by Chris Witmer
posted on June 14, 2017
Oh, Boston, you’re my home
From tea parties and the “shot heard round the world” to public schools and city parks to Dunkin Donuts and Turo, the Boston area has been home to many of our nation’s revolutionary firsts. Over the past eight years, our little car sharing community that got its start in Cambridge has grown into a mature international marketplace of millions. Sure, Boston is consistently among Turo’s top markets and is pacing for their biggest year to date, but what really gets our engines roaring is a community “where everybody knows your name”. As we prepare to celebrate our most tenured community tonight, we thought we’d break down the ins and outs as well as the who’s who of our Beantown community.
Servio’s Porsche 911 Targa
Wicked demand
Unlike the national trend, most trips in the area are completed by locals, as Turo host and engineer Sujan B. recently noticed. Accordingly, searches by map are much more common in Boston (representing 19% of all searches in the last year) than in most other markets. A simple sort by price is the most common filter used, similar to other markets. Unlike most markets, however, a search for a particular kind of car using filters like “make” and “category” are used notably less.
While many searches follow a practicality trend for a value in a particular location, the travelers that really know what they want are looking for something on the flashier side. Categories like “Upscale” and “Elite” are the most commonly searched, and BMW, Mercedes, and Tesla are the most popular makes searched for in the area.
Michael’s Tesla Model X
Which cars actually park in Harvard yard?
The market demonstrates its maturity by delivering on the pragmatic demand. 78% of bookings are in sedans that mostly fall into utilitarian categories like “Everyday drivers” and “Fuel sippers”. The three most sought-after deluxe categories (“Fast and fun”, “Elite”, and “Upscale”) combined make up less than 10% of booked trips. BMW is the only make to be among both the most searched for and the most booked. Toyota and Honda are booked more than four times as often as other makes in the area.
Jacob’s Honda Civic
Seasonality and trip types
Boston is a highly seasonal market. At the first crack of the bat at Fenway, trip bookings soar into the summer months reaching their peak in June, July, and August. Cars are booked much more more frequently and for longer durations during these warmer months than during the quieter, colder winter months of January and February. There is another smaller spike in October that hints at the Northeast’s utter loveliness come autumn time. That foliage isn’t going to look at itself, after all.
The higher proportion of local travelers is also reflected in shorter-duration rentals, which occur predominantly on weekends. The average trip length does, however, follow the same overall seasonality of the market with much longer duration trips as the summer comes to an end and the school year begins. Similarly, the longest trips tend to take place during the busiest months, with trip durations peaking in August.
Servio’s Audi S5
Make way for the ducklings
Hosting their first trip within the last year, these owners are already making waves.
1. Starting off slow and steady with just his Lexus, Joe L. has gone on to list four more cars and host more than 200 trips.
2. You’ll notice a lot of repeat guests reviewing Maggie T. as “sweet” or “amazing”, but it’s the reviews that talk about how she is “currently killing the game” or even providing homemade cookies that make her really shine.
3. Timothy H. listed his Chrysler 200 in September of last year and has since hosted 78 five-star trips.
Titletown Champions
These top veteran owners have been honing their hosting game for years and are still among the most active in the area.
1. Already immortalized in Turo’s Listing Hall of Fame with the Sportsmanship award for the most five-star reviews, Stephen M. has hosted over 400 trips in his Ford Escape he listed back in 2011.
2. Steven D. has hosted more trips than any other owner in the area and is set to host his 1,000th trip any day now.
3. Mark of Car Rental Cambridge has hosted over 400 trips in his diverse fleet of cars based in Cambridgeport.
4. If you’re looking for a reliable set of wheels on a tight budget, Michael H. is your guy! A long-time member of the community, he’s got 356 trips under his belt and counting.
5. Software engineer, lover of beer and wine, puppy parent — there’s a lot to like about Corey P. and hundreds of five-star reviews agree.
Mark’s Toyota RAV4
One for the road
Now that you’ve had a taste of our most seasoned markets, we hope you’ll swing by the market at Commonwealth tonight for some more. If you haven’t had the chance to register to attend yet, be sure to do so while there’s still space available!
Chris Witmer
Chris is the Community Manager at Turo. He’s a proud father to three rescue dogs and has become immune to jet lag in all his travels (or maybe it’s just the coffee).
