\u201cI had a Camaro for my first car and my dad had Camaros growing up \u2014 we were a big Chevy family,\u201d said Louis. \u201cI traded my first Camaro in for a Z28 convertible, and while I was in machinery technician school I upgraded the exhaust and did some cool engine stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Louis is 12 years into his career in the Coast Guard, and has served in places all over the map \u2014 from Maine to Northern California, Massachusetts, and even Bahrain. Right now he lives in Annapolis, Maryland, where he is a Machinery Technician on a Cutter (named \u201cCHOCK\u201d) that patrols the Chesapeake Bay. They do maritime law enforcement, safety education, and inspections, and in the winter when parts of the Chesapeake freeze, the cutter cuts through the ice to create safe passages for civilian and commercial craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a few years, Louis got to enjoy his powerful Camaro Z28 on the coastal highways of California. Then, at about the same time, his wife became pregnant with their first and he got orders to move to Boston. \u201cSo the Camaro had to go.\u201d He traded it in for a Ram truck, but he\u2019s \u201cmissed the Camaro ever since then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While stationed in Boston, Louis saw an officer drive on base with a Dodge Hellcat. \u201cI thought, \u2018wow, that’s a real nice car for a commissioned officer\u2019.\u201d The next day, that same officer drove on base in a Jaguar. Louis approached the officer, who told him he was a Turo host and that \u201cit was working so well for him that he was able to pay off his car and get another one!\u201d (The officer, All-Star Host Alex P., has since moved to Miami and is still going strong<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd it got my brain going. So I talked with my wife and showed her how I could afford a new car through Turo.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure enough, when they moved to Maryland, Louis bought a 2017 Camaro convertible specifically to share on Turo. \u201cThe most nerve-wracking part of this was just going out and buying the vehicle, not knowing if it was going to work,\u201d said Louis. But he thought if it worked for Alex up in Boston, it had to work for him in Annapolis, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe car started getting booked within the first month. And after the first few trips it picked up even more.\u201d Louis listed his Dodge Ram soon after, which has also been a success. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to make it work really well, even with me working full-time with the Coast Guard and her as a full-time ICU nurse.\u201d Annapolis\u2019 proximity to both Baltimore and Washington means Louis can serve travelers coming through two major transportation hubs, and sometimes he even recruits his fellow Coasties to deliver cars to guests while he\u2019s busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith the extra money from Turo, we\u2019ve doubled up on car payments and paid off my wife\u2019s student loans from her first bachelor\u2019s,\u201d said Louis. Louis and his wife, who have three boys, are now using their extra earnings to pay off Louis\u2019s student loans, as the Camaro and Ram are paying for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While they already had two family cars, Louis wanted to use Turo to get a Camaro<\/a> and recapture those feelings he had in his younger days. \u201cI figured, when it\u2019s out on trips it\u2019s making money, and when it\u2019s not out I can have fun and enjoy it.\u201d Louis\u2019 Camaro is an RS, meaning it has a 335-hp V6 \u2014 plenty peppy for his needs at the moment. But he did say that sometime in the future, he and his wife would be looking into upgrading to a Supersport, because you can\u2019t go wrong with a little more American muscle<\/a> under the hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d have a sports car again until my kids were out of the house and I was retired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ready to start your car sharing journey? See how much you could earn with the Turo Carculator<\/a>, and list your car on Turo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.turo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_8627-1-1024x801.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cMy wife said she had no problems with me getting a Camaro that pays for itself.\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n
Side hustle paying off<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve doubled up on car payments and paid off my wife\u2019s student loans.\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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