Turo security deposit — does Turo take one, and can a host set it?

Trip-costs Help is blunt: neither Turo nor hosts can remove these deposits. The matching host job is not “waive it for a five-star guest.” The job is to stop asking for a second hold Turo does not support.

Turo’s listing a vehicle | US page: don’t mention fees, deposits, or restrictions not supported by Turo and the Terms of service. An “under 25 tax,” a cash envelope in the lockbox, or a homemade Extra named “security deposit” is that line. Age is Turo’s, not a host surcharge — Turo guest age.

If guests pick up from a lockbox, the order is still license, then the code — Turo lockbox pickup. Do not leave a cash-deposit note in the box. Bag the lockbox fob so a boxed key cannot wake the car.

Turo’s US deposits page: the system automatically refunds the security deposit 80 hours after the trip ends if all of the following are true:

• The guest or host has not reported vehicle damage; and
• The guest has no unpaid eligible reimbursement invoices; and
• The guest is not responsible for any roadside service costs.

Once Turo initiates the refund, the bank or credit card company processes it on its own timeline. Turo’s refunds page: to see the date Turo initiated the refund, open the Trips tab, open the trip, and look in the Refundable Deposit section. After Turo issues it, Turo cannot see the refund status or expedite it — only the payment provider can. That page’s typical bank clocks: Apple Pay and Google Pay three to 10 business days depending on payment method; credit cards three to five business days; debit cards (including Revolut) 10 business days.

That 80-hour clock is the guest deposit. Host payout is a different Stripe clock — first completed trip typically three business days after it ends, later trips three hours after it ends, then the bank three to five more business days — on Turo payout. Do not tell a guest the host payout clock as if it were their deposit refund.

Trip-costs Help: the deposit is applied to post-trip vehicle damage, unpaid eligible reimbursement invoices, or eligible roadside services. Turo’s guest damage-charges Help: if the guest was charged a security deposit, those funds are held and applied to any balance due.

That does not zero out the host plan. Turo’s US earnings-plan table still names host damage responsibility per physical-damage claim: $250 More peace of mind (70%), $1,500 Balanced (80%), $2,750 More earnings (90%). The guest’s out-of-pocket and the host’s plan number are separate. Do not treat a $200 or $750 guest hold as if it paid the host’s $1,500 Balanced slice.

Fuel, extra miles, and tickets are invoices on their own clocks — not this deposit page. Fuel is on Turo fuel. Tickets are on Turo tickets.

The homepage calculator starts with example numbers so they can be changed: $60/day, 50% occupancy, $500 fixed, $25/trip, a $60 maintenance reserve, 80% Balanced. That $500 is a planning fixed-cost example — insurance, payment, the costs that do not show up on a receipt — not Turo’s $500 New York guest deposit, not the $200 / $250 / $750 holds, and not host share. The deposit never lands in the host Stripe payout.