Field guide

How much do Turo hosts make?

A well-bought economy car nets $600-900 a month. Here's the whole chain from day rate to profit, with live market data - no gross-revenue hand-waving.

The math, start to finish

Day rate in, net profit out

Take Chicago, currently a $54/day median in Carlyle's live scans. A well-run daily driver books about 22 days a month. From there the chain is short:

Gross: $54/day x 22 booked days	$1197
After Turo's cut (70% plan)	$838
Insurance	-$120
Maintenance reserve (model-specific, $36-$115/mo)	-$76
Oil at fleet pace (~1,800 mi/mo)	-$40
Net per month, before your time	$602

That lands in the playbook's good band: $600/mo is good, $800 is great, $1,000+ is excellent. Registration varies by state, cleaning is your labor or $30-50 a turn, and financing isn't in the table because the playbook says buy cash - a loan payment eats most of that net line.

Live rates

The same math in every market Carlyle scans

Median day rate from live listings, grossed at 22 booked days, then the 70%-plan share. Your costs come out after that.

Market	Median /day	Gross at 22 days	Host share (70%)
New York	$71	$1560	$1092
San Francisco	$65	$1441	$1008
Seattle	$63	$1392	$974
Los Angeles	$63	$1390	$973
Dallas	$57	$1255	$878
Chicago	$54	$1197	$838
Atlanta	$54	$1197	$838
San Diego	$53	$1172	$820
Houston	$52	$1133	$793
Phoenix	$43	$953	$667

Market medians mix all vehicle classes; the class you buy shifts the rate. Full breakouts on Turo rates by market.

Scale

One car is a side hustle. Seven is an income.

The per-car number is the whole model: ~$20k of capital buys one workhorse car earning about $700/mo. $60k builds 3 cars ($2,100/mo), $150k builds around 7 ($4,900/mo). The fleet stays in the same affordable class the whole way up - many small cars beat a few big ones on both utilization and risk. The one deliberate exception: a single low-cost sports car, which books fewer days (~16/mo) at a higher rate.

What decides whether YOUR car hits the band isn't the market - it's the buy. Which car, at what price, with how many miles left. That's the part the economics guide covers, and the part a Carlyle report scores before you sign anything.

Straight answers

The questions everyone asks

A well-bought economy car in a decent market nets roughly $600-900 a month after Turo's cut and running costs. The Carlyle playbook grades $600/mo as good, $800 as great, and $1,000+ as excellent. Badly bought cars - too expensive, too fragile, wrong class - can net close to zero, which is why the buy decides the business.

At the playbook's ~$700 net per car per month, five cars is about $3,500/mo before your time. The same math says $60k of capital builds roughly 3 cars ($2,100/mo) and $150k builds around 7 ($4,900/mo) - the per-car number holds because the fleet buys the same workhorse class, not bigger cars.

Hosts keep 70%, 80%, or 90% of the trip price depending on the protection plan they choose. Lower share means Turo carries more of the damage deductible. Small fleets usually run the 70% plan and move up once a month's earnings comfortably covers one deductible.

Yes, if the buy is right. Live scans across major US markets still show economy cars renting around $54/day median, and a car bought at a sane cost per remaining mile breaks even inside its usable life. What's changed is that sloppy buys - financed, overpriced, or fragile - no longer hide behind high rates.

One full ROI report free: income, costs, break-even, and a straight call. No card.

Stop estimating. Price the car.

Carlyle runs this whole page's math on any listing URL or VIN - against live rates in your market.

See Carlyle Fleet

One free ROI report to start. No card required.