Problems with Turo peer-to-peer car rental hosts using public streets to park their cars between rentals has been mentioned here before.
Now another complaint is bouncing around, this time about a Turo “host” who apparently manages more than 50 vehicles.
Copies of several emails about the situation have been circulating, and I had a chance to read one of those.
According to the complaint, a Turo host parks as many as 20 cars on a residential street in Manoa, initially in the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Oahu Avenue, later forther down on the 2200 block, near the UH president’s home and the Honolulu Christian Church.
This particular host started a car rental company in mid-2021, state business registration records show. Two others were added as company officers in November 2022.
In 2022, the host—who is listed as the car rental company’s president—purchased a home on East Manoa Road home for about $1.5 million. The deed for that home identified him as a resident of Irvine, California.
The house, which sits on a lot of about 5,000 square feet, has no room for parking of the fleet of rental cars, and city rules allow only two rental vehicles to be parked as part of a legal “home business.”
According to a June 9 email, complaints about this particular host have been on record with Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting since August 2021, and was also reported to the city’s Customer Service Branch.
The complainant did not know whether the host has faced fines from the city.
Turo claims to have an internal system for resolving complaints about parking, but had failed to resolve this complaint after earlier complaints.
Add it to the list of issues to keep track of.
Are you aware of Turo hosts with large rental fleets in your neighborhood?
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The primary issue with Turo here on Maui is at our airport. With parking always at a premium, Turo rentals left in the lot deprive residents of the already scarce stalls. https://mauinow.com/2022/12/29/mauians-decry-turo-taking-kahului-airport-public-parking-stalls-state-mulling-new-rules/
That would infuriate me to no end (to the point of committing vandalism) if I discovered some clown was taking up all the “free” street parking in my neighborhood with privately owned rental cars!
Maybe HNL needs to go the way of San Francisco with neighborhood permit stickers for street parking with limits per household? I hear it’s being done in certain parts of Kalihi already?
Some fellow has been seen moving cars in/out on Coolidge St. in Moiliili. Unknown if selling or renting those vehicles. Just starting to become aware of.
On the parking issue, news watcher/readers are aware Moiliili is becoming a construction take-over area without regard to impact on infrastructure. Adequate parking in skyline- blocking bldgs seems not consideration on DPP’sist of requirements.
As with so many other issues in Hawaii (illegal vacation rentals, beach commercial activity, camping/squatting, dumping, gambling dens, chicken fights, retail theft, bribery, conflicts of interest, etc.), scofflaws will just keep doing it as long as they can get away with it or the benefits outweigh costs. What, exactly, does Turo or the city do about confirmed reports of illegally stored vehicles? Can the state hold Turo accountable? Does it even try?
Similar parking problems involve trucks used for tree trimming and yard maintenance, junk removal, chauffeured transportation, and alarm installation businesses that are all parked on residential streets for free storage purposes, far from the owner’s residence or place of business. If they can, they will.
Unfortunately, as another commenter has indicated, the lack of reasonable regulation and enforcement can lead to increasingly serious social friction. Hawaii has such a hard time managing that dynamic…
Hi… we had a situation in Kaimuki but apparently the Turo company itself handled it with this guy – who is very nice & hey, it was a pandemic. But he only had 15-16 cars, not 200! I believe he’s sold most of them now, in any case he’s not on my street any longer
Lynda, if you’re referencing the Turo host who was operating on Mahina Ave, 13th and 14th Ave, he actually had 45+ vehicles too and I certainly wouldn’t characterize him as “nice”. He trespassed frequently on residential private properties and KCS had to get a lawyer to send him a few cease and desists to try to stop him from using their parking lot. He was a nightmare and Turo kicked him off the platform for his violations.