Turo's cut applies to trip price, delivery and Extras, not to paying you back. What you can charge for cleaning, smoking, fuel and tolls, and the deadlines.
Your earnings plan percentage comes out of the trip price, delivery fees and Extras. Reimbursements are a different bucket. They exist to pay you back for something the guest used up or caused: fuel, charging, extra miles, tolls, tickets, and cleaning or smoking violations. They aren't extra profit, and the only way to lose them is to miss the deadline or show up without proof.
Routine cleaning is the part most hosts get wrong. On Turo you can't charge a guest for a normal wash and vacuum. The cleaning fee is only for real violations, reported within 72 hours of the trip ending, with photos. Everyday turnover cleaning comes out of your share on every trip.
What does Turo's cut actually apply to?
Turo's vehicle protection page for US hosts says the host share is a percentage of "each trip price, delivery fees, and Extras, excluding certain fees and taxes." That's 70%, 80% or 90% depending on the plan, with a range in the nine variable host share cities (Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Maui, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle).
The same Turo host pages describe reimbursements as their own category. Turo's earnings plans announcement lists "100% approved reimbursement coverage" among what hosts get, and its tax guide for US hosts says reimbursements for driver-caused costs like tolls are neither gross income nor deductible expenses.
Two words in there matter: approved and eligible. Turo has to accept the request, and you have to send it in time. If you want to see how these show up per trip, your earnings export has separate columns for tolls, charging, fuel, cleaning and smoking. We went through them in how to read your Turo earnings export.
Can you charge a Turo guest a cleaning fee?
Only for a violation, not for normal use.
When Turo moved to its current system in November 2021, it dropped the "Post-trip cleaning" Extra and said hosts would no longer be able to charge for cleaning outside a flat violation fee, which was $150 at the time. Check the current amount in the help center before you count on it.
Turo's help center calls these "eligible" cleaning issues. Its hosting guide defines one as an issue that "only could have resulted from irresponsible or abusive behavior" and gives these examples:
- Biowaste or bodily fluids
- Spills or trash inside vents or between the door panel and window
- Major stains that need steam cleaning or a full detail
- Heavy caked-on mud, sand or insects that need a professional exterior detail
- Significant pet hair
Crumbs, a few wrappers, dusty floor mats and a car that needs a wash are your turnover cost. Price them into your daily rate, not into a reimbursement request.
Deadline: Turo's getting-started guide and its help center both say you have up to 72 hours after a trip ends to report a cleaning violation in the app.
What about smoking?
All cars on Turo are non-smoking, for guests and their passengers. Turo's help center gives you 72 hours after the trip ends to report a smoking issue, and it hinges on physical evidence.
Turo's hosting guide says a smoking reimbursement can be considered if the guest admits to smoking or vaping in the car, or if you have evidence like:
- Ash that clearly shows abusive behavior
- Used cigarettes or a rolled marijuana cigarette left in the car
- Burn marks in your check-out photos that weren't in your check-in photos
A smell on its own is hard to prove. The fee amount is set by Turo and listed on its no-smoking policy page; we're not quoting a number here because we couldn't confirm the current one.
Fuel, charging, mileage and tolls: what are the deadlines?
These are the reimbursements that add up quietly, because each one is small.
| Reimbursement | Window to request it |
|---|---|
| Cleaning violation | 72 hours after the trip ends |
| Smoking violation | 72 hours after the trip ends |
| Tolls and tickets | 90 days after the trip ends |
| Refueling, recharging, extra distance | Short window set by Turo, with extra days on some plans |
On fuel and distance, Turo's plan page says More peace of mind gets two extra days to submit additional distance and refueling reimbursements, and Balanced gets one extra day. More earnings doesn't list any extra time. So if you're on the 90% plan, fuel and mileage invoices need to go out fast. We compared the plans in more detail in Turo earnings plans explained.
For tolls and tickets, Turo's help center gives you up to 90 days after the trip ends to send the guest an invoice. That longer window exists because toll bills often show up weeks later. It doesn't mean you can forget about them.
What does missing a reimbursement actually cost?
Here's an example with made-up round numbers, not data. One car, one month, six trips on the 80% plan:
| Example month | Amount |
|---|---|
| Two guests return the car about 4 gallons low, at $3.50 a gallon | $28.00 |
| Three toll charges that arrive by mail | $24.00 |
| One trip goes 60 miles over the limit, at $0.50 a mile | $30.00 |
| Money you're owed back | $82.00 |
If all three get invoiced, they net to zero: you spent $82 and got $82 back. If you miss them, that $82 comes straight off the car's profit.
To see what that's worth in trip terms, divide by what you keep per booked day. At a $60 daily rate on the 80% plan you keep $60 × 0.80 = $48 a day. $82 ÷ $48 = 1.7 booked days of earnings, gone because nobody sent an invoice.
Over a year that's $82 × 12 = $984 for one car. With five cars it's $4,920. These are example numbers, but the pattern is real: the money isn't lost in one big claim, it leaks a few dollars at a time.
What about the cleaning you can't charge for?
Every trip needs a turnover. If you pay someone $25 to clean the car between trips, or value your own time at that, here's the same example car:
- 6 trips × $25 = $150 a month in cleaning
- At $48 kept per booked day, that's $150 ÷ $48 = 3.1 booked days just to cover cleaning
This is why longer trips help. The same 18 booked days spread across four trips instead of six saves two turnovers, or $50 a month in this example. Run your own numbers here:
How do you make sure you get paid back?
A simple routine covers almost all of it:
- Photos at both ends of every trip. Turo says it needs pre- and post-trip evidence for claims, and its 2021 cleaning update made photos required for every cleaning and smoking report. Get the fuel or charge level and odometer in frame.
- Check the car the day it comes back. The 72-hour clock for cleaning and smoking starts at trip end, not when you notice.
- Invoice fuel and mileage first. Those have the shortest windows.
- Keep a list of open trips for tolls. Check it weekly until each trip's 90 days are up.
- Keep everything on Turo. Turo's hosting guide says hosts and guests are prohibited from requesting, accepting or making payments outside Turo. A guest offering cash for a cleaning problem isn't a shortcut.
The bottom line
- Your earnings plan share applies to the trip price, delivery and Extras, not to reimbursements.
- You can't charge a guest for routine cleaning. The cleaning fee is for violations like biowaste, major stains or heavy pet hair.
- Cleaning and smoking violations must be reported within 72 hours of the trip ending, with photos.
- Tolls and tickets have 90 days. Fuel and distance have a much shorter window, with extra days on the 70% and 80% plans.
- Missed reimbursements look small per trip and add up to real money over a year.
FleetEarnings reads your Turo earnings CSV per car, so reimbursements, fees and trip income sit next to the expenses and receipts they're meant to cover. You can also check what turnover cleaning does to your numbers in the Turo profit calculator.
Sources: Turo's vehicle protection and earnings plans page, getting started guide for hosts, hosting guide, introducing earnings plans and 2021 cleaning update for hosts; Turo help center pages on reporting a cleaning issue, reporting a smoking issue, the no smoking policy and charging guests for tolls; Turo's tax guide for US hosts. Terms checked October 16, 2026. FleetEarnings is not affiliated with Turo, Inc.