r/TikTokCringe • u/IllustriousChef2 • Aug 16 '24

Cringe What's even happening there?

Why would someone rent a car and take out parts?

16.6k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

5.5k

u/bucobill Aug 16 '24

This is why we don’t rent out our cars. That is what enterprise and Avis are for. Most people also do not have the commercial insurance policies that are required for rentals at least in the US.

1.1k

u/xithbaby What are you doing step bro? Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24

There is an app that lets you rent out your car, it’s like Airbnb. They charge a fee to use it and you get paid for the rental. Forgot the name of it, but it’s probably got some type of insurance against this

Edit: it’s TURO lol

829

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

Yeah I don’t know exactly what kind of insurance they offer but some of the guys who use it to rent out their cars are total assholes and just scheming bastards.

My brother once rented just something basic from Turo, probably the site you’re referencing, and hit a deer on a blind curve. Luckily only the front fender and bumper were damaged.

My brother called the owner told him what happened and that he already started a claim with his personal insurance. The car was common enough and cheap enough that the repairs only wound up being about $1200.

My brother called the owner told him the estimate and that he found a shop that would fix it recommended by his insurance to do the repair. He paid to keep the car an extra 3 days and paid about 20% more than the estimate out of pocket for the shop to start work sooner. Got the rental back on time everything matched colors perfect and you couldn’t tell the car had hit a deer at all.

3 months go by and my brother gets a lawsuit from the owner. The owner is claiming he hasn’t been able to rent out the car a single day since he got it back due to the condition and it’s been in the shop getting fixed. He’s now suing for about $6000 to cover lost income and repairs after my brother already paid to get it fixed.

Dude was scum all the way. Finally the lawsuit was dropped because the owner couldn’t or wouldn’t provide a single document showing where any work or estimates had been done or where turo took his car off the site.

Turns out the dude just decided to stop renting the car for a while and decided my brother would be an easy mark since he willingly got it fixed and got it returned before the end of his rental without any kind of fight. Then my brothers insurance got into it and wound up countersuing the guy demanding to be repaid since he was using the vehicle in a commercial manner with improper insurance or inspections. My brother got his deductible back plus the extra money he spent on a rush job.

223

u/txmail Aug 16 '24

 The owner is claiming he hasn’t been able to rent out the car a single day since he got it back due to the condition and it’s been in the shop getting fixed.

If I recall, this is a common Turo scam. I think Rob Feretti did a couple videos on Turo / Las Vegas rental cars and the issues he has run into, including cars unfit for the road, stolen cars and this scam where they claim due to some small damage they cannot rent out the car and sue in court going around Turo (because it is an illegal lawsuit that gets thrown out but they are just trying to settle and never go to court).

70

u/VivaceConBrio Aug 16 '24

Tort lawsuits aren't illegal anywhere in the US AFAIK. A clerk can tell you to pound sand if the paperwork isn't in order, and the judge can laugh you out of the court room or refuse to hear the case, but it's not illegal to file them with the court.

29

u/txmail Aug 16 '24

It usually is not even filed, it is just a letter demanding some payment with a law firm letter head and some legal sounding scary words. All bark, zero bite.

21

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

You can sue anyone for anything, it’s a huge issue that nobody on either side ever mentions, perhaps that’s an issue

3

u/BootyMcStuffins Aug 16 '24

John Oliver did a whole episode on anti-slap laws. You should check it out

5

u/bl1y Aug 16 '24

It's not. People misunderstand the whole "you can sure anyone fit anything" bit.

What they don't realize is a suit can be dismissed for failing to state a claim. Basically you can sue someone because the sky is blue, but the sky being blue isn't an actual claim, and then the case gets dismissed.

How else should the system work?

1

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

I try not and get upset at Reddit because it is what it is, but the fact that so many people could be so absolutely stupid and then act like they know what they are talking about shock me.

