[B&BTexas]

In have an opportunity to get a 2006 Yamaha 48 volt, street legal cart, running and in very good shape friom my daughter. The price is VERY GOOD. I need some advice on what to look for and any down sides to having a street legal vehicle. I will be adding sunbrella and back seat extension. Thanks in advance.
B&BTexas

[EdV]

Insurance for a golf cart is around 75/yr. For a street legal, it must be registered with tags and the insurance is around 425/yr.

Street legals can cross roads like 441 and Rolling Acres Rd. at intersections, golf carts cannot.

You should also contact the Florida DMV for instructions on what documentation you will need to prove that the cart meets street legal requirements.

[jchase]

I also understand that once the cart is registered street legal its always has to be street legal.

[jebartle]

Seat Belts and Windshield wipers.....I miss our street legal......Traded convenience for "cute"....Ho-hum!

[B&BTexas]

Thanks for all of the responces. All greatly appreciated.
B&BTexas

[EdV]

Originally Posted by jchase

I also understand that once the cart is registered street legal its always has to be street legal.

Not true. You could take a street legal cart that had been registered in the past and downgrade the motor and controller so that it could not exceed 20mph and it is no longer a street legal Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) by definition under Florida law. So it could be driven in TV as a regular cart without having to register it. But a simple dash board high/low speed switch would not be acceptable.

[2 Oldcrabs]

AAA insurance agent advised me not to get street legal. She told me there is a movement in the insurance industry to no longer insure them. I do not know if this is true or just an opinion !

[EdV]

Your agent is wrong or you misunderstood. A couple of years ago, some agents were issuing off road vehicle insurance to owners with street legal carts at around $150/yr.

Once the DMV and the insurance companies figured out what was going on, they put a stop to it and you now have to have a full auto inurance policy to register them.

[jnieman]

If they have a 17 digit VIN number they need full insurance.

[EdV]

You’re misinterpreting the law.

Florida statute 320.01(42) defines a “Low-speed vehicle” as any four-wheeled electric vehicle whose top speed is greater than 20 miles per hour but not greater than 25 miles per hour, including neighborhood electric vehicles. And any LSV needs to have certain safety equipment and be registered. In order to register an LSV, it’s got to have a VIN and carry the expensive PIP insurance.

Nowhere does it say that a vehicle with a VIN must be registered.

If you downgrade the motor/controller to make it incapable of exceeding 20 mph, it no longer meets the primary definition of an LSV but instead meets the definition of a “golf cart” as designated in statute 320.01(42).

Conversely, if you upgrade a standard golf cart motor to exceed 20 mph they can and to issue you a very expensive citation for “driving and unregistered motor vehicle” even if the cart ha no VIN.

[GatorFan]

AAA may not want to insure an LSV, but there is no movement by other companies. If so, I would like to see in writing this information.