TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa International Airport is suing a company called Turo, which operates like an AirBnB for cars. But instead of renting property, Turo is an app that lets people use each other’s vehicles.
“I think that sounds like a good idea,” said Wintress Felder, renting a car at Tampa International Airport.
Felder says next time she might consider Turo.
“People need to be challenged,” said Felder. “Businesses need to be challenged. So, if this is going to challenge the rental car market to maybe offer more or do better, why not?”
But even before the idea takes off locally, the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority has filed a lawsuit against Turo, asking the court to order an injunction against them doing business at TIA.
“Like any other company that benefits from Tampa International facilities,” said airport spokeswoman Janet Scherberger, “Turo needs to follow the regulations and pay fees that support the maintenance and safe, efficient operation of the airport."
Turo, they say, doesn’t pay the same big fees that legacy car rental businesses do, which add up to tens of millions of dollars a year.
TIA has a lot at stake when it comes to the rental car business. The airport says it collected more than $40 million dollars in fees last year, which is close to half the airport’s entire operating budget.
“I mean even if a big monster is paying that fee, you should too if you’re going to do the same service,” said car rental customer Patti Arundel, who hopes the competition will bring down prices. “Because it’s also coming from the airport."
Another issue is traffic flow.
Turo operators have been pulling up curbside, say airport officials, causing congestion. Meanwhile, taxis, Uber drivers and rental companies have to wait their turn at separate lots.
Bill Weinheimer, who drives for Uber, questioned why Turo drivers would get better treatment.
“There’s 50 people out here waiting,” he said sitting in the Uber wait lot near the airport. “Where would they all sit?”
“Most of them, they pull right up, and some of them park all over the place,” said Marilyn Chang, who drives for Uber at TIA. Chang says she’s seen at least one guy using the rideshare wait lot as a personal rental car staging area.
“And he told the other members, ‘Poppy, you park over here, mommy, you park over here. You park over there.’ There were three different cars that he made them pull up and park and waited.”
For its part, Turo says it’s not exactly a rideshare or rental company, just a peer to peer facilitator. The company says it would consider paying a fee similar to rideshare operators, but they don’t think having to pay what the big car rental companies pay would be fair to them since they don’t actually own the cars which are being used.
There are also concerns similar to those raised when Uber first came on the scene, like reliability, background checks and liability.
Until all of that can be cleared up, the airport is asking the court to prevent Turo from doing business on their property and seeking an unspecified amount for lost business and fees.
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