Does State farm cover Turo rentals? (Hint: Yes, But…)

Want to rent a car on Turo, but can’t, due to the unnecessarily high insurance rate on Turo’s protection plan? Do you think a personal insurance package from an external company could make a good alternative?

If you have a personal insurance package on State farm, you might want to know if it’s applicable to car-sharing companies like Turo. Read through this guide to find out.

Does State farm cover Turo rentals?

If you have an auto insurance plan with State farm, they would extend your auto coverage to the rented car at Turo. However, there are some conditions that need to be met before this happens.

The car-sharing industry is a relatively new industry when compared to the mother industry, car rental. For this one reason, there are not just enough partnerships.

It’s no longer a new thing that many reputable insurance companies have drawn back from extending coverage to peer-to-peer car-sharing platforms like Turo.

On the other hand, rental companies are still permitted and insured by most companies.

But Why?

Aren’t Rental companies the same as peer-to-peer car-sharing platforms?

While P2P car-sharing platforms serve as a marketplace where car owners host their personal cars to find renters, Rental companies are more like a brand that owns and maintain the majority of their cars, in search of Renters, likewise.

The truth is that most insurance companies don’t appeal to the model practiced by the industry. As a result, refrain from offering insurance services to them.

But does this apply to Statefarm?

Fortunately, there are still some insurance companies that could extend their coverage to P2P car rentals company, like Turo. An example of this is State farm.

N.B: P2P also known as Peer-to-peer car sharing is the same as car sharing companies.

Read Also: Does USAA extend coverage to Turo Rental?

Knowing that State farm insurance does cover Turo, you may want to know what type of users it covers, considering the fact that there are two types of Users on the platform (Host and Guest).

Let’s begin from the Guest’s end.

For Guests:

The simple answer is Yes. State farm does cover Turo, alongside some other P2P car-sharing companies, provided some conditions are satisfied.

According to the Agents we talked to, below are some of the conditions that determine whether or not State farm would cover Turo.

• Location: before giving full reliance on the state farm insurance, do well to call their agent to verify if their services to Turo are available at your location.
• Auto car policy: State farm auto insurance policy would only cover a rented Turo car if the price is worth less than the initially insured car (your personal car), or in some cases, pay a percentage of any possible damage
• Written Policy: After confining State farm insurance with Turo via their agent, make sure to get your auto policy written, to avoid future denial of claims.

For Hosts:

Unfortunately, there is no personal auto insurance that covers individual car hosting on Turo. This includes State farms.

According to State Farm, an insurance policy won’t be effective in an event when it’s rented out.

Aside from that, Turo Hosts aren’t even allowed to use third-party insurance, unless they’re commercial Hosts. In fact, you don’t even get the option to do that.

Generally, they’re only two insurance options available to Hosts;

1. The Turo’s protection plan
2. Commercial Insurance

You can read our Turo insurance guide here, to find out more about how the whole thing works.

Do you still need additional Turo insurance?

Normally, on every trip you book on Turo, you’re required to set an insurance plan and pay as due for Guests or choose a protection plan for Hosts.

If you’re a guest, you have the option to decline the insurance as long as you’re above 25.

But for Hosts, they have no option to decline the Turo protection plan unless they have proof of commercial insurance.

For Guests:

For extra safety, it’s wise if you get additional insurance from the Turo protection plan. However, if verified, your State farm personal auto insurance is just fine.

Reading through Turo’s insurance policy, Turo admits that its protection plan would only be applicable when a guest’s personal insurance has been entirely exhausted. Meaning, Turo indirectly relies on personal insurance.

In other words, third-party insurance like State farm is a safe bet.

Read Also: Does Progressive auto coverage extend to Turo?

If you don’t intend to take a risky road trip or drive unprofessionally then State farm insurance should be reliable.

However, if you wish to, you could go for the minimal protection plan on Turo for added safety. That’s on you and not actually relevant.

Caveat: Make sure to get a written auto policy from State Farm, that fully admits coverage for Turo, to avoid possible denial of a claim in the future.

For Hosts:

As we said earlier, State farm doesn’t extend its insurance coverage to car hosts on Turo, undermining whether you have personal insurance with them or not.

The only exception to this is when you register for commercial auto insurance, which is a little too expensive.

In other words, as a host, you’ve got no other option when insuring your car on Turo than to go for the company’s protection plan.

Here, we advise you to either go for the 60 Plan as a beginner or the 75 Plan if you’ve started making money from the platform. We talked about this in detail here.

Unlike some other rental insurance, the fee paid for Turo host’s insurance is deducted from the daily earnings. This comes in percentage.

Lastly, they’re grouped into 5 levels, starting from the protection package with the most deductible to the least.

To add up, the name (the numbers) of these plans simply represent the percentage of the Host’s daily earnings, after the insurance fee has been subtracted.

For instance, if a Host is insured with the 80 plan protection plan, 20% of their daily earnings would be subtracted for insurance, leaving them with only 80% of earnings.

Final Thoughts

Normally, if you stay in a working location, State Farm would extend their coverage of your personal auto policy to a rented car worth lesser.

However, for more clarification on whether they are available at your location, do well to contact State farm’s agent and get a written note, in case of a positive response.

FAQ