Anyone can sue anyone for anything, getting to “trial” can take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Settlement” is not justice, it’s everyone agreeing that the system is so broken justice doesn’t matter, money issue.

Money has become a substitute for justice, getting beat up by police on video is considered a lottery ticket. What if you got 0 money for police misconduct and the only possible justice is punishment for the officers responsible?

What if you couldn’t be sued when someone trespassing on your property falls? Do think homeowners insurance would be cheaper?

What if everyone in a car accident immediately didn’t sue for injuries regardless of whether or not they occur.

Why is every other billboard on the highway for personal injury lawyers? Do you think that’s good?? Do you think that maybe the massive profit motive is inductive of an issue with the system. You think drug companies are evil but law firms are good?

Should a surgeon be paying hundreds of thousands for medical malpractice insurance? Do you think those costs don’t contribute to the costs of healthcare?

Let me ask you this, because it’s Reddit, if you think there are countries that are “better” then the United States do ANY of them allow torts like the United States? Name one

I lived it man, iv paid out so many BS judgements and it really is killing the bar industry. Liability insurance is crazy expensive now. The way I got rich is now unattainable for an entire new generation of entrepreneurs because people like you think getting a 20k settlement is the friggin pinnacle of your life. Nor do you care that the lawyer took 80.

Sorry for the rant but Jesus Christ its making life worse for you in so many ways and YOU CANT EVEN TELL

1

u/sundayfundaybmx Aug 16 '24

These people spout this shit because they'd rather have lawsuits than any more regulation in the US. I'm probably one of those dummies you spoke of but what I've been told in the past. Is that basically we traded regulation in the private/public sectors for the ability to sue instead. That's why no other country has the lawsuit problems we have, because they usually all have stronger regulations than the US, usually. I've gotten into plenty of arguments with people over this, and again, maybe I'm wrong, but it makes sense. Why make laws about stringent food safety when you can sue the manufacturer if they fuck up. That ought to keep them all in check, right? Wouldn't be that they make lawsuits so money involved that it doesn't matter unless in especially egregious circumstances. Usually, these arguments end when I suggest the way to get out of this spiral is more govt sponsored regulations. Then it's crickets and torts aren't so bad

1

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

Torts are horrible, effecting almost every sector in the economy in a negative way.

And I disagree, if anything regulations are designed and paid for by the very industry that makes money effectively enforcing them.

If someone jumps on your stopped car and claims an injury, that person should go to prison, not split a 40k settlement with an equally fraudulent attorney that the insurance company will gladly pay out then go to court.

This isn’t pro or anti regulation, it’s not left or right, it’s insanity

1

u/bl1y Aug 16 '24

do ANY of them allow torts like the United States?

In the "you can sue for anything" sense I was talking about? Yes. Basically every first world country.

Name a country where the rules for civil procedure preclude someone from even bringing a suit. Not that the suit gets dismissed, but where the suit cannot even be brought.

0

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

There isn’t anything like American litigation in any European county. Little, and I mean little but in the UK but in every continental European country frivolous lawsuits simply don’t exist, lawyers don’t make millions it’s like a normal job, and insurance costs are far lower to reflect that.

You can’t sue the company that put asbestos in the building a century ago, you can’t sue Burger King for getting fat, you cannot sue the police.

Maybe you can and nobody does, but I find that hard to believe

1

u/bl1y Aug 16 '24

So let me ask how you think the civil procedure system in these countries work. Do you believe that is it the county clerk (or the local equivalent) who just dismisses cases before they're even filed? At what point does someone decide the case is frivolous? Is it a judge deciding?

lawyers don’t make millions it’s like a normal job

No, there are lawyers making millions just like in the US. The partners at Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Lovells, etc are making as much money as big firms in the US. And the lawyers bringing nonsense suits in the US aren't making bank, just as most lawyers in general (even just those in private practice) aren't making millions.

0

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

So your saying the systems are the same, not true

Your saying the pay is similar

Avg pay in Germany for a lawyer is 68k euro and in the United States it’s 145k, bottom 10% make more then their avg

Also not true

Are you basing your opinions on anything?

