Sunday night: a four-inch scrape
Last lesson’s rule: Turo covers the trip, you cover the car. Now it’s Sunday night. The Tucson comes back, and Sam finds a fresh scrape on the rear bumper. Four inches. The next guest picks up at nine in the morning.
Most claims are lost before they’re filed: too late, or without proof. So here’s the clock, the proof, and the one choice that decides who pays.
Turo’s clock
Turo’s deadlines start when the trip ends. Report damage within 24 hours. Fuel, cleaning, smoking and late returns: 72 hours. Tolls and tickets: 90 days.
Miss the 90 days on a toll or ticket, and you can still contact support within 30 days of the notice, up to 180 days after the trip. Don’t count on it.
Turo’s help pages don’t all give the same window for every charge. So don’t plan around the last hour. Report the same day.
| Damage | 24 hours |
| Fuel, cleaning, smoking, late return | 72 hours |
| Tolls and tickets | 90 days |
Tolls add up fast
One real Austin fleet logged 554 toll charges in a single quarter: $6,615, and every one a charge someone had to request.
Tolls show up one at a time, often weeks after the trip. Without a system, small charges slip past the window.
The proof
Take photos within 24 hours before and after every trip, with the date, time and location saved. Shoot each damage wide, then close, with a tape measure in the frame.
Upload the pre-trip photos within 24 hours of the start, and the post-trip photos within 24 hours of the end. Photos without the date, time and location don’t count.
No photos, no claim. The tape measure matters too: Turo doesn’t pay for dings and scratches of three inches or less, and Sam’s scrape measures four.
Two paths: the guest or Turo
Then the choice. Get a repair estimate, and Turo shows you two paths.
One: resolve it directly with the guest, up to the most their plan makes them pay. Two: file with Turo, and pay your damage responsibility first.
Turo shows you what you’d get each way, so you can compare before you choose. After you report the damage, you have 15 days to upload your documents.
Your call: file, or resolve directly?
Sam’s estimate is $1,100. Sam is on the Balanced plan, with $1,500 of damage responsibility. File with Turo, or resolve directly?
Resolve directly. Filed with Turo, an $1,100 repair pays Sam nothing. It’s under the $1,500.
| Repair estimate | $1,100 |
| Damage responsibility on Balanced | $1,500 |
| Turo pays if Sam files | $0 |
Invoice the guest the same night
So Sam checks the guest’s plan on the trip, to see the most the guest can be charged. Then Sam invoices the guest from Turo’s claims dashboard. Inside Turo, the same night.
For tolls, fuel and cleaning, RevHostHQ’s Reimbursements list shows what you still have to request, and marks it paid when the money shows up on the Turo receipt.
Not legal or insurance advice. Next lesson: the claim email that gets paid.