How To Choose The Best Car Rental

The shift towards car-sharing platforms like Turo and Zipcar has been a great improvement in the world of car rental. That also means that choosing the most suitable platform to rent a car can be confusing.

I spent a few nights researching about this topic to understand the differences and insurance considerations to make sure we were picking the best option.

Whether you are looking for a one-off car rental, or planning your next weekend trip, I hope this post gives you more clarity on how to choose a rental car company.

So will it be Turo, Zipcar or a traditional car rental company like Hertz?

1. How To Rent A Car On Turo, Zipcar and Hertz

Both Zipcar and Turo require a driver account before you are allowed to book any rental cars. There is usually a 24 to 48 hour processing time, though it can be approved in as fast as 1 hour. On the other hand, most traditional car rental companies allow you to check out without an account.

Zipcar and Turo also make use of mobile apps for guests to check rental details, update bookings, and contact customer support.

Turo – Rent cars from individuals based on their host reviews

Turo requires an approved account before you can start booking vehicles. Guests and hosts can leave each other public reviews, which is a useful guide for finding out which hosts are more experienced or easy going.

You can filter for the type of car and the price when searching for your rental car. Since every host is different, you may get a different booking experience each time. Some prefer to review the guest before approving the trip, while others allow for instant confirmation upon booking.

You need to use the Turo app to submit photos of the car for check in and out. There is also a handy chat feature where you can communicate with the host in case you cannot locate the car or need to ask questions about it.

Turo has been our go-to car rental for our first few road trips. We paid $185 for our most recent 2-day road trip car rental, in other words $92.50 per day.

Daily rate: $49 per day for a Toyota Corolla with unlimited mileage
Insurance: $31.85 per day for “Premier protection”
Trip fee: $11.60 per day

Zipcar – Rent cars on-demand with hourly rates

You are required to choose a plan, monthly, annual or a university-affiliated plan. Look out for Zipcar promo codes like MONTHOFF to get the first month free. If you are affiliated to a university and have access to their Zipcars, you may be able to get a huge discount on the annual plan.

When looking for a Zipcar to rent, just input the time and duration you need the car for and the results will show the nearest available cars. There are a few standard sedans and SUVs to choose from, and you can even check the fuel level from the search results.

You will need to download the Zipcar app so that you can locate, unlock or lock, and submit photos of the car for checking in and out. That’s right, it’s a keyless rental experience so you just need to make sure your phone does not run out of battery during the rental period.

Here are some data points from our experience with Zipcar. The total cost for 4 hours was $70. They also have daily rates starting from $110 per day.

Hourly rate: $15 per hour for a Toyota Corolla or Prius
Membership fee: $9 per month
Collision damage waiver: $14.99 per month
Additional liability insurance: a few dollars depending on your trip

Hertz – Rent cars from a traditional rental company

Most of the time you will just make a reservation online and put up a credit card for the booking. The pick up locations are commonly found near major airports to cater to most visitors.

There is usually a shuttle service to take you from the airport to their rental car site. When you are there, you will need to sign some paperwork and review your license with the staff before picking up the car.

The online booking site is quite self explanatory and I think most traditional car rental platforms have similar interface. You can also search on an aggregated site like RentalCars.com for more options.

A typical 2-day car rental from Hertz could cost $238 in total, or $119 per day.

Daily rate: $50 per day for an economy 2/4 door
Loss damage waiver: $25 per day
Liability insurance: $16.35 per day
Miscellaneous fees: $40

2. Which car rental is the cheapest – Turo, Zipcar or Hertz?

Price is often the most important deciding factor. However, with different pricing structures it can. be difficult to compare.

Turo – Simple pricing and affordable daily rates

You are charged for the daily rate, Turo trip fee, insurance costs, and any other add-ons you have chosen. This way, the pricing structure is transparent and you have the flexibility to select the appropriate insurance coverage. Overall, the final price is easy to understand.

Zipcar – Hourly rates make rental affordable

For Zipcar, they tend to advertise hourly rental rates starting from $11/hour but that tends to only be for selected type of members. There can also be variations in rental rates depending on the demand. Most of the time, I saw rates starting from $15.

However, don’t forget to account for the Zipcar membership and collision damage insurance fees that are charged on monthly basis. Only the liability insurance is charged on a per-trip basis.

Hertz – Usually comes with expensive miscellaneous fees

Although Hertz and Turo have similar daily rates, Hertz tends to stack on miscellaneous fees that add $30-40 to the bill.

Between Turo and Hertz, Turo is clearly the winner when it comes to cheaper cost per day.

For Zipcar, it depends on whether you are able to make enough trips in a month for the fixed costs to be worth it.

3. What type of cars can you find on Turo, Zipcar and Hertz?

There are times when the type of vehicle matters for your car rental. Here are some differences between Turo, Zipcar and Hertz.

