Adventures in EV Rentals, + Renting out an R1S on Turo (the finale)

[Bee]

I made a post awhile back that got a lot of traction and I promised a follow up, so here goes!

The Atlantic did a marvelous job pointing to a problem, and it's a doozy and I'm seeing it more and more. I had a personal encounter with Hertz and an unsuspecting victim of the phenomenon this AM. This in a nutshell is how EV rentals go when no one cares.

This poor guy rented out a Bolt EUV having never experienced an EV before, Hertz handed him the keys, with 130 miles range left and said nothing. No briefing, no "this is how you charge" or even asking if he knew how to do it. He anticipated being able to find a charger much like a gas station and, well, I saw the tow truck dropping him butt first (opposite corner of where the charger is) into an EA CCS charger and then of course my white knight complex took over and I quickly helped out what was about to be yet another huge mistake (he couldn't even get the car into neutral to push it back out the car was so dead).

I felt really bad for the guy, clearly he was the designated driver for the night out on the town, had his brother passed out in the back seat and then he spent all night dealing with this and a $500 tow on top of it. Nice guy finishes last I guess, lol. I hope he finds a way to complain and get reimbursed from Hertz, this was just awful across the board.

Security got curious with all of the shuffling around finally...

So, curious side question, the Rivian L1 charger would not stop with a solid red light, I had to use the Bolt charger in the end but we got it going (anyone know the deal with this? Kind of dissapointing):

After about 20 minutes or so he was able to move forward on his own power, yay:

So does that mean I'm in the rental business for good? Nope, I'm out, already delisted my cars. I've never had a customer wind up like this and I never would. Renters love me and I love doing it yet, it still won't work. Why? The business is cut throat. At the end of the day every time you pick up the car you have to play detective and 1 out of 4 times the cars go out, they get damaged and most try and hide it. I'm just not built for these combative relationships.

I was able to let go of the car, which honestly didn't get damaged or beat up like you would envision a rental would (though I'm sure that was forthcoming). One really weird rental came back with multiple damage points but it was all minor in the end even though it was a mystery. Five cars, 0 major accidents, really only curbing wheel damage and other minor things. But those minor things were causing the relationships to sour, I liked helping people and caring about their trips, teaching them the ropes, etc. and then to constantly have this deceitful relationship afterwards was taking it's toll, especially when it's coming out of my personal pocket and they know that.

It's just not a job if you can't be a shark. So I'm out. The Rivian is a winner on Turo, that's for certain, can pull in $4,000-$6,000 a month (net), but, I'm trying to reinvent myself coming from a high stress, high paying career and I'm going to be picky about what I downgrade and settle into as a new career path.

That being said, I'm actually going to apply to Rivian itself to deliver cars to customers. I think I found something I actually really enjoy doing and don't mind starting off lower on the totem pole, like at all. I apparently have a knack for hospitality in that I embody peoples problems and then need to solve them. I also walk into the Brooklyn Service Center and while obviously everything is a job and work, I don't see people that are in cynical, pseudo-rebellion against the OEM just trying to get through the day. I see people who care about the product and have seemingly similar disposition on life as me. That might be what I need in a career re-focus. At least I'll stay in autos (was an exec in PR/event marketing).

So mixed results on Turo and the R1S. You can definitely make it work, but do you have the stomach? Everyone tells you that you need to be able to let go of the cars, I'm saying for me, it was not being able to sacrifice bits of myself to be a cynical person, necessary to get by (for me personally, anyways). Just not doing it.

So all I had in the end because I delisted so soon was 9 trips on the Rivian, insights below.

• Everyone loves the car, 0 people walked away unhappy
• Almost every single renter was either looking to buy or already had a reservation
• People seem to be taken back by the size, curbing and whatnot was common
• Vandalism may be the biggest risk as the renters aren't all that irresponsible. Most come in with families and don't even speed slightly which is far different than renting out a Model S Plaid.
• Household income for everyone was well over $250k, I was batting well, well over the average Rivian income I think (not a cheap rental, so I understand)
• It was jarring when I would tell people my favorite car in my fleet was the fully loaded Bolt EUV w/ Super Cruise and some were disgusted by this comment. Some kind of weird class thing that was ugly and not limited to people you'd peg as "vain people." I'd tell them the Rivian was the obvious #2 but they just couldn't get the idea that the Bolt EUV was an amazing car at the price point that blew cold air up my butt, had a full secreen toggleable rearview camera, could drive itself hands free and was just big enough for 90% of the trips I needed it for. Might be the best car America has ever made.
• I got a big education in people. It was kind of depressing, we all kind of suck and rentals suck because, everyone sucks. Most of us don't want to take responsibility for our damages even if we think we do. People say, "omg sorry, I did this, I'll totally pay" and still wind up not paying. I've been in the auto industry for a long time and there are plenty of places to be that don't involve this level of acrimony. I'm going to find a place and do that for awhile.

