Turo

Left my car there for 3 months while I was traveling. Car was damaged by a renter and RelayRides won’t cover it. It’s been a month long exchange of emails — at first they were saying they didn’t see any damage, then it was that the damage was already there, and now they say the damage falls under their ‘wear and tear’ policy.
Basically, the renter banged a door handle and scratched it. They then applied cheap looking (and inappropriate) paint to hide the damage. I went to a body shop and they quoted me $ 345 to repair it.
If it was just the scratches I would be annoyed but agree that it falls under their ‘wear and tear’ policy, but considering that they applied paint over it, it is intentional damage from the renter (and it will cost me more to remove!).
The agent is clearly copy-​pasting from a script and is completely unhelpful.
So WARNING for anyone considering renting out their cars, read their ‘Wear and tear’ policy:
— but here’s the main info:
«Wear and tear may include engine wear, brake and suspension wear, weathering of the paint or minor scuffing of the interior surfaces, as well as small (less than three (3) inches in length) nicks, scratches, abrasions or dents to the exterior (including wheels) normally associated with street parking, shopping cart bumps, and the like.»
And read their protection policy:
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A renter also managed to snap the car key in half and glued it back together. I didn’t have to argue much to get the duplication of the key reimbursed at least.
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Also for people thinking about renting out their cars, mine was driven ~5,000 miles in the 3 months. And I received over $ 250 worth of toll violation notices that I had to get refunded for.
Just not worth the hassle, will find another solution next time I have to leave my car.

i wanted a NISSAN GTR … they gave me a runaround for 3 days… then they tell me i have 3 accounts… if they cant give me the car say so… the worst frickin experience with this company… the person writing back to me has a white females name the person on the phone conversing with me is Iranian… what a jack company… TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL… also pls do not give out your driv lic numbers DOB… etc till u have talked to someone…

I have used relay rides for six rentals on business trips to San Francisco. They provide a fast and inexpensive service that makes so much sense it surprises me no one thought of it until recent years.
If you’re accustomed to renting from Enterprise, Hertz, or another large rental company you’re familiar with renting a late model car with hidden add-​ons including insurance that’s outrageously expensive. Relay rides offers cars that belong to individual owners who rents them to travelers like me for prices as low as $ 20-​$ 25 per day with no additional taxes, fees, or charges added. It’s not the newest car, not necessarily in great condition. But heck, I just need it to get around in.
Getting in and out of the lot is very easy, typically there’s only one staff person in my turnaround time has never been more than 5 to 10 minutes. They keep the cars off the airport property to save on fees. So, there’s a short shuttle ride required to get to the rental lot. But again, for the value in my opinion it’s worth it.
The only disadvantage is that prices are set by individual owners, so you need to book ahead of time or the less expensive cars will be reserved by other renters. Relay Rides does have a small inventory of cars that you rent directly from them, so I’ve never found myself in a situation where the car was not available.
The website and the app are very simple and convenient to use. I recommend relay rides for your traveling rental car needs!

I’ve been renting cars through RelayRides on a weekly basis for a month now, and planned on continuing to do so for, at least the next three months. Everything was fine — the cars, service, price, until now!
A couple of days ago, I noticed two unauthorized charges on my debit card by RelayRides. I was really shocked and started scrambling. I first contacted the company. They told me that they don’t see anything on their end and don’t understand what’s happening either. So I immediately called my bank! They put a «stop-​payment» on both charges and began an investigation.
A couple hours or so later, I get a call from RelayRides. All of a sudden, there’s an explanation to those mysterious charges. $ 100 cleaning fee, $ 25 administration fee — on a Toyota Prius I had returned almost two weeks prior! I was sure that it was a mistake, and so did the RelayRides rep at the SFO office, since they saw the car and know that I returned it same was as I received it, as I always do.
I was so angry, I demanded an explanation. Some higher-​up by the name of Catherine explained to me that the owner of the Prius was very upset at stains left on the back-​seat that could not be removed and Relay-​Rides authorized the car to be detailed, at my expense — WTF!!! There were no stains in the back! No one sat there, except a box of dozen donuts I had purchased during the week! With no one to call, I began a dialogue with Catherine through email, but to no avail! No one at the company, especially Catherine, did not want to hear about it and would not budge. That $ 100 was more important to them than my satisfaction and the almost $ 800 I was spending each month with them. They’d rather lose my business, than to do something to make me happy, especially that there were NO STAINS in the back that were visible to me or the people at the SFO location! I’ll post before and after photos so you be the judge! Regardless, I would have settled for a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ settlement — anything, to show some appreciation, but all she was willing to do was cancel the $ 25 administration fee. To add to my dismay, this morning I found another $ 25 administration fee charged on my account, which I have no clue what for and will call my bank upon completion of this review.
I rented probably hundreds of cars in my lifetime and have never experienced something like this! And I have returned cars dirty to the bigger companies when I was younger, I will admit, but they always appreciated my business and never charged me a dime. Although I stand by the fact that the car was returned clean, I would expect a warning or anything of that nature, rather than literally stealing money from my bank account. I mean, isn’t that what it is? Taking money from someone without their permission is stealing!
The bottom line is, I plan on taking this matter as far as I can, including a case in small claims court, because I have to prove my point. This isn’t about the measly $ 100! It’s about principal!
UPDATE: I’ve been contacted by RelayRides and after a brief conversation, we both decided that it was a misunderstanding and we will move on. I have to admit that the process of renting through RelayRides is easy, enjoyable and much more affordable than the bigger companies. It isn’t worth making a big stink out of something so small.
I’ll say that Catherine was ultimately very courteous, understanding and professional about the issue and I’ve decided to put it to rest and give RelayRides another try. But I particularly enjoy working with the staff at SFO. They’ve always went above and beyond to make sure that I was a happy camper. I’m looking forward to renting a vehicle again, very soon!

