Fleet-Level Revenue Hides Your Losers.
One car you can run in your head. Three you can run in a spreadsheet. Somewhere around the fourth, the spreadsheet stops telling you the truth. A fleet total can look healthy and still hide a car that quietly loses money every month. Nothing in the summary will point at it. This page is about what breaks at that point, and what to measure instead.
The founder of Fleconomy grew from one Turo car to twenty-two in San Diego while he worked a full-time software job. He ran it all on spreadsheets until they broke. This page shows where they broke. Every problem below does not exist at one car. It gets annoying at three, and it gets expensive at eight.
The Four Things That Break
Averages Conceal the One Bad Car
A fleet netting $4,000 a month might be four cars at $1,400, $1,300, $1,200 — and one losing $900 against its payment, insurance, and maintenance. The total looks fine. You can't see the loser until you work out profit for each car. It is usually the car you would least suspect.
Gap Days Scale With the Fleet
An open day with no booking earns nothing, while the payment, insurance and depreciation keep running. It feels like nothing happened, so nobody measures it. Spread a small utilization gap across ten cars, and it becomes the biggest line in the business you can win back. Unlike a claim, you can close it this week.
Claim Downtime Dwarfs the Deductible
Your damage responsibility is $250, $1,500, or $2,750 depending on your 2026 protection plan. The bigger number is the six weeks the car earns zero. On a car netting $1,200 a month, that is about $1,700 of lost earnings on top of the deductible. That is the number that should decide which plan you are on.
Other People Need Access
Cohosts, an investor, a spouse, your CPA. At one car you share a password. At six, that is a security problem and a daily one too. You can't cut off a shared login without changing your own.
What Changes at Each Stage
| Fleet size | What starts to matter | What you can still ignore |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 cars | Depreciation timingThe Year-1 write-off is most of the return | Per-car attribution — you know which car is which |
| 3–5 cars | Per-vehicle P&L, gap daysAverages start lying to you here | Entity structure — usually still below the S-Corp threshold |
| 6–10 cars | S-Corp analysis, cohost accessProfit crosses the election break-even | Formal exit prep — unless you are actively selling |
| 10+ cars | Valuation, disposition planningIt is an asset with a number attached | Nothing, really — everything above compounds |
The S-Corp line needs a caveat. The election usually pays off above about $80,000–$100,000 in Schedule C net profit. There, SE-tax savings of about $5,000–$10,000 a year beat the added costs. Those are California's $800 franchise minimum, about $2,400 for payroll service and about $1,500 more in CPA fees. Below that, it usually costs more than it saves. Your state changes the math — the longer breakdown is here.
What Fleconomy Does About It
Per-Vehicle P&L From Your Trip CSV
Bring in your Turo earnings, and every trip attaches to one car. Revenue, costs, depreciation and loans are worked out for each car. So the ranking from best to worst car is a fact, not a hunch. The lost-revenue finder flags anything in the import that doesn't add up.
Gap Days, Ranked
Open days with no booking are counted for each car and ranked worst first. So you look at the biggest problem first, not the car that just happened to lose a day last week.
Scoped Logins, No Password Sharing
Cohost seats limit each cohosted owner to their own cars, at $10/month per seat. Investors get a read-only dashboard of results (Exit & Investor Suite). Your CPA gets a separate read-only magic link (Tax Suite). Cutting off one does not affect the others.
A Number You Can Sell Against
Business Valuation works out SDE from real data. It applies multiples for fleet size and how long you have run it. Then it writes a Confidential Information Memorandum. Clean books for each car raise the multiple. A buyer knocks less off for risk when results are on record than when they are just the seller's word.
The Fleet plan covers up to 10 vehicles at $49/month. Plans differ by fleet size: Solo 1, Operator up to 3, Fleet up to 10, Empire unlimited. Every plan includes profit and loss per car, gap days, leak detection, quarterly tax estimates and cohost profiles. The Tax Suite (S-corp, 1099-K, CPA handoff) and the Exit & Investor Suite (valuation, investor share) are add-ons you choose on top. Bigger fleets run on Empire at $119/month, which removes the vehicle cap. You can start free with one car to see the view for each car before you commit to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need per-vehicle P&L instead of fleet totals?
Fleet totals hide the cars that lose money. A fleet netting $4,000 a month might be four cars at $1,400, $1,300, $1,200 and one losing $900 against its payment, insurance and upkeep. The fleet total still looks healthy, and that car can't be seen. A P&L for each car shows which cars carry the fleet. It also shows which ones are loans the others are paying for.
What is a gap day and why does it matter more at scale?
An open day when a car sits with no booking between trips. It feels harmless because nothing went wrong. But the payment, insurance and depreciation all still run. It is a full-cost day that earns zero. Gap days grow in step with fleet size. A utilization gap that costs one car a few hundred a year costs a ten-car fleet thousands. Unlike a claim, you can close it this week, through pricing or minimum trip length.
When should I elect S-Corp status?
Usually once Schedule C net profit is steadily above about $80,000–$100,000. The election splits profit into two parts. One is a reasonable W-2 salary, which owes 15.3% SE and payroll tax. The other is distributions, which do not. Around $100K of profit, the savings of about $5,000–$10,000 a year start to beat the costs. Those are California's $800 minimum franchise tax, about $2,400 a year for payroll service and about $1,500 more in CPA fees. Below that, it usually costs more than it saves.
How do I give a cohost or investor access safely?
Give each person their own limited login, not a shared password. Cohost seats limit each cohosted owner to their own cars, at $10/month per seat. Investors and silent partners get a read-only dashboard of results (part of the Exit & Investor Suite). Your CPA gets a separate read-only magic link at tax time (part of the Tax Suite). You can cut off any one of them without changing your own password.
What does a claim really cost me?
Much more than the deductible. Damage responsibility is $250, $1,500 or $2,750, based on your 2026 protection plan. But the bigger cost is downtime. Every day in claims, the car earns nothing while fixed costs run. On a car netting $1,200 a month, a six-week claim is about $1,700 of lost earnings on top of the deductible. Put a price on that downtime. That is how you choose a protection plan with a clear head.
What is my fleet worth if I sell?
Most Turo fleet sales close at 2× to 4× a year's SDE. SDE is net profit plus the owner's pay, depreciation, interest and one-time costs. It is close to the cash a buyer gets if they hire someone to run it in your place. Clean books for each car tend to raise the multiple. A buyer knocks less off for risk when results are on record than when they are just the seller's word.
Go Deeper
Find out which car is costing you money.
Bring in your Turo history. See profit, gap days and claim risk for each car, ranked worst first. Start free with one car. No credit card.
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