Turo rental car mix up leads to scary situation for 3 Arizona tourists
Turo mistake leads to police guns drawn on tourists
Three tourists visiting Arizona found themselves in a scary situation with guns drawn on them after it was discovered the rental car they were using was flagged as stolen. FOX 10's Lauren Clark has more.
GLENDALE, Ariz. - A group of men visiting Phoenix from out of town for a baby shower ended up in handcuffs after a mix-up with their rental car.
Police thought the rental car was stolen, but it turns out, there was a twist.
What we know:
Body camera video reveals this involved the car rental company Turo.
It’s an app, like an Airbnb for cars, which allows hosts to rent out their cars for fees.
But as the company explains, this incident was all a massive misunderstanding.
Sirens and cop cars surround a blue Dodge Charger outside a parking lot off of Bell Road in Glendale. Jose Santiago with Glendale PD says it started when a license plate reader picks up a stolen vehicle.
"Our real time crime center is able to give them a description of the last people seen in the vehicle. Our officer arrives on the scene, spots the individuals in the car and a felony stop is made at that point," Santiago explains.
What's next:
Per protocol of a felony arrest, the three are handcuffed and placed into separate cars for questioning.
"So the reason why we stopped you like we did, is that car is a stolen vehicle," the officer can be heard saying in the video.
That’s when the story emerges: one man explains the three flew in to Arizona from Maryland to attend a friend’s baby shower and rented a car on the app.
"It’s a Turo, a Turo rental," one of the individuals says.
"He ordered it from the Turo site, one of those sites for [renting] a car."
"It was a Turo rental. We are out-of-towners, like we explained, and we got this from a Turo company this morning."
The backstory:
"At that point we figure out that these individuals rented a car off of an app. They did so legitimately. They rented thinking that they were renting a car that was legitimately available to be rented, but little did they know that the car had been registered stolen," said Santiago.
Turo confirmed the incident occurred on its platform. However, a spokesperson explained it was all a massive misunderstanding.
The company says the host previously reported the car as stolen, but once it was recovered, never had it removed from the police’s database.
What they're saying:
A Turo spokesperson issued a full statement below:
"Mr. Asante and his brothers experienced an unfortunate situation that never should have happened. After learning about this incident, we discovered that the host had previously reported this vehicle as stolen, but it was not removed from the police's stolen vehicle database after it was recovered. Our terms of service prohibit hosts from sharing cars previously reported as stolen before they are removed from law enforcement databases as stolen. We've refunded Mr. Asante fully and are doing everything possible to reinforce our safety and communications protocols with our hosts because nothing matters more to us than keeping our guests safe."
"This was pretty much textbook, the way that it was handled. Because this could have escalated quickly, but it didn’t. Our officers handled themselves professionally, the individuals handled themselves calmly. This was settled in about 20 minutes time," said Santiago.
Glendale PD says its officers drove the men back to their Airbnb after it was all sorted out. Turo says that it gave the renter a full refund and is exploring partnership options with the National Insurance Crime Bureau to prevent something like this from happening again.