For practically 15 years, Turo, the automotive rental app investigators say was used within the lethal assault in New Orleans and the car explosion on the Trump Worldwide Resort in Las Vegas, quietly grew as an alternative choice to conventional rental providers like Hertz and Enterprise.
The corporate was based as RelayRides in 2010, and rebranded to Turo in 2015. Over 3.5 million individuals have booked a car via Turo previously 12 months, in keeping with a firm submitting. As of September, the app had 350,000 car listings in additional than 16,000 cities.
Now Turo, which final 12 months was contemplating an preliminary public providing on Wall Avenue, is going through uncomfortable consideration as a maybe coincidental hyperlink between the 2 incidents.
The app features equally to Airbnb, the place “hosts” can put their vehicles on the Turo market to be rented by customers.
For some customers, the app is a less expensive various to rental fleet firms discovered at airports, with many autos accessible for below $50 a day. Others use the app to lease novelty vehicles for increased costs, like basic cars, high-end sports activities vehicles or Tesla Cybertrucks, such because the one used within the explosion in Las Vegas.
Very similar to conventional rental providers, Turo clients are required to add their driver’s license, residence handle and fee info to create an account.
Hosts on Turo vary from individuals who lease out their private car to make a facet earnings to customers who listing over a dozen autos and lease them on Turo as a full-time job. Turo offers its hosts with third-party legal responsibility insurance coverage as much as $750,000. Drivers, who’re accountable for any injury to the automotive whereas it’s being rented, are supplied protection by Turo.
In a press release on Wednesday, the corporate stated it was “heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas,” and was actively working with regulation enforcement for each incidents.
“These people in query had legitimate driver’s licenses, clear background checks, and had been honorably discharged from the U.S. navy,” Turo stated. “They might have boarded any aircraft, checked right into a resort, or rented a automotive or truck from a conventional car rental chain.”
Investigators have thus far discovered no definitive connection between the New Orleans assault and the explosion of the Tesla in Las Vegas, however regulation officers stated they continued to search for hyperlinks between the incidents.
Turo was based in Boston by Shelby Clark, who served as chief govt, and it later relocated to San Francisco, the place it’s based mostly. Its preliminary traders had been Google Ventures, August Capital and Shasta Ventures, and the corporate has thus far raised $500 million in funding, in keeping with firm statements.
Mr. Clark left the corporate in 2013 to pursue enterprise capital investments and follow wellness and meditation in Costa Rica, in keeping with his social media accounts. The present chief govt is Andre Haddad, a former govt at eBay.
Turo had $880 million in income in 2023 and reported a $14.7 million revenue. For the primary 9 months of 2024, it introduced in $722 million with a $19 million revenue, in keeping with regulatory filings.
Turo has for years been rumored to go public, and filed paperwork for an preliminary public providing in 2022. In September, it teamed up with Uber to let its clients lease autos from the Uber app.
Shannon Sims contributed reporting from Houston and Jenny Vrentas from New York.
