Rental Golf Cart Insurance

[mobruce]

Does anybody have any new info on golf cart insurance included with a rental home. We are in the process of buying a home and the owner is including the golf cart. I have read all the old threads and was hoping to find something more current. I was hoping to rent the home out some when we are not there. Any new information would be greatly appreciated.

[daca55]

:welcome: I too just bought a villa in Dec 2011 and due to my current situation that prohibits me from being there as much as would like I am renting it. I was going to buy a golf cart but when I inquired about insurance that would include the renters using my cart I found that insurance companies are not writing these policies at the present time. I have tried every insurance company in the area but have found no one who will provide the coverage. Most companies are grandfathering people who had coverage before last year but they will not take on any new business.

I also looked into letting renters sign a waiver but legal people have told me that it won't hold up if someone gets hurt and sues. The bottom line is you are better off to not let renters use your cart if you have no insurance. I was told yesterday that companies are reviewing and maybe in the future the market may reopen but right now they will not cover renters situation.

[buggyone]

Best advice, in my opinion, is to let renters in your home rent a golf cart from a dealer or someone else. Do not let yourself get stuck financially for someone else's accident.

[er9027]

What about having your Renter check with HIS/HER insurance to have him
insure themselves. Liabilaty and property. Get a copy or waiver from their insurance...Just a thought. I do that with rental cars.

[thistrucksforyou]

What about having your Renter check with HIS/HER insurance to have him
insure themselves. Liabilaty and property. Get a copy or waiver from their insurance...Just a thought. I do that with rental cars.


This correct....Just like renting a car...Have an accident in a rental car you can,t sue the company they come after you for the damages..So rent the cart and have them sign a waiver refusing coverage and if they charge by credit card most cards automatically cover rentals...

[GatorFan]

Check with an attorney before you just assume this will work.

[Harleyman]

A waiver will not work, as many experts have posted on here and you cannot transfer your own insurance to someone elses anything, whether it be a car, motorcycle or golf car. Their insurance is always primary and if they don't have any, then there is no coverage and the owner would be on the hook for any damage. The bottom line appears to be that unless a new carrier decides to insure rental cars, which I doubt will happen, there is no coverage available to be had. As a personal note, with my 40 yrs in the insurance business, I can't think of many things risk wise that would be any worse than renting a golf car to someone in the villages. You could lose everything you have worked all of your life for, because you decided to rent your car to someone you have never met and might have never driven one in their life, and now they are on the loose in the Villages. Think about it.

[asianthree]

Sooner or later one of the insurance companys will figure out how to write a policy to cover renters and it will be expensive.

[bimmertl]

Sooner or later one of the insurance companys will figure out how to write a policy to cover renters and it will be expensive.

No they won't . No insurance company wants to write a policy to cover unknown drivers driving rental golf carts owned by a few insureds who live in a large retirement community. While all of us might think of this as some big money maker for insurance companies it's just a blip on the risk pool for any major insurers. A company like State Farm insuring over 40 million cars could care less about 50,000 golf cars, and that's if they insured every one, which they wouldn't.

Harleyman hit the nail on the head. Don't rent your cart to anybody and don't assume a cart you rent has insurance.

And no,contrary to allegations made on this site, your "auto" policy isn't going to provide coverage for a rented golf cart "just like renting a car?. Just another example of made up stuff which shows up on this site.

The statement that "most credit cards automatically cover rentals" is laughable. No doubt, if you rent a golf car, boat, blimp, or airplane, it's covered merely because it's "rented". Good luck with that!

[thistrucksforyou]

Does anybody have any new info on golf cart insurance included with a rental home. We are in the process of buying a home and the owner is including the golf cart. I have read all the old threads and was hoping to find something more current. I was hoping to rent the home out some when we are not there. Any new information would be greatly appreciated.

Leagally you rent the home and give the use of a golf cart free...no liabilty....I checked !

[lightworker888]

You must not have the cart in the lease, but I don't think that stops your liability. You still are the owner of the vehicle and have given permission, but it would still be your policy that would get hit as a waiver doesn't hold up in court. If the cart is part of the lease, then the policy doesn't apply. That is how I understood the conversation with Allstate and our lawyer. We have decided not to rent out anymore!


LW888

[l2ridehd]

So how does The Villages insure their golf carts they provide with the LSP? How does The Villages Golf Cart store insure their rental carts? How does Jim Fallowell, Grandpa and Grandma Buggies and a dozen others insure the carts they rent? Just among those providers there are a few thousand golf carts. They all can't be running around without insurance.

Some company someplace is doing policies for these people who do this as a business. What is being said in this thread is that no insurance is available anyplace for rental golf carts. That just can't be true. Maybe rental providers need to set up an LLC to manage this issue, but there has to be some way to make this work.

[Harleyman]

The Villages would have insurance as part of their commercial insurance. There are several companies that will write fleet rental insurance, because of the numbers involved. They might be able to make money on the fleet because there is a way to underwrite it based on rental fleet loss ratios. The ones that they cannot make money on are the ones like the Villages where they might only get 100 rental cars, all with different contracts, kids driving them etc. There would be no money in that.

As a side note, the first time we stayed at the Villages we rented a car from Jim Followell. I asked him about the insurance and he said that he did not carry insurance. I suspect that he still does not carry any. I don't know how he sleeps nights.

[carm310]

So how does The Villages insure their golf carts they provide with the LSP? How does The Villages Golf Cart store insure their rental carts? How does Jim Fallowell, Grandpa and Grandma Buggies and a dozen others insure the carts they rent? Just among those providers there are a few thousand golf carts. They all can't be running around without insurance.

Some company someplace is doing policies for these people who do this as a business. What is being said in this thread is that no insurance is available anyplace for rental golf carts. That just can't be true. Maybe rental providers need to set up an LLC to manage this issue, but there has to be some way to make this work.

I would imagine this is different because these are companies renting carts, not individuals as is the case with renting a home. They should have some sort of business insurance which is covering/protecting them.

[asianthree]

When we rented from Grandma and Grandpas they told us there was no insurance to cover us in case of an accident.

[buggyone]

To Poster #10 (Ilovetrucks)

I would suggest that IF you found out that information, you publish the entire piece of information or give the name and telephone number of the insurance company that gave you the information.

Basically, with all the insurance companies saying renters are NOT covered by them for golf carts (even with the landlords saying the cart is free to the renter) - it is foolish to include the cart with a home rental - and possibly jeopardize EVERYTHING you have worked for your entire life in case of a lawsuit. JUST NOT WORTH THE RISK.

However, you do what you want.

[GatorFan]

If anyone finds a company please post.

[GatorFan]

One of the major companies is working on the issue. Has to do some filings with the state but rumor is that their current policy is going to offer rental coverage with an additional surcharge.