When the current director of Turo Canada, Cedric Mathieu, joined the company in September 2014, he did so because he saw a “massive opportunity” to put non-occupied cars to better use. “People around the world spend about $80 billion a year on car rentals. The thing is, there are more than a billion cars on the planet that are sitting idle 95 per cent of the time, so there is a massive opportunity to put these cars to better use by connecting car owners with travellers,” he says. “What we’re trying to build at Turo is really a platform to make better use of those cars.” Mathieu also found Turo to be an opportunity to help drivers “offset the cost of car ownership” and “recoup some of that money” — money that goes toward maintenance and insurance, primarily.

Turo’s website provides car owners an opportunity to rent out their vehicles to people and generate some cash flow. For renters, this allows them a chance to explore their location of choice with very little commitment, liability or worry. Turo differs from regular car rental companies in another way as well. “What’s really important is first for you to have the choice, but [also] when you rent the car, you know that this is the car you’re going to drive. When you go to a traditional car rental company, you never know exactly.”

According to Turo’s official website, it offers more than 800 distinct makes and models, from everyday vehicles such as the Kia Forte and Nissan Sentra, to more luxurious brands such as Porsche and Mercedes-Benz models. Turo has car rentals listed in more than 4,700 cities and 300 airports in the U.S., the U.K. and, of course, Canada. Either the car owner or Turo can set the daily rental prices — which are, on average, 35 per cent cheaper than those of traditional car rental organizations.

www.turo.com