Stolen aero covers (1 of 2), again, vandilism appears to be the biggest problem:

So that's it, EV rentals, my Turo journey and even a bit of my life's journey. I still need to decide if I want to keep the Rivian as a personal car, it's that or an Ioniq 5. It's difficult for me to justify the payment on the Rivian when I know it's not the car I need. I'm kind of hoping I get the job with Rivian so I have an excuse to keep and love it, otherwise I'm being vain myself and the Ioniq 5 is the total right choice for my family and city.

I never even want to rent a car out again knowing the industry now. Top tip: If you haven't taken over 50 pics of the exterior and 50 pics of the interior, you're literally doing it wrong. Do it every time, on both sides of the rental, on the way in and out. If you don't do this, you're putting yourself at risk for damages that aren't yours, you have no idea what I've seen.

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[COdogman]

I don't blame you at all for wanting out after dealing with that. You certainly got into it for the right reasons and it takes a lot of (negative) energy to constantly be battling with everyone. As a business owner it's my biggest complaint as well. If it's not your personality to constantly be suspicious of folks, it seems like this is the right decision for you.

I guess the hidden silver lining is that you may have zeroed in on something you want to do next, which is pretty cool.

btw, the Ioniq 5 is a great vehicle. My ex bought one based on my suggestion she check it out and she absolutely loves it. From the time I've spent in it and driving it, it's one of the better EVs available right now IMHO. Much more spacious than one would think looking at it from the outside.

 

[BigSkies]

It sounds like a good life experience, even if it's not what you want long term. I felt the same about the corporate rat race, and there are good reasons to search for alternatives. Very few people have the courage to try a different path.

I came to a similar conclusion about being a landlord. I saw the ugly side of that business when a highly regarded (and big social media type) local landlord turned out to be doing some serious slumlord type stuff. I almost bought an investment property from him. There are just some businesses that require being too much of an asshole to avoid being taken advantage of. And that's just not what I want long-term.

 

[SASSquatch]

I don't blame you at all for wanting out after dealing with that. You certainly got into it for the right reasons and it takes a lot of (negative) energy to constantly be battling with everyone. As a business owner it's my biggest complaint as well. If it's not your personality to constantly be suspicious of folks, it seems like this is the right decision for you.

I guess the hidden silver lining is that you may have zeroed in on something you want to do next, which is pretty cool.

btw, the Ioniq 5 is a great vehicle. My ex bought one based on my suggestion she check it out and she absolutely loves it. From the time I've spent in it and driving it, it's one of the better EVs available right now IMHO. Much more spacious than one would think looking at it from the outside.

First off, +1 for still having a good relationship with your ex!

Secondly, I can vouch for the Ioniq 5 which I subscribed to for one month to do a long term test drive.

It’s definitely Sassquatch approved and I’m happy to write up a summation of my thoughts photos with it if anyone is interested

 

[COdogman]

It’s definitely Sassquatch approved

That's all anyone should need!

 

[Bee]

I echo all the thoughts on the Ioniq 5, what's bothering me is petty. It's a nanny car. Never wants to let go of the charge cord, doesn't want to remember one-pedal settings. It's like they put a lawyer in charge then made him smoke weed until he got uber paranoid and then told him to make the rules during an anxiety attack.

Forget about doing anything but looking at the touch screen while the car is in motion. If it weren't for Android Auto and Apple Car play the car would be unusable.

So, I guess, the software is the only thing giving me strikes against the car.

One big plus though? A movie set rented it and paid to bond/sand/blend the badges and it looks sick. This is weighing on my decision in the pro column way more than I want to admit. People are always asking me what the car is, it's like it's new again.

(these are from a rental check-in, so, not beauty shots by a long shot)

 

[runwithscissors]

Everytime I public charge it seems I see a AAA towing in an EUV from NYC that people rent and can't charge. One guy supposedly rented Tesla's in the past but thought EUV was a hybrid?!? Guy was nice though and even repaid me for helping him out with EA session. Public charging is a complete disaster at this point with broken chargers and clueless customers.

 

[SASSquatch]

The one pedal setting not being remembered was one of my biggest complaints in the feedback I provided Hyundai.

I actually viewed it as a safety issue because one-pedal disengages when the vehicle is put in reverse and/or when you start/stop the vehicle. If you are expecting one-pedal and it has disengaged, you could easily end up misjudging stopping distance and get into an accident.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I can tell this is your first foray into public facing customer service. It's a rare day when a customer doesn't lie straight to my face or try to steal from me. Don't get me wrong there are some great people too, but the bad ones aren't all that rare and no matter the profession if you're dealing with the general public you're going to run into some people who are going to abuse your trust and good nature.

