by Chris Witmer
posted on May 17, 2018
Things have been heating up in Arizona since last year’s breakdown of our Phoenix market. With bookings pacing to more than double again this year, the market is poised to rise like its mythical namesake to be among one of Turo’s top markets. Year to date, Phoenix has already soared to become Turo’s eighth largest market.
Turo’s team in Arizona has been growing at a similarly rapid pace too — our Scottsdale office that once consisted of a few people in a shared office space will soon reach over 80 local employees by the end of the year. To provide plenty of fodder for tonight’s community party at our newly opened local office, we’re honing in on all the local data from the past year to provide our community even more insight into what makes our Phoenix market as hardy as a desert cactus.
Cory’s 1957 Porsche Speedster (Phoenix, AZ)
Class, convenience, and cost
SUV listings have historically attracted more views than any other car category. However, as we noticed last year, the demand for a car on the fancier side was particularly strong as well with the cars in the Upscale or Luxury categories together receiving more than a third of all listing views. In the past twelve months, cars in the Luxury category garnered the highest share of listing views, surpassing both the Upscale and SUV categories. The popularity of all three of these categories is clearly evident in the year’s most sought after makes as well. Tesla, BMW, and Jeep are still among the most searched-for makes but there has recently been a demand for Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz too.
MOST SEARCHED MAKES:
- Tesla
- BMW
- Chevrolet
- Jeep
- Mercedes-Benz
Rolf’s 2011 Tesla Roadster (Goodyear, AZ)
Aside from just the type of car, our Phoenix market has long had a considerable focus on value and convenience. Just over 15% of all local searches in the last twelve months were filtered for delivery options. Most trips that took place offered delivery too. In fact, 44% of all local trips actually booked during the same past twelve months included delivery. Searches sorted by price are ultimately the most common refinements to search results being used in about 19% of all searches.
Shane’s 2011 Land Rover LR4 (Scottsdale, AZ)
Stack or rake in your earnings
Well-priced daily driver cars still stack up the highest number of bookings. The Ford Fiesta was booked at least 23% more than any other car in the Phoenix area. Chevrolet and BMW are the only makes to be both among the most searched for and most booked makes.
MOST BOOKED MAKES:
- Toyota
- Ford
- Chevrolet
- Nissan
- BMW
Tyler’s 2014 Ford Fiesta (Mesa, AZ)
Most of the demand we notice in search behavior in the market, however, seems to also be realized in considerably higher earnings per trip. The Tesla Model S and the BMW 3 Series listings earned more than all other models. Tesla Model X listings earned a similar amount to top grossing sedans but with less than half as many trips.
Steve’s 2017 Tesla Model X (Phoenix, AZ)
Trip types and seasonality
Out-of-town guests make up for more than 77% of bookings in the Phoenix area. This visitor volume translates into an average trip length of about 4.5 days, which is a bit longer than in most markets with a typically larger share of bookings coming from locals.
While summer is typically the busiest season in most markets, the Phoenix market tends to peak when the weather isn’t as hot in the late winter and early spring. Every year, trips and host earnings soar in the month of March. This past March was particularly strong, with about twice the earnings of almost any other month of the year.
David’s Mini Cooper S (Phoenix, AZ)
Top Hosts
These hosts are among our most active, all while maintaining stellar hosting metrics and reviews:
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- Last year, Paul topped the list as our most active hosts after just recently joining the community with a few hundred trips hosted. Paul takes home the top host prize again this year hosting more than twice as much as any other top host with a whopping 2,188 trips to date! With so many trips and cars, Paul’s hosting game is a family affair.
- Joshua and his wife, Lindsay, started hosting back in 2015 with their Lexus named Florence. Over the years, they’ve grown their collection of cars to a small fleet, including their most recent addition of a brand new Tesla Model X they’ve named “Falcon” (for obvious reasons).
- From your daily drivers that offer a bang for your buck to head-turners like a Corvette or lime green Jeep, Carlos’s diverse collection of cars have delighted hundreds of travelers that rave about his five-star hosting.
- Ryan is this year’s longest-tenured top host but only recently amassed one of the largest collections of cars in the area. Starting off with a couple of daily drivers and soon after his dream car a couple years ago, Ryan and his family have more than tripled their fleet in the last year.
- Patrick and his wife are both pharmacists, house flippers, and owners of what is likely the most diverse collections of cars in the area that include everything from your basic Yaris to a Ferrari.
Rookie Shoutouts
Although these hosts may be relatively new to the Turo community, they’re also unique record holders among our top hosts:
- Tyler and his wife listed their first car on Turo about a year ago and have quickly added more cars to the marketplace than any other host in the last year.
- Although she may still be considered a newbie, Elizabeth’s review metrics leads the pack among top hosts with nearly all of her trips receiving a five-star review from her guests.
- Michael has hosted over 200 trips since joining the Turo community a little less than a year ago. Another example of newer hosts with stellar reviews from their guests, Michael also has one of the highest rates of repeat guests among all hosts in the area too!
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).