Turo – All kinds ranging from economy to exotic cars

Turo generally has a wider selection of cars as hosts with all sorts of cool cars are welcome on the platform.

Whether you want to test drive a certain car, or you just want a nice car for your holiday, Turo is a great platform for this. Take note that hosts have the ability to cancel bookings, but they may receive penalties for doing so after the initial confirmation.

Based on Turo’s guidelines for hosts, they can list cars that are less than 13 years old and below 130,000 miles. That means that you also have access to cheaper economy cars, which also tend to have lower insurance premiums.

Zipcar – Standard cars you can choose

Zipcar only has a few types of cars, but you will know exactly what you are going to drive once you book it.

Hertz – Standard cars but you won’t know the exact model

Hertz and other major rental companies usually indicate the type of car you are booking without guaranteeing the exact make or model.

Zipcar and Hertz tend to have cars within the 1-3 year range in their fleet. This can mean that they are more reliable and have more modern safety features like blind spot monitoring and back up cameras compared to older cars. I guess this might be one of the reasons why Zipcar and Hertz have higher daily rental rate than Turo.

If you have a specific car in mind, it’s best to rent it from a reputable Turo host. Otherwise, Zipcar and Hertz are likely to provide a car thats almost new.

4. What insurance coverage do you want, and who can offer it?

There are 2 main types of insurance coverage that are important for your car rental. If you tend to ignore the risks, here’s a gentle reminder that <$100 of premium could save you thousands of dollars.

Collision damage waiver is commonly offered by rental companies, where you pay a premium upfront and you will not be charged for any damages to the car. What you want is a $0 deductible, not something like $300 deductible. Of course this depends on your risk appetite, but I’d rather not take the chance since I’m not a frequent driver.

Liability insurance is different from collision damage waiver and I used to mix these two up. Instead of damages to the rental car, liability insurance is meant to cover the bodily injury and property damage you do to others. This charge can really escalate to hundreds of thousands, especially if serious medical expenses and loss of livelihood is involved.

Turo – Tiered Protection Plans

There are 3 tiers of insurance or protection plans when you book with Turo – minimum, “Standard”, and “Premier” plan. You can also choose to decline coverage if you have your own auto insurance.

The minimum and “Standard” plan have $3,000 and $500 maximum out-of-pocket charge for vehicle damage or theft. The “Premier” plan has $0 deductible, effectively a collision damage waiver equivalent. There is combined single limit of $750,000 liability insurance coverage for the “Premier” plan, whereas the other options only have state minimum coverage. Note that you may not have the option of the “Premier” protection plan on more expensive vehicles or if you are below 21.

We always try to get the “Premier” protection when we book Turo’s cheaper economy cars for peace of mind. However, it can cost any between 65% to 100% of the trip price for this protection plan.

Turo maximum insurance coverage

Collision Damage Waiver: $0 deductible
Liability Insurance: $750,000

Zipcar – Monthly and per-trip insurance options

If you want to get collision damage waiver with $0 deductible, you need to purchase monthly coverage at $14.99. Without this, you have $1,000 deductible for any damages by default.

You can also purchase additional liability insurance for each trip, for combined sinlge limit of $300,00 for bodily injuries and property damage done to others. This costs a few dollars for each short trip and is not expensive to add on. But then again, $300,000 coverage for liability is not much and seems to cater to shorter rental periods.

Zipcar maximum insurance coverage

Collision Damage Waiver: $0 deductible
Liability Insurance: $300,000

Hertz – Insurance options for a variety of situations

Hertz gives you the option to insure a wide range of things aside from the usual collision damage waiver and liability insurance, including medical expenses and theft of personal belongings. You don’t really need those if they are already covered by your travel insurance.

Collision damage waiver premium starts from around $25 per day depending on the type of vehicle. In case the reservation includes Loss Damage Waiver, don’t assume that it means $0 deductible and make sure to get insurance add-ons if you want to be fully covered.

Hertz offers up to $1 million coverage in their Liability Insurance Supplement. This also extends to uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage for bodily injury in case you get involved in an accident with these motorists who do not have insurance backing to pay you.

Hertz maximum insurance coverage

Collision Damage Waiver: $0 deductible
Liability Insurance: $1,000,000

Only Hertz offers $1,000,000 in liability coverage, though Zipcar, Turo, and Hertz all have the option of getting collision damage waiver with $0 deductible.

5. Do you need flexible pick-up locations and timings?

People rent cars for all kinds of reasons, and sometimes you need flexibility in pick up locations and timings.

Turo – Availability based on the host

As the Turo platform gained popularity over the years, it should be easy to find a Turo host near you. Some hosts offer delivery to and from your location if you pay a fee, or if you booked for more than 3 days and are not too far away. You can filter for this via the Turo search and you’ll have a much wider range of options.