 

[Bee]

Everytime I public charge it seems I see a AAA towing in an EUV from NYC that people rent and can't charge. One guy supposedly rented Tesla's in the past but thought EUV was a hybrid?!? Guy was nice though and even repaid me for helping him out with EA session. Public charging is a complete disaster at this point with broken chargers and clueless customers.

Yeah man, I can tell you now being on this side of the fence that was 0% of my renters and this is 100% on the big rental companies. Literally the first thing I say is, "Thanks for booking our *****, is this your first time using an EV?"

I've talked about 5 people out of renting the Bolt saying specifically, "you wanted a Tesla" and I don't have any Teslas. It doesn't take a genius to figure out if someone is driving up to the Adirondacks from JFK that they're either really experienced at EVs or didn't know what they were booking. It takes surprisingly little dialog to get to a place of understanding, usually telling them about PlugShare and ABRP is enough. (though there have been quite a few people plugging in Level 2 and not understanding which thing to look for on PlugShare, no idea why orange is CCS and green is Level 2 AC.) The car pretty much always gets rented out anyways, why am I going to impose on someone a terrible vacation (or if you want to get down to business, why risk the 1-star?)

Maybe that's the one thing people should look to Turo for, breaking their EV virginity because I'd have to think anyone who runs an all EV fleet approaches it the way I do. I may go above and beyond the average host on Turo but I don't see how you could run an EV fleet (there are others like me all EV, some quite large) any other way.

I can tell this is your first foray into public facing customer service. It's a rare day when a customer doesn't lie straight to my face or try to steal from me. Don't get me wrong there are some great people too, but the bad ones aren't all that rare and no matter the profession if you're dealing with the general public you're going to run into some people who are going to abuse your trust and good nature.

It's actually not, I managed a video post production house early in my career that was like half b2b and half handling rich peoples video stuff. Literally they'd just walk up to a counter. It was my bread and butter, talking people who don't know the subject through a the complexities for the best possible results.

This is the first time I've had this kind of a job where there's this level of dishonesty. You hand me your 16mm film and I can tell you how to digitize and preserve it, you pay me, it happens. You don't get to hide several thousand dollars of damage that's going to come out of my own pocket.

I'm kind of lucky this happened later in life, if this was my first professional experience it might've made me an introvert who became like a librarian or something. (actually, maybe that guy is happier? hah)

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Yeah man, I can tell you now being on this side of the fence that was 0% of my renters and this is 100% on the big rental companies. Literally the first thing I say is, "Thanks for booking our *****, is this your first time using an EV?"

I've talked about 5 people out of renting the Bolt saying specifically, "you wanted a Tesla" and I don't have any Teslas. It doesn't take a genius to figure out if someone is driving up to the Adirondacks from JFK that they're either really experienced at EVs or didn't know what they were booking. It takes surprisingly little dialog to get to a place of understanding, usually telling them about PlugShare and ABRP is enough. (though there have been quite a few people plugging in Level 2 and not understanding which thing to look for on PlugShare, no idea why orange is CCS and green is Level 2 AC.) The car pretty much always gets rented out anyways, why am I going to impose on someone a terrible vacation (or if you want to get down to business, why risk the 1-star?)

Maybe that's the one thing people should look to Turo for, breaking their EV virginity because I'd have to think anyone who runs an all EV fleet approaches it the way I do. I may go above and beyond the average host on Turo but I don't see how you could run an EV fleet (there are others like me all EV, some quite large) any other way.



It's actually not, I managed a video post production house early in my career that was like half b2b and half handling rich peoples video stuff. Literally they'd just walk up to a counter. It was my bread and butter, talking people who don't know the subject through a complex subject for the best possible results.

This is the first time I've had this kind of a job where there's this level of dishonesty. You hand me your 16mm film and I can tell you how to digitize and preserve it, you pay me, it happens. You don't get to hide several thousand dollars of damage that's going to come out of my own pocket.

I'm kind of lucky this happened later in life, if this was my first professional experience it might've made me an introvert who became like a librarian or something. (actually, maybe that guy is happier? hah)

In your previous job it doesn't sound like they really had the opportunity to stick it to you like that. People will try and stick it to you directly proportional to how much they feel they can get away with it.

 

[Bee]

In your previous job it doesn't sound like they really had the opportunity to stick it to you like that. People will try and stick it to you directly proportional to how much they feel they can get away with it.

Well I mean in-between I kissed exec/c-suite ass so I learned a lot about what normal people do when given the opportunity (don't ask me about pharma or big tobacco). ?

 

[R1SFamilyGuy]

Oh man, I was looking to rent a Rivian and google brought me straight here ?

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