Are You Checking Rental Car Company Rates?

This should be a regular part of your process for determining where your daily rates should be.

There are also things you can discover about Turo brand awareness in your market when doing so.

I want to share with you some findings from completing the Huntsville, Alabama Market Guide today. We've begun building into our Market Guides a comparison to the rental car company rates for the same class of vehicle, for each model we highlight in the report.

In Huntsville, we found that daily rates for Turo vehicles trend far below what the rental car companies are getting. Take a look at the photos below to see the differences in both the car and SUV category. The RAC rates include taxes.

In contrast, when we did the same exercise for Denver, we found that Turo pricing is very close, within a few dollars, to what the rental car companies are charging.

What does this mean?

First, in a market where Turo rates are far below RAC rates, it could mean that hosts in this market do not manage their rates well, are leaving money on the table, and are cratering the Turo potential for all of the hosts in that market.

But, it could mean something else. It could mean that in the market where Turo rates are far below RAC rates, there is simply a lack of Turo brand awareness, and hosts really are getting all they can get, because Turo is not seen, or known to be, a viable rental car option.

I think this is what we are seeing by comparing Huntsville, AL to Denver. Turo is very strong and well known in Denver. But not so much in Huntsville. And Denver enjoys far more tourist and business travel bookings, from out-of-towners who already know and use Turo when they travel.

Build this into your pricing habit.

About once a month or so you should check rates at your local rental car companies to see how you stack up. Check them for the current date. But also go out and see what the rental car companies are charging on upcoming major holidays. Not because you should always match or beat their rates, but it's always good to know if you may be too high, too low, or just right depending on other market dynamics.

Keep in mind that rental car companies have been doing this for decades. They have this down to a science with far more complex algorithms than any of us use. They know, by the hour, when to raise or lower rates by a dollar.