Gerardo Aletti and Sofia Escarra, a married couple based in Miami, bought a Nissan Infiniti in 2020 with the plan to rent it out and see how it went.
If it worked out, great, the couple thought. If not, they figured they could sell the car.
Cut to six years later: the car-renting side gig has grown into a full-time, family-run business with 63 cars, earning the Venezuelan immigrants half a million dollars in 2025. They rent their cars exclusively on Turo, a car-sharing app, and have brought in several other family members to run the operation, including their son, daughter, and niece.
“We enjoy the job. We enjoy the interaction with the guests,” Aletti told Business Insider.
Their son, Fabrizio Aletti, said he never expected to work with his family but that it’s been a “really awesome surprise.”
“I had no idea we would grow so much in so few years,” he said. “It’s been a journey for sure.”
They’re among the many workers who have turned a side hustle into a full-time career. The couple said their previous experience working in the transportation industry and their ability to serve Spanish-speaking travelers helped them grow the business from an experimental side gig into a full-fledged car rental company.
Before and after immigrating, Aletti worked in transportation and has always been interested in cars and mechanics. Operating in Miami, the couple also leaned on their Spanish to communicate with travelers from Latin America, who they say make up 30% of their business.
Their Spanish has helped them with everything from airport pickup instructions to restaurant recommendations, and it’s helped them capitalize on the boost in tourism from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which has seven matches in Miami. Aletti said they’ve seen a surge in bookings in recent weeks related to the games, and that Turo making Spanish available in its app earlier this year has made it easier for travelers to find them.
Gerardo Aletti
Renting out a car was low-risk
The couple said they were drawn to the idea of trying Turo because it was relatively low risk. After the first car-rental experience worked out, they bought another, and then another. They had 15 cars by 2023, the same year they first rented a place to park and store the cars, as well as an office. Turo became their primary source of income by 2024.
Aletti said he relied on his industry background to continually evaluate which cars might be in demand in the markets they were targeting, including both the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports. After the luxury Infiniti, he tested smaller, fuel-efficient cars and then sedans and SUVs. When something worked, he’d get another and has consistently reinvested in their fleet.
Each member of the family handles a different aspect of the business, from tracking expenses and buying new cars to marketing and customer service. They leave the demanding logistics of managing their dozens of cars — from keeping track of which are at the airport, at the office, or need maintenance — to the “young people,” Escarra said.
Fabrizio Aletti said that while they do some marketing on their own, the vast majority of their business comes from people finding their cars in the Turo app. “If we stopped marketing, we would still probably get a really good amount of business,” he said.
Over thousands of trips, the family said they’ve largely had positive experiences with customers, but occasionally things go wrong. One time, Aletti said, they rented a Nissan Altima to two older men who he estimated were in their 70s or 80s, and when he opened the door afterward, the car reeked of marijuana.
Aletti said they have turned other people they know on to Turo and that he thinks it can be an “extremely profitable” business if done right. He says there are two things needed to succeed: knowing about cars and knowing about people.
“You have to know how to treat people,” he said.