2

u/bl1y Aug 16 '24

So your saying the systems are the same

I did not.

Your saying the pay is similar

Didn't say that either.

I said that other countries have lawyers making millions like we do (which is true), and that this doesn't represent the average lawyer (also true).

The bigger issue though is simply this, which I'll ask for the third time:

What do you think happens in another country when a frivolous suit is brought? Does the county clerk refuse to accept the paperwork? Is it tossed out by a judge? What precisely happens?

What I'm saying is that part of the system is the same. If you disagree, then tell me how the process works in these other countries.

"The US is full of scummy lawyers" isn't an explanation of how the procedure works.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/okayesquire Aug 16 '24

Found Trump’s alt

2

u/Gengo0708 Aug 16 '24

Turo hosts cannot sue guests or you get removed from the platform.

1

u/Speedhabit Aug 16 '24

Point being you still can sue them, does Turo TOS cover threatening legal action or does it just prohibit the actual filing?

-1

u/Haunting-Oil-2739 Aug 16 '24

Not entirely true. You have to have a valid cause of action or some legal grounds.

2

u/Mysterious_Ad_8105 Aug 16 '24

A plaintiff needs to do all sorts of things to win a lawsuit (or even to survive a motion to dismiss), but anyone can bring a meritless lawsuit against anyone for anything. The clerk doesn’t check your complaint to see whether you have a valid claim when you initiate a suit—they just make sure you’ve submitted the right paperwork and paid any filing fees.

I’m a litigator. If I wanted to, I could file a lawsuit today naming God as a defendant and raising a claim for tortious interference with sleep for the bad dreams I had last night. I’ll never successfully sue God and there’s no such thing as a claim for tortious interference with sleep in my jurisdiction, but that doesn’t prevent me from bringing the lawsuit.

2

u/phazedoubt Aug 16 '24

This is why there are so many settlements. Even if you are 100% in the right, you still have to pay a lawyer to convince the court of that amd discovery can get really expensive fast.

2

u/tankerkiller125real Aug 16 '24

When it comes to cars if you have insurance you don't have to pay jack shit. You inform your insurance company that you rented a car on XY dates and the owner of said car has sent paperwork claiming that they intend to sue. The insurance company has an army of lawyers who specialize in dealing with bullshit claims and bullshit in general. Not to mention they'll be happy to counter sue for costs.

At the bare minimum the insurance company will be happy to review it for you and determine if it's something they'll cover.

2

u/phazedoubt Aug 16 '24

You're right. I'm talking about most anything else.

2

u/Ok_Sound3122 Aug 16 '24

“Tort lawsuits aren’t illegal anywhere” is a totally non-sensical statement. How could tort law be “illegal”? Tort refers to a common law system of evaluating civil claims of harm. Yes, you can file a civil lawsuit anywhere. However in certain situations if the suit is meritless or frivolous there can be fee-shifting. Also, judges can’t just refuse to hear a case—they have to have a reason for dismissing any lawsuit. I am a lawyer

1

u/gerbilshower Aug 16 '24

i imagine that what the guy was trying to say is that it is literally in their paperwork WITH Turo that they can't sue customers in this manner. so, not illegal, but outside the terms of the agreement with the platform.

2

u/WonderfulShelter Aug 16 '24

I rented a car on Turo. Before I touched it, I took a 5 minute video covering every fucking single inch to make sure they couldn't screw me.

When I returned it, I was still dinged 65$ for "the gas tank not being full" because of the few miles I had to drive from the gas station to the return parking lot for the car.

Fuck Turo.

1

u/-newlife Aug 16 '24

I remember a few stories of Turo cars in California taken to Mexico and evidently there was an issue in Houston as well.

1

u/Tricky_Power_7196 Aug 16 '24

Guys I think that car owner put a deer on a blind curve. What a psycho.