Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission issued a cease and desist letter to Turo operators, a move that clamps down on what the transportation officials essentially called unlicensed car rental businesses on airport property.
David Mackey, a Boston attorney representing the airport commission, issued a letter to eight businesses on July 29 calling for the end to “unauthorized and unlawful” rental car activity at the airport through Turo, a car sharing platform where the other companies’ vehicles were listed. Five of the companies are based in Massachusetts — MV Rental Cars 4 U LLC in Vineyard Haven, Atlantic Island Auto Rental Inc. in Edgartown, Vasky LLC in Fairhaven, Ukray in Lexington, and Mars Rental LLC in Burlington — while the others are based out of state, including two locations of Rad Rides, L.C. in Austin, Texas and Turo itself, headquartered in San Francisco, California.
“This activity appears to be steadily increasing in volume, and is now having a significant impact on the Airport’s already constrained parking facilities,” Mackey wrote. “In fact, because of this unauthorized and unlawful activity, airline passengers and Airport patrons, including restaurant customers, are having difficulty finding, and in [some] cases are unable to find, any available Airport parking.”
Kevin Brennan, the airport properties manager told The Times on Friday that so far, the airport parking lot was cleared of vehicles 24 hours after the “very effective” letter was issued and no Turo-associated cars have been towed so far. He said roughly a third of the parking lot was previously filled by Turo vehicles. That was an issue because of the ongoing construction that contributed to congestion. Geoff Freeman, the airport director, noted the exact number of vehicles is murky.
“As Turo is not a traditional car rental company, it is difficult to identify every car,” Geoff Freeman, Martha’s Vineyard Airport director, told The Times. “The letter was sent to those who had numerous vehicles on airport property and were conducting business there without a license agreement.”
Unlike other rental vehicle businesses at the airport, like Hertz, Mackey noted that the Turo operators didn’t have written permission from the airport director nor have they paid fees for parking spaces or “other facilities at the airport for commercial activity, as well as the concession fee, the minimal annual guarantee, and the customer facility charge.”
The airport has implemented fees for other gig-economy operations before. In 2023, the commission unanimously voted to charge ride-share companies, like Uber, per pickup at the airport following a change to state law that allowed smaller airports to regulate these types of operations.
“It’s like the Airbnb model,” Bob Rosenbaum, airport commission chair, said of Turo at an August 13 commission meeting.
“Basically, yes,” Freeman replied, adding the model is good for what it’s designed to do, person to person lending of vehicles. “But, as we all know, people take advantage of that and now start their own businesses with multiple, multiple cars from out of state that come into these resort areas and become a nuisance.”
Turo has experienced pushback from airports elsewhere in the state. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which oversees several airports like Boston Logan International Airport, in 2021 and said the state agency could bar Turo from unpermitted business on airport premises. Turo also received a cease and desist letter from Nantucket Memorial Airport in 2023.
The Vineyard commission demanded in its July letter that Turo remove all references to rental vehicle availability from its website and to stop “car rental transactions at the airport.” The hosts were also told to remove their vehicles from airport premises and any found at the site after August 7 would be towed at the owner’s expense.
“In order to begin to calculate amounts owed to compensate the Airport for this illegal activity on its premises, the [Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission] also demands that Turo immediately produce to undersigned counsel a record of all Turo-facilitated transactions at the Airport for the past three years, from July 1, 2023 to the present, including the revenue generated by Turo for each transaction,” Mackey wrote. He added that Turo or any of its hosts that want to enter into an agreement with the airport should reach out to Brennan after they comply with the letter’s demands.
As of Friday, MVY, the airport’s code, still appears as a pickup location on Turo. A Turo spokesperson told The Times Thursday that a resolution is being sought.
“We are working constructively with Martha’s Vineyard Airport toward a resolution that works for the airport, for travelers, and for the local residents who rely on Turo as a meaningful source of income,” the statement reads.
Representatives of the businesses on-Island and Texas were not immediately available for comment, and Ukray did not return requests for comment. Vasky in Fairhaven and Mars Rental in Burlington don’t have contact information listed and could not be immediately reached.
Freeman noted at the meeting earlier this month that despite the drop in Turo cars, some are still dropped off at the airport by renters unaware of the situation. The airport has shared the situation on its website.
“They don’t know what to do,” Freeman said. “We obviously don’t want to inconvenience them because they’re innocent.”
