Turo Co-Hosting Agreements: What to Negotiate

Key takeaways

1. Turo supplies a standardized agreement only inside Passive Income Hosting; every private arrangement and hosting team has no agreement unless you write one.
2. The primary vehicle host is fully responsible to Turo for co-hosts’ conduct, and no private contract changes who Turo looks to first — price that exposure honestly.
3. Name the earnings plan in writing and require consent to change it, because the plan sets both sides’ share (70/80/90%) and per-claim damage responsibility ($250/$1,500/$2,750).
4. The single most-missed clause is a dollar threshold above which repairs need written owner approval, paired with who carries damage responsibility on a claim.
5. Turo’s claim deadlines are measured in hours — 24 hours to report, 24-hour photo windows before and after each trip — so the agreement should assign each clock to a named party.

Turo supplies a standardized agreement inside Passive Income Hosting. Both the owner and the operating host sign it electronically, with terms Turo has already defined, and the owner is paid on the 15th of each month.

Every other co-hosting arrangement has nothing. A hosting team is a permissions setting, not a contract. Whatever you and the other party wrote down is the entire agreement — and if you wrote nothing, you have nothing.

This guide covers the terms worth settling. It is not a template, and deliberately so: a contract that hasn’t been reviewed by an attorney in your state is a liability dressed as a convenience.

Start with the liability that isn’t negotiable

One term you cannot write your way out of. Turo’s documentation is explicit that the primary vehicle host is fully responsible for the actions or inaction of co-hosts — trip duties, guest communication, and adherence to Turo’s policies and terms of service.

Your private agreement can allocate that cost between you afterward. It cannot change who Turo comes to first, because Turo isn’t a party to your contract. Whoever holds the primary host account is carrying the exposure, and the agreement should price that honestly.

Two practical consequences:

• The account holder should retain the right to overrule operational decisions that put the account at risk, even in an otherwise hands-off arrangement.
• The non-account party should be indemnified for costs arising from the account holder’s own conduct — the exposure runs both directions.

Name the earnings plan

As of January 7, 2026, Turo offers three earnings plans, and the choice sets both sides’ economics:

Plan	Host share of trip price	Damage responsibility per claim
More peace of mind	70%	$250
Balanced	80%	$1,500
More earnings	90%	$2,750

Whoever controls the listing can change this, which changes the other party’s economics without their consent. The agreement should state the plan, and require written agreement to change it.

Then answer the question the plan creates: who carries damage responsibility? On More earnings that’s $2,750 per claim — larger than a typical month’s margin on either side. Leaving it unstated means it defaults to whoever is standing closest when it happens, which is usually the operator.

Who pays for what in a co-hosting agreement?

The single largest source of disputes. For each line, name who pays, and where a threshold applies, name the number:

• Turo’s share of trip price — set by the earnings plan, never part of anyone’s split
• Damage responsibility per claim
• Cleaning and turnover
• Fuel and charging not recovered from guests
• Routine maintenance, and who selects the shop
• Unscheduled repairs, with a dollar threshold above which written owner approval is required
• Tolls, citations, and the administrative time to contest them
• Storage or parking
• Detailing and reconditioning between seasons
• Depreciation and mileage

The approval threshold prevents more arguments than any other clause. Without it, every repair is retroactively negotiable, and the party who paid feels robbed either way.

Damage, claims, and who chases

Damage is where informal arrangements discover what they didn’t agree on. Turo’s process has hard deadlines that the agreement should assign to a named party:

• Damage must be reported no more than 24 hours after the trip ends.
• Pre-trip photos must be taken no more than 24 hours before trip start and uploaded no more than 24 hours after start; post-trip photos must be taken and uploaded within 24 hours of trip end.
• Photos without metadata showing date, time, and geolocation are deemed invalid.
• If you first try resolving directly with the guest, you generally have 20 days after trip end to escalate to Turo.

Every one of those is a deadline someone can miss. Settle:

• Who documents condition at pickup and return, and where the photos live so either party can retrieve them
• Who files the claim, and within what window
• Who absorbs damage responsibility, and whether that changes if the claim is denied
• What happens when a claim pays less than the repair cost — Turo caps reimbursement at what an approved vendor would charge, so a pricier shop leaves a gap that someone must cover
• Whether the owner receives a minimum payment while the vehicle is out of service
• Who decides whether to repair or defer

That last one matters more than it looks. An operator wants the car earning; an owner may want a proper repair. Deciding in advance who breaks the tie prevents a standoff while the car sits. The full process is in Turo damage claims.

Payout timing and reporting

• The payment date, as a specific day of the month. Turo’s own program uses the 15th, a reasonable default.
• What the owner receives alongside payment — a statement showing every line, not just a total. See Turo owner statements.
• The period the statement covers, and the rule for trips spanning a month boundary.
• How corrections to a prior period are shown.
• What happens if payment is late, and whether interest or a penalty applies.
• Whether the owner can request source documents, and how quickly.

How does a co-hosting arrangement end?

The clauses everyone skips and eventually needs:

• Notice period for either side to end the arrangement
• Who takes possession of the vehicle, and within how many days
• How already-booked trips are handled after notice. This genuinely matters: cancelling confirmed trips damages the operating host’s account standing, so an operator will resist, and an owner who wants the car back immediately needs to know that in advance.
• Whether the owner may reclaim the car mid-arrangement for personal use, and with what notice
• Final settlement timing after termination, including claims still open
• What happens to the listing, its reviews, and the photos — these have real value and are usually attached to the operator’s account

Insurance and use

• What personal insurance the owner carries, and whether the carrier knows the vehicle is being shared commercially. Many personal policies exclude it, and discovering that after a loss is catastrophic.
• Which earnings plan applies and who selects it
• Mileage expectations and any cap
• Geographic limits on delivery or driving
• Whether the operator may list the car anywhere other than Turo
• Who is named on any additional commercial policy

Records and access

Rarely negotiated, frequently regretted:

• Who holds the maintenance history, and does the owner get a copy at exit
• Who has the keys, how many, and what happens to spares
• Where photo documentation is stored and for how long
• Whether the owner can see raw Turo trip data or only the statement

An owner who leaves with no maintenance records has a materially less valuable car. An operator who returns a vehicle without them looks careless even when they weren’t.

Before you sign

Have an attorney in your state review it. The terms above are the agenda for that conversation, not a substitute for it — cost allocation and liability language vary meaningfully by state, and Turo’s policies change on their own schedule, as the January 2026 plan restructuring showed.

If you’re still choosing between structures, start with the co-hosting guide and the split economics.

Frequently asked questions

Does Turo provide a co-hosting agreement? +

Only inside Passive Income Hosting, where both the vehicle owner and the operating host sign a standardized agreement electronically. For private co-hosting arrangements and hosting teams, Turo supplies no agreement — whatever the parties write is the whole of it.

Who is liable if a co-host causes a problem on Turo? +

Within a hosting team, Turo holds the primary vehicle host fully responsible for the actions or inaction of co-hosts. A private agreement can allocate cost between the parties afterward, but it does not change who Turo looks to first.

What is the most commonly missed clause in a co-hosting agreement? +

A dollar threshold above which repairs need written owner approval, paired with who carries the earnings plan's damage responsibility. Together these decide who absorbs a claim, and a single claim can exceed a month's margin for either side.

Sources

1. Earn passive income with your car on Turo — Turo
2. Creating a hosting team — Turo Help Center
3. Earnings plans – In detail | US hosts — Turo Help Center
4. Resolving damage by filing a claim | US hosts — Turo Help Center