You cannot get commercial insurance at a workable price. For some cars, drivers or states, Turo's bundled cover is the cheapest cover you will get.
- You rely on Turo's damage handling. If a $5,000 claim against a stranger with no deposit on file would sink you, Turo's process is worth its share.
- Your cars are on personal auto policies or finance agreements that limit commercial use. Fix that before renting directly.
- You have no time for the admin. Answering requests, checking licences and chasing tolls is the work Turo's share pays for.
For many hosts the result is a split: Turo for out-of-town visitors who search Turo, the direct channel for local, repeat-by-referral and business customers.
Where does Renviq fit, and where does it not?
Renviq is the software for the direct channel. What it does:
- A branded booking page that shows only vehicles free for the chosen dates, priced with your seasons, extras and fees. A request with a saved card or a prepayment and the driver's details confirms itself when the car is free; any other request waits for you to confirm it in the bookings calendar.
- Payments through your own Stripe account (Stripe Connect, direct charges): the customer saves a card at checkout or pays a prepayment. Renviq takes no percentage of your card payments; you pay only Stripe's own processing fees, billed by Stripe. Deposit holds on the saved card are renewed automatically before they expire, and you can capture part of the hold at return.
- Licence rules per vehicle checked at booking: minimum age, years the licence has been held and licence category, including US classes. A young driver fee can be set up as a fee rule.
- Digital rental agreements signed by you and the customer, with a PDF audit trail, and pickup and dropoff photo inspections that record damage, fuel and mileage.
- A traffic fines register that matches a ticket to whoever had the car on that date and creates a recovery invoice.
- US settings: USD, miles, 12-hour time, a sales tax rate per pickup location.
What it does not do, and you should know before you choose it:
- No Turo integration. There is no sync or channel connection with Turo. When a car is booked on Turo, you add a block for those dates on the vehicle in Renviq by hand, and when a direct booking comes in, you block the dates on Turo yourself.
- No insurance. Renviq does not replace Turo's earnings plan cover. That comes from your commercial insurer.
- No native mobile app. Staff use the web app on their phones for handovers.
- Sales tax is one flat rate per location; if your state's rate varies by rental length, check that a single rate fits before relying on it.
The subscription is billed in euros: Free at €0 for 2 vehicles, 1 user and 10 bookings a month with no time limit, Starter at €49 a month for up to 15 vehicles, then Pro and Max for larger fleets; see pricing. The Free plan is enough to run a direct channel for two cars alongside Turo and see whether it brings bookings.