State of the market 2.0
The Washington-Baltimore area has consistently held its rank among Turo’s top markets over the past few years. In our first market guide to the area last year, we shared a bevy of local insights behind the market’s epic growth to help our host community understand the ins and outs of their local market. As we celebrate yet another fruitful year with more hosts in the area than ever before, we’re bringing back your market guide — version 2.0! Get ready to spring into peak season with these updated trends and extra fodder for our upcoming community party.
Locals and luxury
The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area lands among the top-ten list for both the most sizeable and most visited cities in the country, so it’s no wonder the market consistently ranks among the top-ten Turo markets as well. The market is perhaps most characterized, however, by its proportion of local demand. Nearly two-thirds of trips in the area were completed by local residents this past year, compared to the approximate 34% marketplace national average. This share of local travelers is still even higher than similarly dense and transit-rich markets like Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco. The strong influence of locals translates into a preference for price and location. 15% of all searches in the area are by map (slightly higher than last year’s 14%) and 16% are sorted by price (also higher than the 13% last year).
As in years past, choice of a particular kind of car ultimately wins the election of most travelers with filters like car type, make, and model together representing the greater percentage of search filters used. Vehicles in the luxury category are the most viewed listings in the area (about 25% of all listings viewed), followed closely by the upscale category (17% of listing views). These fancier types of cars also dominate the most searched for makes in the area this year too.
MOST SEARCHED MAKES:
- Tesla
- BMW
- Mercedes-Benz
- Audi
- Porsche
Outside the Beltway bookings
As in prior years, the daily driver types of cars still end up garnering more bookings. The compact and midsize sedan category cars made up 62% of all bookings in the last year, while the upscale category was a modest 10%, and the luxury category a mere 6% of all bookings. The Japanese Big Three vehicle makes top the list for the greatest number of trips, particularly Toyota which was the car of choice for 19% of all trips in the last year.
MOST BOOKED MAKES:
- Toyota
- Nissan
- Honda
- Ford
- Hyundai
The daily driver makes might be racking up the most bookings, however, simply because there are so many of these types of cars currently listed in the area. In fact, there are nearly twice as many Toyotas listed than any other car make. Tesla is the most searched car make but there are still far fewer Tesla listings in the area than the other sought-after luxury makes. Despite relatively few Tesla listings, the Model S and Model X are the most lucrative makes. More opportunity might exist by capturing the demand for both luxury and pricing. Daily pricing under $50 per day appears to be the special sauce for securing the most trips and is also the most commonly searched for price maximum.
Trip types and seasonality
The strong base of local travelers in the market tends to bring in a lot of shorter duration trips around town and for weekend getaways, but the annual average for the area is still nearly 4 days long. The average trip length has a slight uptick as the market enters the high season in the spring and summer seasons. This past July and August saw triple the amount of bookings than the traditionally slower months of January and February. Unsurprisingly, demand has consistently surged to all-time highs in the Capitol surrounding Independence Day.
Dignitaries
In no particular order, these owners will go down in Turo history for having not only hosted the most trips but have also earned the highest reviews from their guests. The people have spoken, and these owners are our top hosts.
- Brandon is our most tenured top host this year with over 300 trips, almost all of which were rated a solid five stars.
- Elias has not only scored hundreds of five-star reviews, he also has one of the fastest response times among active hosts that have opted to go without Instant Book.
- Mariano has been on top of the game for a few years now with thousands of trips and glowing reviews for his daily driver cars.
Diplomats
Representing this year’s newbies on the hill, these hosts have already proven themselves to be popular with the people.
- Hamzeh has hosted more than 300 trips in under a year with his diverse mix of upscale, midsize, and compact cars.
- Viktor listed his truck last summer and has maintained a perfect five-star rating ever since.
- Wilmer is among our newest top hosts and has a bigger collection of cars than most of the seasoned vets with hundreds of rave reviews.