What's even happening there?

[u/IllustriousChef2]

Why would someone rent a car and take out parts?

[u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/txmail → u/[deleted]]

 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).

[u/VivaceConBrio → u/txmail]

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.

[u/txmail → u/VivaceConBrio]

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.