First Turo car — fourteen days, in order.

Walk Turo’s published US rules, not a 2010 blog: you 21 or older, car under the rolling 12-year cap, under 130,000 miles at first listing, clean title, plates that are actually yours, NY or MD extras if those plates apply. The decision list is on Rent out my car. The full cited version is on Start. The requirements page is Turo host requirements.

Create the Turo account. Finish the host orientation webinar Turo requires before a listing can go live. We do not summarize the webinar. Acknowledge the tracking and technology policy if you will use a tracker or a road camera — disclose those in the listing. Tracker rules: Trackers.

1. Age, miles, title, plates — written down, not remembered.
2. Account + orientation webinar.
3. A folder on the phone: registration, insurance card, VIN photo, lien-holder contact if any.

Insurer. Many private passenger policies exclude peer-to-peer sharing, including delivery. Some still cover it. Call before you list. Ask what happens during a Turo trip. Write down the name of the person and the date. Not legal advice — Plans is the earnings-plan table, not your policy. The longer insurance page is Does my insurance cover renting out my car.

Lender or lessor. If there is a lien or a lease, Turo tells you to confirm sharing does not violate the contract. Silent language is not a blessing. A spouse or co-title holder should hear the plan before the first request, not during a claim. Lease and loan: Can I rent out a leased or financed car?.

Pick a plan you can explain in one sentence. 70% / $250, 80% / $1,500, or 90% / $2,750 — host share versus damage responsibility for trips booked on or after January 7, 2026. If you cannot say which bill you would float, you are not ready to publish. Worked take-home math: How much you take home.

Service the obvious: oil, brakes, tires, the check-engine light. Pull personal items — glove box, trunk wells, garage remotes, mail, a visor clip with a gate code. A first Turo car that still looks lived-in photographs like a first-timer. Cabin notes: Cabin. Turo requires a clean car before every trip after you list — not a guest Extra. The standard, the $150 US violation, and why you cannot invoice a routine cleaning fee: Turo cleaning.

Turo’s listing-photo guidance: successful listings have at least 10 clear, well-lit, high-resolution photos. Turo crops about 20% on upload, so take five steps back. No stock, no AI, no dealer hero shot. The shot list and the rules are on How to list.

Take a second set — a condition set — with date, time, and location metadata: every panel, wheels, glass, dash, odometer. You will need that habit on trip one. Practice now so the first booking is not the first time you walk the car.

Title: year, model, one useful fact. First lines: who the car is for, where pickup actually happens, fuel or charge rule, what you expect on return. No phone number, no home address, no off-platform fee. Disclose trackers and road cameras. Full listing notes: List.

Turo runs dynamic pricing on every listing. Finish Turo’s short lesson if you want to override calendar prices. A first listing $20/day over comps looks empty, not premium. Use the calculator so you know the floor, then let the market work until you have reviews.

Set buffers. Two hours is a minimum in a city; four is kinder if you detail yourself. Block the Saturday you cannot actually host. Decide the advance-notice minimum. Last-minute trips pay less host share in Turo’s nine dynamic-share cities (as of March 31, 2026) and they are the ones that run late.

Most first listings will not meet every guest. Write lockbox (or walkthrough) in the listing. Send the code in Turo messages the day before — never in the public description. Turo support cannot read the guest the code. Change the combination after every trip. Confirm the license before the box is live. How to hang, mount, and photograph the closed box: Lockbox. Pickup order: How Turo lockbox pickup works.

Label the trip key with a nickname or color — not a street address, not “Turo.” Put the trip fob in a Faraday pouch, then put the pouch in the lockbox so a relay thief cannot wake a boxed car. The guest opens the box, takes the fob out, then unlocks. Use the second pouch on the house spare. That note is on Keys.

Trip one is still cleaner as a walkthrough even if you bought the box. Ten minutes, a joint photo set, a physical license check. The operational first-booking page is First trip — read it before the request lands, not after.

Turn on Turo notifications. Stay in the app — not your personal number. Dry-run the stall, the box, and the message. If you cannot find the car from your own photos, a guest at 6 a.m. will not either.

Prefer a 2–4 day first booking over a 30-day first trip. You want one clean cycle: handoff, return, photos, review. Be there for pickup one even if you plan to be remote later.

Turo’s check-in page: confirm the guest’s license before they get the car. Remote handoff — use the license photos in the trip. Finish that before trip start or you risk voiding the protection on your plan. If they never send photos and you cannot meet them, Turo says cancel — fees and the unlist-until-webinar table for hosts still in their first 20 trips are on Turo host cancel. Do not leave a live lockbox for an unconfirmed guest.

Pre-trip photos of interior, exterior, odometer, and fuel or charge no more than 24 hours before start; upload no more than 24 hours after start. Same after the trip. Metadata matters — Turo says photos without it are deemed invalid. The rest of the first-booking flow (fuel, during-trip silence, the 10-day review ask) is on First trip.

After the car is back: same angles, then the incidental window (5 / 4 / 3 days by plan) and the 24-hour physical-damage window. Claims clock: Claims. Tolls if you offer them: Tolls.

This page is the map. The $19 Starter Kit is optional paper: a take-home spreadsheet, 24 guest-message templates, and a 14-day checklist you can tick. Not required to list. Gumroad checkout if you want it.