My Touro rental was packed with valuables inside

Dear Travel Troubleshooter: I recently rented a car from Touro in Baltimore. My family met our host at the Baltimore/Washington International Airport and he gave us the keys to the vehicle. Everything was going well, and we were enjoying our trip until a few days later we couldn’t find our rental in our hotel parking lot.

We called all the hotels around to see if he was pulled over in the wrong way. I texted the car attendant and asked him to pick up the car. The host doesn’t know where the car is. I then called Turo and a rep told me to report it stolen.

So I called the police. An officer asked for the owner’s address and told me the car was not stolen but impounded.

I called Touro to report this and they again advised me to report the car stolen. I called the police officer back. She told me that it would be considered fraud if I said the vehicle was stolen.

I called Turo for days and days to get help. They didn’t give me any support. I had missed the last two vacation days trying to track down our rental car to get our stuff out of. The biggest problem was that my son left his epilepsy medication in the vehicle. I don’t see how Turo can’t be held accountable. They know their hosts are breaking the rules with their finance companies, and when things go wrong they make the customer suffer.

Things went terribly wrong in Baltimore, and Turo did nothing to help me. They refunded our money on the last day of our tenancy – that was the only offer they offered. I want my son’s medicines, our other belongings and our rent back. can you help me?

– Michelle Marshall, Franklin, North Carolina

Answer: Touro has limited responsibility for the risk of your rental. But how much is the question? Technically, Touro is not a car rental company. It connects users with hosts who have vehicles they want to rent. Think of it as Airbnb for cars. It makes it clear that the rental agreement between you and Turo is just a middleman, which is why it originally offered a small refund and didn’t cover the $850 worth of epilepsy medication left in the vehicle.

Touro’s Terms of Service contain a limitation of liability clause for such losses.
But, let’s talk about this. I’m sure you already know that leaving valuables in your car isn’t the best idea. And, if it’s someone else’s car, parked next to a hotel hundreds of miles from home, you certainly don’t want to leave valuables, including prescription drugs, in the vehicle.