South Carolina Hits the Road with Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing

Have you ever stayed in an Airbnb? Perhaps you or someone you know has rented out a property—or booked someone else’s through VRBO—either to save money or bring in extra income. 

Well, now in South Carolina you can do the same thing with your personal cars. 

Peer-to-peer car sharing allows individual car owners to rent out their vehicles through ridesharing apps. It also gives renters an alternative to traditional car rental companies.  

Talk about easy street. 

The world’s most popular peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace is called Turo. Any authorized user with the app may list their cars and anyone qualified may rent them. According to Turo, hosts can make an annual average of $10,868 from one car through the platform. 

Though skeptics have raised concerns about how insurance works when a car is being used like a business, most platforms already provide their own coverage options, and many states have begun to set baselines of responsibility between owners, renters, and platforms. The South Carolina Department of Insurance is responsible for overseeing car share regulations. 

A federal filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reported that, as of September 2024, Turo had 350,000 active vehicle listings, 150,000 active hosts, and 3.5 million active users across more than 16,000 cities.  

In South Carolina, the growing popularity of peer-to-peer car sharing caught lawmakers’ attention. In February, Senator Wes Climer (R-York) introduced S.307, which is a bill to create a clear regulatory framework for peer-to-peer car sharing in the state. The bill, known as the Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Act, lays out legal guidelines, including insurance requirements and consumer protections.  

Rep. Mark Smith (R-Berkeley) spoke on behalf of the bill on the House floor and moved for its passage. 

“This bill establishes guidelines for the operation of peer-to-peer car sharing program(s) here in South Carolina,” Smith said. “This bill defines relative terms, outlines the insurance and liability requirements, as well as certain expectations- and provides disclosure requirements for the car sharing program(s).”  

With bipartisan support, the Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Act passed unanimously in both chambers—41-0 in the Senate and 180-0 in the House, before being signed into law by the Governor in May 2025.  

According to the SC Daily Gazette, Turo spokesperson Catherine Mejia said the company contributed input to the National Council of Insurance Legislators, which drafted model legislation that Sen. Climer based his bill on. She said that 28 other states have adopted similar laws.  Climer had introduced a similar bill in the 2023-24 session, S.611. Rep. Gary Brewer introduced a House companion to the 2025 Climer bill as H.4058. 

The new law makes sure that everyone involved in car sharing — from the car owner to the renter to the platform itself — knows who’s responsible if something goes wrong. It requires all shared vehicles to carry liability insurance during the rental period, and it directs platforms like Turo to verify drivers and ensure vehicles are safe to rent. It also protects traditional insurance providers by allowing them to exclude coverage when a personal vehicle is used for peer-to-peer rentals. 

The new Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Act aligns with Palmetto Promise’s free-market ideals by reducing barriers to entry and encouraging innovation. When individuals can offer services directly — in this case, renting out their cars— it can decentralize industries traditionally controlled by a few dominant players. The increased competition may result in lower prices, better service, and more customized options for consumers. According to the Maryland Public Policy Institute, renting through Turo can cost about 35% less than booking through a traditional rental company.   

By making participation easier and safer, this legislation helps bring car sharing into the mainstream — opening the road for more people to take part in a growing segment of the free market. 

So, what does it all mean? It means that South Carolinians now have more choice. If you own a car, you can turn it into an income stream. If you need one, you’re no longer stuck with just the big-name rental companies. In the broader sense, it means that the free market is in good condition— adapting, innovating, and meeting people where they are.

Note: Though Turo dominates the peer-to-peer car sharing market, Car Shair operates in limited markets in the United States. ZipCar is similar, in that rentals can be handled entirely on an app, but ZipCar is not true peer-to-peer.