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Airbnb isn’t the only peer-to-peer network getting into the travel rewards game. The car-sharing platform Turo has partnered with Southwest to allow customers to earn Rapid Rewards points. You can earn up to 30,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points through the partnership, which runs now through Oct. 15, 2019.
Rapid Rewards offers for Turo users
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Receive 2,000 Rapid Rewards points when you complete a Turo trip for the first time as a new Turo guest. This offer applies to new guests only and on trips that are a minimum of $50, which is about the price of a one-day rental.
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Receive 500 Rapid Rewards points for every Turo trip that you complete after your first trip. Again, there’s a minimum $50 trip value to get the points.
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Receive 10,000 Rapid Rewards points when you sign up as a Turo host and complete your first $50 trip as a host.
How to earn points
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Sign up for Turo if you haven’t already
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Link your Southwest and Turo accounts here
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Start booking car rentals
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Or rent out your own car
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Rapid Rewards points should show up in your Southwest account within 30 days of completing your Turo trip
Why use Turo
Turo bills itself as the world’s largest car-sharing marketplace. Instead of waiting in the long lines at the car rental companies at the airport, you could rent a car from the vehicle’s owner instead through the Turo app or website. Owners set the prices, and you rent by the day. According to Turo, you could save up to 35% compared to renting from traditional car rental companies.
You might be imagining renting someone’s unreliable, beat-up clunker, but there are lots of cool listings, including Porsches, Maseratis and more. Car insurance coverage and roadside assistance are included with every Turo rental, just in case something happens on the road.
If you’ve got an extra car taking up a parking spot, you might want to consider renting it out through Turo. You’ll usually earn about 65% to 85% of the trip price.
The bottom line
The ability to earn travel rewards with car sharing certainly makes the prospect of renting a car through Turo more attractive. These Rapid Rewards bonuses don’t sound like much, but short flights on Southwest can cost around 2,000 points — almost the same amount of points you would earn with your first Turo trip.
All of these earning opportunities through Turo can help get you that much closer to the 110,000 Rapid Rewards points needed to earn a money-saving Southwest Companion Pass that’ll let you book a travel buddy on the same itinerary for just the cost of taxes. However, the quickest way to a Companion Pass and award flights with Rapid Rewards points is via the points you could earn with a Southwest credit card.