Tesla buyers tend to be Tesla enthusiasts as opposed to car enthusiasts. It's a new breed of car lover, and Chad Hurin perfectly fits that description. According to Business Insider, the 27-year-old software developer and his wife Min live in San Diego, California. They're not rich, but Hurin was determined to buy a Tesla the moment he learned about the company and its visionary founder, Elon Musk. Problem was, he couldn't afford the base Model S 60 (this was in 2015). But then he discovered a car sharing service called Turo. You've probably heard of it.
In short, it's like the Airbnb of cars. Hurin finally bought his Model S, which he immediately began renting out for $127 a day. This worked out so well that they soon bought a Model X, which goes for $135 daily. And now they're easily making their monthly car loan payments and insurance with cash leftover. Not bad, right? Not at all, but there are a few downsides that some people may not be able to accept. For example, because of its very nature, Turo makes it so that complete strangers are driving your cars, so who knows what damage could occur. Turo does offer a Premium insurance package for an additional percentage of the cut, which covers everything from small scratches to food stains and even cigarette smoke.
Both of the Hurin's cars have suffered some sort of damage, but the Turo insurance covered everything and they've had no out-of-pocket expenses. The second downside is mileage. The Model S was bought only last February and now has over 19,000 miles on the clock. The Model X, new in May, has over 16,000 miles. For a typical gasoline/diesel-powered car, that's a problem, but less so for an EV. Remember that Model S owner who drove the car for 300,000 miles with less than $11k in maintenance costs? The Hurins have also become the darlings of both Turo and Tesla. Because they provide renters with their Tesla referral code in case they want to buy their own Tesla, they earn reward points every time someone uses their code for a purchase.
So far 11 renters have bought a car. For that, Tesla gave them a top spot to buy one of the first Model 3s, a discount on solar roof panels, two Powerball batteries signed by Elon Musk, and tickets to the Tesla semi-truck unveiling next month. Turo also gave them $500 towards the Model 3 purchase. "We're not used to all of this luxury stuff," said Hurin. "Us getting a $90,000 car? Never in my dreams would I think we would have that."
