[John Reis]

These posts paint a scary picture, I had no idea what can of worms I was opening up by actually thinking of including a cart with rental. Great service and knowledge provided by all who commented. Many Thanks

[ilovetv]

Originally Posted by bimmertl

The decision applies to businesses that "rent or lease motor vehicles". That's extremely broad. A golf cart is a motor vehicle.

Florida's dangerous instrumentality doctrine applies to golf carts which would have created the vicarious liability to the owner of the rental agency. So this strikes that down. Their is no other owners liability statute or case law in Florida creating liability for the owner.

Sounds good. But what about the vehicle "leased for one year" part of the supreme court decision?

Most people who rent golf carts or a rental home here aren't going to lease for one year, but rather would rent on a seasonal basis, for 2-3-4 months or maybe a few weeks.

If a person needed a cart for at least one year, it would make no sense to rent one for that long.....the cost of renting one is high and a person staying here for a year or more would buy one.

[ilvgolf]

Well, my sister rented her house for several years for four months out of the year and had a golf cart with it. She insured it with Allstate and her policy stated it was to be used by renters. No problems there.

Originally Posted by Kelsie52

I rent my Villa without a cart --have had no problems renting it at all.

I feel there is a great liability issue for me as a homeowner if I provide a cart . If someone is in an accident you will be pulled into the case.

You can not purchase a policy for a cart that is provided with your home as a rental.

You will see some say that certain companies will write the policy --but you must say that you are letting them use the cart and it is not part of the rental

That is a little to deceptive for me.

Good Luck

[TrudyM]

Originally Posted by John Reis

These posts paint a scary picture, I had no idea what can of worms I was opening up by actually thinking of including a cart with rental. Great service and knowledge provided by all who commented. Many Thanks

When checking comps to set your rental price I would advise checking if they include a cart or not. High season people can get whatever but when I am comparing rentals (and there are over 400 on my spread sheet) I add $350 to the cost of a rental not including a cart so I am comparing apples to apples, I would think others would too.

My insurance company (Gieco) said that I have liability coverage under my umbrella but not collision. So If I hit a person their expenses are covered. But in no case was injury to myself or the cart I am driving covered. There was a travel policy available but they wanted $30 a day for coverage so way too expensive.

[maddie101]

Ours rented long term without a cart, too. In fact we had several long term offers knowing a cart was not included. We had no intentions of including a cart no matter what.

[maybe]

Originally Posted by bimmertl

The decision applies to businesses that "rent or lease motor vehicles". That's extremely broad. A golf cart is a motor vehicle.

Florida's dangerous instrumentality doctrine applies to golf carts which would have created the vicarious liability to the owner of the rental agency. So this strikes that down. Their is no other owners liability statute or case law in Florida creating liability for the owner.

Rental businesses are only protected, by that cited case and those statutes, from incidents in which only the driver of the cart is alleged to have been at fault. It does not protect from a claim that the cart had been improperly maintained.When the driver says that he braked but nothing happened, guess who gets added to the suit?!