Four words on Sam’s first quote
Last lesson’s rule: earn the five stars, then ask for them. Now Sam’s first insurance quote arrives for the Tucson: liability 30/60/25, collision, comprehensive, and a $1,000 deductible. Sam has heard these words a hundred times, and couldn’t explain one of them.
Every one of those words answers one question: who pays? Here are the four words on every policy, what “full coverage” really means, and the one that sounds like insurance but isn’t.
Liability: other people, never your car
Liability pays for damage you cause to other people: their car, their medical bills. It never fixes your own car.
Liability limits are written as three numbers, in thousands of dollars. 30/60/25 is the Texas minimum: $30,000 for each injured person, $60,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property. The Texas Department of Insurance itself says the minimum might be too low if you cause a crash with several cars. Other states set their own minimums, so check yours.
| 30 | $30,000 for each injured person |
| 60 | $60,000 for all injuries in one crash |
| 25 | $25,000 for property, like the other car |
Collision, comprehensive, and “full coverage”
Collision fixes your own car after a crash, or pays its value if it’s totaled. Comprehensive covers almost everything else: theft, hail, flood, fire, vandalism, falling objects, even hitting a deer.
Liability plus those two is what people call full coverage. It isn’t an official term, and the Texas Department of Insurance doesn’t use it. So when someone says “full coverage”, ask what’s actually in the policy.
The deductible: your share
The deductible is the part of a claim you pay yourself. On a $3,000 repair with a $1,000 deductible, Sam pays the first $1,000 and the insurer pays the other $2,000.
You choose it. A higher deductible means a cheaper policy, and a bigger bill on a bad day. Pick one you could pay tomorrow.
Turo’s version for hosts is called damage responsibility: $250, $1,500 or $2,750 per damage, depending on your plan. The next lesson covers it.
| Repair bill | $3,000 |
| Sam pays first (the deductible) | $1,000 |
| The insurer pays | $2,000 |
Your call: hail between trips
Between trips, a hailstorm hits Sam’s driveway and dents the Tucson. Which part of the policy pays: liability, collision, or comprehensive?
Comprehensive. Hail isn’t a crash, and liability only pays other people. With liability alone, Sam pays for every dent.
The damage waiver: the one that isn’t insurance
A damage waiver is a promise not to charge the renter for damage to the car, or not past a cap. It protects the renter’s wallet, not your car.
Turo’s guest plans work this way. As of October 2026, a US guest on Premier pays nothing for reported physical damage, on Standard up to $500, and on Minimum up to $3,000. And Turo says it plainly: these plans are not insurance.
If you ever rent direct and sell your own waiver, your state may have rules on how you sell it (Module 6 covers Texas’s). Either way, your car still needs a real policy behind it.
| Premier | the guest pays $0 for reported physical damage |
| Standard | up to $500 |
| Minimum | up to $3,000 |
Sam’s cheat sheet
So Sam makes a one-page cheat sheet. Five words, one question each.
| Other people’s car or medical bills | Liability |
| My car, in a crash | Collision |
| Theft, hail, flood, fire | Comprehensive |
| My share of each claim | Deductible |
| The renter’s share | Damage waiver (not insurance) |
See the plan on every trip
RevHostHQ shows which Turo plan each trip was on, and the damage responsibility that plan carries, and it logs what each car’s policy costs.
This lesson explains the words, not which policy to buy. Have a licensed insurance agent check your own coverage. Next lesson: what Turo’s protection plans really cover, and what they don’t.