Turo Class Action Says Customers Charged Undisclosed Fees

A class action lawsuit accuses Turo, a peer-to-peer car rental company, of wrongfully charging customers undisclosed fees. 

The Turo class action lawsuit was filed by Honan Yang, an Illinois resident who says he rented a 2015 Hyundai Sonata through Turo.

Allegedly, he was unfairly assessed fees for damage to the vehicle, as well as fees for appraisal and processing.

According to Yang, on Oct. 15, 2019 he paid $127.15 to rent a vehicle for three days. He says he picked up the vehicle in Los Angeles on Nov. 2, 2019 and drove the vehicle locally, for less than 100 miles. and then returned it to the same location. Yang claims that he returned the vehicle in the same condition it was in when he rented it.

The Turo fees class action lawsuit goes on to state that after Yang returned the vehicle, it was inspected inside and out. Allegedly, the owner of the vehicle did not note any damage at that time, because there was none. Yang says the owner accepted the keys from him at that time.

According to the Turo car rental damage fee class action lawsuit, Yang returned to Illinois and a few days after his return he received an email from Turo, stating that the owner had reported damage to the vehicle’s front bumper.

The email reportedly noted there had been no prior notice of the damage, saying “I know this may come as a surprise.” Yang alleges that the email falsely assured him not to worry.

The car rental unexpected fees class action lawsuit went on to say that the email explained that a “superficial scuff mark” had been found on the lower bumper. The email then stated that Yang had been assessed a charge of $576.86 for damages, plus fees of $75 for appraisal and processing. Yang says that Turo then debited Yang’s account for that amount.

Yang claims that he disputed the charges, denying he had damaged the vehicle. He allegedly received a second email that “conceded that such surprise damage claims are not uncommon.” Allegedly, the email claimed that it was “not uncommon for damage to go unnoticed.” 

Yang argues that the appraisal and processing fees were not disclosed to him until after he returned the vehicle, and argued that these fees are not related to real costs or services performed by the company, and are therefore unreasonable.

The Turo undisclosed fees class action lawsuit asserts that Yang’s experience is like that of many other Turo customers, who say that they were similarly charged for damage and fees that were not disclosed.

Yang cites many customer reviews that claim Turo’s customer support is not helpful in resolving this issues, and uses this to argue that Turo makes a practice of unfairly charging fees.

Have you rented a car through Turo? Tell us about your experience in the comments section below.

Yang is represented by William M. Sweetnam of William M. Sweetnam LLC.

The Turo Undisclosed Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Honan Yang v. Turo Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-01049, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

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