by Megan Natt
posted on August 12, 2015
We’ve received a lot of great feedback since launching our price-by-day functionality last month, and the response has been resounding. Owners love the idea, but are finding that it’s a lot of work to micromanage the price of their car each day.
To ease the burden on car owners, we’ve asked our analytics team to manage the process.
Our data scientists from our analytics team are intimately familiar with demand patterns, as well as with competitive pricing models, so they’ve created an insightful, robust algorithm to manage everyone’s daily prices and help all Turo car owners maximize their earnings.
Why the change?
We’ve recently refined our pricing algorithm to incorporate seasonal demand patterns, individual hometowns, car makes and models and more, yielding the most relevant and data-driven daily prices for each owner’s specific variables.
We expect that with our revamped algorithm dynamically pricing your car for you, your earnings should rise without the extra work of managing your prices yourself.
How does the pricing algorithm work?
Behind the scenes, we’ve created an advanced statistical model that analyzes historical data to predict whether or not your car will be booked on a certain day. Depending on that probability, we’ll increase or decrease your car’s rental price for that day.
To intelligently predict the demand for each car each day, we consider:
- Seasonality (weekends, holidays, etc.)
- Geography (city- or region-specific usage patterns)
- Car attributes (make, model, age and value of the car)
- Listing attributes (whether you offer delivery or Book Instantly, your historical price, past transactions, etc.)
- The competitive landscape (how your car measures up to similar cars in the Turo marketplace and at traditional rental agencies)
Is there anything I need to do?
Nope, we’ve got you covered! And remember, our statistical model gets smarter over time as more data accrues, so the longer you’re on Turo, the shrewder our prices get.
Additionally, all owners are encouraged to set a minimum price and a minimum allowed rental duration, so you determine the lowest dollar amount your time is worth. We’ll always respect your minimum price, so you’re always in control of your income floor.
And of course, if you prefer to take on the legwork of pricing your car each day yourself, you can choose to price your car by the day.
Questions?
You can learn more at this FAQ article. And if you have any questions that aren’t addressed there, please contact us at support.turo.com.