The pick-up and return timings are subject to the hosts’ choice or availability so you may need to pick more convenient timings that are not too early or late. You can also request to extend the trip if you need more time.

Depending on your budget, Turo can be very convenient to pick up and return.

Zipcar – Availability by the hour

There are designated parking spaces for Zipcars all over the city and that is the same place where you will return the car. It can be easier to find an available Zipcar through the day because people may only be renting for a few hours.

If there are no other bookings after you, you can extend the rental duration before your session ends. However, they are very strict on late returns and charge a $50 fee along with charges for the additional time. This includes time for refilling gas if required, and you are expected to account for traffic conditions before booking.

To sum up, Zipcar has convenient pick-up locations but is strict on late returns.

Hertz – Standard locations and timings

Like most traditional rental companies, Hertz rental cars are most easily found at the airport. Alternatively, you can also rent a car from an off-airport location in the city. However, most of the availability will be found at the airport with longer working hours to cater to the 24/7 nature of plane arrivals.

A quick search on RentalCars.com shows that there are more than 200 cars at airport locations, compared to just 10-20 cars in various cities. In addition, rental options in the city may have shorter working hours and may not be open during the weekend for pick up or return.

If it suits your travel plans, Hertz offers convenience with its airport locations – for example those who plan to drive the entire trip.

6. What mileage and fuel policies are suitable for your trip distance?

Rental cars will usually have a mileage policy stating the maximum number of miles you can drive per day. In most cases you will need to pay a fee for additional distance, usually charged by the mile.

You may also be able to find cars that offer unlimited mileage and it’s worth checking your planned distance before booking.

Turo – Varied mileage and fuel policy depending on the host

Mileage and additional distance charge decided by the host, usually 200-300 miles but can also be unlimited
Like-for-like fuel policy
- If gas is not refilled, $10 convenience fee is charged on top of fuel costs
- Hosts may offer the option of paying a fixed upfront amount for gas instead

Zipcar – Limited mileage though with generous fuel policy

180 miles per day, $0.58/mile charge for additional distance
Fuel included, but tank must be at least 1/4 filled upon returning (card provided for refilling gas)
- $30 penalty if the tank is less than 1/4 full

Hertz – Unlimited mileage and standard fuel policy

Often offers unlimited mileage
Like-for-like fuel policy
- If gas is not refilled, pay a refueling service fee on top of fuel costs
- Option to “Prepay The Fuel”, quoted based on current oil prices and tank size

For long road trips, consider unlimited mileage rental cars with Turo or Hertz if it is cheaper than paying for additional distance.

7. Do you need to add additional drivers?

Most of the time if you are travelling with a group you will want. toshare the driving amog a few people across the trip. That means that you need to add these drivers to the booking so that the insurance can cover them as drivers as well.

Turo – Additional driver possible after approval

All drivers need to have approved guest accounts on Turo
Drivers need to be added to the reservation at no additional fee

Zipcar – Additional driver requires paid account

All drivers need to pay for a Zipcar account (available to young drivers)
Drivers need to be added to the reservation

Hertz – Additional driver at a fee

All drivers need to have a valid driver’s license and present it during the pick up
Additional driver fee of $13.50 per person per day

The cheapest way to add drivers to your road trip is through Turo.

The Verdict: Which is the best car rental – Turo, Zipcar or Hertz?

For this article we have only looked at the example of 27-year-old drivers, so young drivers might need to dig a little further beyond this.

Overall best option for road trips: Turo

Personally, we prefer to use Turo for our weekend road trips. That means we need to cycle to the car’s location but it was worth the cost saving at that time.

What we like about Turo:

Wide variety of car options including exotic cars
Most affordable for road trips
Easy to add additional drivers

What we don’t like about Turo:

Cheaper rates tend to apply to older cars
Pick up location might not be close enough to walk to

Best for short (4-5 hour) trips: Zipcar

For us, Zipcar is great for quick half-day trips to San Francisco. The Zipcar rental cost for 5 hours ended up being the same as a full day rental from Turo, but we preferred the convenience of having the Zipcar close by.

What we like about Zipcar:

Ease of booking and accessing cars with the Zipcar app
Cheaper option for frequent short trips
Fuel included

What we don’t like about Zipcar:

Lowest liability insurance coverage ($300,000)
No grace period for late returns
Default of $1,000 deductible for damages

Best for peace of mind: Hertz

What we like about Hertz:

Large, reputable rental car company with experience handling various issues and accidents
Higher liability insurance coverage ($1,000,000) for peace of mind
Convenient pick up at the airport
Options to add on more protection if travel insurance is insufficient

What we don’t like about Hertz:

Expensive with miscellaneous add-on fees
Limited flexibility in pick up locations and timings

Ready to check out road trip itineraries? Read more:

How To Choose The Best Car Rental – Turo, Zipcar, Hertz