I had a similar experience as Paula H. If you get in to a situation with one of their cars you’re out of luck. I hit the side of my vehicle and in the interest of the car I brought it back to show them what happened. They took the car, wouldn’t give me a replacement, made me get a cab back to my hotel and then STILL charged me for the days when they were «examining» the car. Then I ended up having to pay $ 2k out of pocket to fix the issue.
I also had been renting cars from them for several months consistently.
Also, if you have supplemental insurance through a credit card they will not recognize Relay as it’s not a true commercial car renting service.
Terrible customer service, no process or order to damage control and no care for customer retention.
I have since stopped and would highly recommend you DO NOT use this service. They have also been blacklisted from my company (a fairly big tech company in the valley) so no one is allowed to rent from them moving forward!

Wow… What can I say? I am so disappointed with relayrides and how they handle my recent «Issue» I am so upset to have to write this review. Because honestly up until now I absolutely loved this service. I even wrote a review about how wonderful and helpful their staff is. Heres what happened. Friday I went on their website to try and rent a car, I found out I was suspended Because I owed money for damages that happen to a car I rented nearly 2 months ago. Granted they are the exact same damages they said I did to another far from a few months back. I asked the person in charge of my case to please give me a call so that we can discuss this over the phone rather than in an e-​mail. I expressed my concern to her and how I thought it was strange that they were charging me for the exact same damage on two different cars. I asked her if it would be possible to come by and see the damages to the car for myself. Wow the lady (Her name was Chris) got extremely defensive and upset! Told me that I would never be allowed to rent with relay rides again. and actually HUNG UP ON ME! Now when I try to log into my account to get these issue’s sorted out with them (because I desperately need to be able to rent cars so I can commute to work) it says I am not eligible for an account with them! WTF! honestly it is unfair to your customers to just charge them for damages, and cancel their accounts when any questions are asked as to why this is happening again for a second time. The first time my case was handled by Steven and omg he was amazing! Was willing to work with me, allow me to still rent cars while I worked out a payment plan with them to pay out any damages that might of happen. He seemed like he actually cared. And understood that I really needed to be able to rent cars Because it was my only way to work. But due to my last experience with this place honestly I will no longer be recommending this place to anyone! They are unfair and not willing to work with you. Just flat out cancel your account and don’t care if you might get fired for not having anyway to get to work! I was highly recommending it to all my friends, and colleagues. But sadly today that stops! And this makes me very sad, because I felt like this was one of the only few companies left who actually care about their customers.
UPDATE!!! 7÷20÷15
$ 2,274.93 is the total amount RelayRides is charging me for «Damages» they are claiming I did to one of the cars I rented. Damages that I was not made aware of until nearly 2 months after I brought the car back to them! (I only rented this car for 3days!!) I know for a fact I did not do any damage to this car!!! WOW! They sent me a email telling me that I will be charged this about in full tomorrow. because apparently they think I have 2k to just throw around Oh and when I try to log in and see pictured of the damage I get a log in restriction message telling me I am not allow to log in with relayrides!

