What you need to know about Turo, the app used to rent vehicles involved in the New Orleans and Las Vegas incidents

• Turo is an app that allows people to rent out their cars to other drivers.
• The app was used to rent the vehicles used in two deadly incidents on New Year's Day.
• Since it was founded in 2009, it has grown into the largest car-sharing app of its kind.

Turo is the car-sharing app used to rent the vehicles involved in deadly New Year's Day incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans.

It's like an Airbnb for cars, allowing people to get paid for leasing their vehicles to other drivers.

Users get easy access to short-term rentals, while owners can rent out their vehicles as a side hustle or even a full-time business.

Compared with conventional car rental companies, Turo offers lower prices and more convenient locations. It makes a commission on rentals and doesn't have to run a fleet of cars.

Turo lists a very wide variety of vehicles, with some 1,600 makes and models on offer including the CEO's own Porsche 911 Carrera S.

Turo was called RelayRides when it was founded in 2009 by Shelby Clark, an entrepreneur and investor. The company changed its name to Turo in 2015 as it began to focus on longer-term rentals over quick trips. That year it was included on Forbes' list of "hottest on-demand startups," with a valuation of $311 million.

It's now the largest car-sharing app in the US, ahead of competitors such as Getaround and Car Shair. Turo had 360,000 cars listed on its platform at the end of 2023, and about 3.7 million people made bookings that year, according to a March 2024 filing. It is available in Canada, France, the UK and Australia as well as the US.

Turo says it aims to put the world's 1.5 billion vehicles to better use and aspires to "fundamentally change car ownership," per its website.

"The goal for us is to continue to grow the business as fast as possible for the next many many years," Andre Haddad, CEO of Turo, told CNBC in September.

Haddad is a former eBay executive who was born in Lebanon. His company bio states that he helped grow eBay revenue from $750 million to $11.7 billion, before joining Turo as CEO in 2011.

Turo reported nearly $880 million in revenue in 2023, up 18% year-on-year. It posted $14.7 million in profits, down from $154.7 million in 2022. Losses and high costs are common for fast-growing tech companies, especially those that are not yet public.

Turo has close to 1,000 employees and was valued at $1.5 billion in 2020, per PitchBook. The company registered for an IPO in 2021 but has not yet gone public.

In September, Turo announced a partnership with Uber that will give users access to Turo rentals on the Uber app.

"By joining forces with Uber, Turo is well positioned to penetrate a massive $150B-plus total addressable market," Andro Vrdoljak, Turo's business and corporate development VP, said in a press release.

How Turo vets users

To book a car on Turo, users need to set up an account with their email, phone number, credit card and driver's license.

Approval is often instant but can take up to 48 hours if additional information, such as an insurance score or criminal background check is needed, according to the company's website. Turo assures owners that all users are screened.

In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the company said that its trust and safety team was working with law enforcement authorities to share information that could help their investigations.

"We do not believe that either renter had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat, and we are not currently aware of any information that indicates the two incidents are related," Turo said.

In the March 2024 filing, Turo said that it has no control over or ability to predict the actions of car renters, whom it calls guests.

"We cannot conclusively verify the identity of all guests, nor do we verify or screen third parties who may be present during a trip using a vehicle booked through our platform," Turo stated. "Our trust and safety processes focus primarily on guests to reduce the risk of vehicle theft and motor vehicle accidents."

Turo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.