I use Relay Rides all the time! I love them!

very helpful at the lot, I rent my cars out pretty often and they always help me accomodate my requests. I have also been in a situation when I was car-​less at the airport and rented a car from there and everything worked out very smooth.

My car was in the airport program for 5 months. Though it was convenient, thank God I came back when I did because the tire pressure and oil level were dangerously low, but lights were on. I think it is a great program, but they need to do service checks on the vehicles.

I’ve now rented three times via RelayRides when coming in to SFO. Very seamless experience.

Easy to get to, super fast check out and return. So much better than waiting in line at the rental counter and paying all those ridiculous extra fees.

Just as I was with Flight Car, I was impressed with Relay Ride’s level of efficiency and service when leaving my car with them for a week. One advantage of RR over FC was that my older model car fetched 100% more $ per mile rented.
Just be aware that their parking lot is in front of Westin Hotel (which can get a little crowded at times), and that you take the Westin airport shuttle to/​from SFO.

Well intentioned, but slow and disorganized.
Located off-​airport grounds. You must take the Westin Hotel shuttle to get there which was a 20min wait then quick 5min ride.
When I arrived they couldn’t find my reservation, even after I showed them my confirmation. I was the only one there and it took 40min to get my car and get going.
Friendly staff but not well executed.
Also I had specifically requested a FastTrack with my reservations. Upon arrival they said «we’re out».
Car had random stuff in back seat and was stinky

DO NOT use this service to rent a car. Not worth the «money savings», just go with a trusted rental car company. I can’t begin to express my frustration, but bottom line, I got an old, dirty, smokey gas guzzling car. Steven, the attendant, was friendly, but completely unhelpful when I expressed my concerns. He said he would call his manager immediately after we picked up the car but upon return, said there was nothing that could be done to compensate from our far from ideal experience.
AVOID!

Relay Rides is fantastic. The drop-​off was seamless and my car was rented out while I was gone.
Pick-​up was just as painless as drop-​off, and Relay Rides was even so kind as to get my car washed.
This is a superb company and service. I’m such a huge fan.

Rented two cars for a day each within four days. I was greeted by name when I arrived the second time around (different attendant). It was super easy and a good experience. Only opportunity was that I did not receive the checkout report for the vehicle on the first rental, therefore only four stars.
Will definitely use RelayRides again.
How awesome would it be RelayRides doing the same with Motorcycles.

After having a one of the worse experience with
, i turned to Relayrides for airport parking for 4 days.
Highlights :
1.Way too professional and flexible. I had to have another renter pick up my car from their parking lot instead of me, and it was all easy to coordinate .
2. My car got rented out twice and fetched me $$
3. Seamless communication made easy with the use of high technology
Overall, great experience and i will always always park my car with them.

First time user but super quick and easy process. My car did not get rented out, so perspective from a purely long term parking standpoint.
Was delighted to find a place that offered free long-​term parking. Was hesitant at first about possibility of my car getting rented out, but a recommendation from a friend who uses it subsided my doubt. Checking in and out process was super easy. Also greatly appreciated the email the day before arriving back in SFO with straightforward instructions and phone numbers in case you needed help.
I booked a spot online day of when I needed it but you can take the chance of just driving up to the lot. Love how everything is mobile, definitely take advantage of this option!

I have had 4 experiences with RelayRides airport parking. The first was very smooth. The second time, there were a couple mix-up’s with check-​out and I had to wait an extra hour to get my car. It was a natural human mistake, which happens. The staff were courteous about it, and the manager found a way to make it right in the end. The next 2 parking experiences were both smooth, so overall I am a fan.
The interior scent used with the car wash is too strong for me, in the future I will ask for it to not be used.

Free parking for any trip over 3 days? Check!
Free 24hr shuttle to/​from the airport? Check!
Courteous and prompt service? Absolutely!
This is probably the best part about being an owner on RelayRides. If you don’t have a rental to cover your trip end to end, just drop it off at the airport! They give you some $ — credit to rent a car wherever you’re going, as well as wash it for you upon your return.
On a personal note, we want to especially thank Edmund Wong, the Airport Operation Associate who did the intake of my vehicle. Not only did he communicate flawlessly, reminding me of the reservation and accepting my last minute changes, he left my fiancé and I a very sweet note congratulating us, which was a joy to come back to.
RelayRides, if you’re listening, please take good care of Edmund, he is a great addition to your team. This is a great idea, and just the very beginning of it, so keep the innovations coming!
Bradley and Becca