[gomoho]

Fellow Villagers,

If you rent your home and include your golf cart do you have to get specific insurance for this.

[Mr. Grampi II]

Gomoho: Ask your insurance agent. There are several threads on here that also provide info. I will share my personal experience, for what ever it is worth. I bought a home in June of 2011 and live here part time and the rest of the time up north (Ohio) I bought a cart in June of 2012 , my insurance man in Ohio could not insure my cart. My insurance man for my home in the Villages told me it is not covered by my homeowners insurance. I checked with a lot of fellow Villagers and confirmed that most buy separate coverage for their carts. I insured the golf cart , went with comparable coverage to what other in TV do and it cost me about $120 per year.

My insurance agent told me my cart is not insured if I allow renters to use it. There are a bunch of old threads on here that tell you the same thing. The insurance companies have gotten more risk adverse as the Villages has grown. There are some folks that can allow renters to use their carts because their coverage was in place prior to the changes and they are grandfathered in. Or they do not know the risk or are willing to assume it.

I talked to my lawyer about having renters sign a waiver, he advised me wont hold up in court.

I store my cart when I rent my home, I worked hard my whole life to get to this point and do not want to lose it over a golf cart accident. I am by no means an expert but this is my experience and is based on what the experts have told me .

I hope this helps.

[Kelsie52]

Originally Posted by Mr. Grampi II

Gomoho: Ask your insurance agent. There are several threads on here that also provide info. I will share my personal experience, for what ever it is worth. I bought a home in June of 2011 and live here part time and the rest of the time up north (Ohio) I bought a cart in June of 2012 , my insurance man in Ohio could not insure my cart. My insurance man for my home in the Villages told me it is not covered by my homeowners insurance. I checked with a lot of fellow Villagers and confirmed that most buy separate coverage for their carts. I insured the golf cart , went with comparable coverage to what other in TV do and it cost me about $120 per year.

My insurance agent told me my cart is not insured if I allow renters to use it. There are a bunch of old threads on here that tell you the same thing. The insurance companies have gotten more risk adverse as the Villages has grown. There are some folks that can allow renters to use their carts because their coverage was in place prior to the changes and they are grandfathered in. Or they do not know the risk or are willing to assume it.

I talked to my lawyer about having renters sign a waiver, he advised me wont hold up in court.

I store my cart when I rent my home, I worked hard my whole life to get to this point and do not want to lose it over a golf cart accident. I am by no means an expert but this is my experience and is based on what the experts have told me .

I hope this helps.

I agree that is the info I have received also ..
I purchased a villa for rental and after searching for Cart insurance found that there are no companies (that I found) that will insure a rental property cart.
I think most folks who are including the cart are unaware of this fact .

I too have worked too hard to have my house taken by an accident that could be caused or not caused by my renter ---

I know I have lost several renters due to the non inclusion of the cart --but I think the choice is clear. I give then the names of several cart renters and reduce my rent a bit.

After some research I think the rental companies also have no insurance --but that needs further review.

Good Luck

[gomoho]

Thanks for the info - I kind of expected as much.

[looneycat]

Originally Posted by Kelsie52

I agree that is the info I have received also ..
I purchased a villa for rental and after searching for Cart insurance found that there are no companies (that I found) that will insure a rental property cart.
I think most folks who are including the cart are unaware of this fact .

I too have worked too hard to have my house taken by an accident that could be caused or not caused by my renter ---

I know I have lost several renters due to the non inclusion of the cart --but I think the choice is clear. I give then the names of several cart renters and reduce my rent a bit.

After some research I think the rental companies also have no insurance --but that needs further review.

Good Luck

but the villages includes a cart with lifestyle visits....

[buggyone]

Go on and take your chances with including a golf cart with your rental. It is downright foolish to risk everything for that easier rental - but do what you think is best.

If your insurance company says a waiver will not be enough, it is not a smart idea to go against them.

[Rickg]

Does anyone just leave the cart in the garage and tell renters it is not included?

[Rebel Pirate]

Originally Posted by Rickg

Does anyone just leave the cart in the garage and tell renters it is not included?

Yes. We told our renters that our golf cart would be stored in the garage but not included for their use - cart keys were not left with the renters. When we explained why, they understood and never mentioned finding another rental home that would include use of a cart. We gave them phone numbers for several commercial rental companies and our guests rented a cart from them.

[Kelsie52]

Originally Posted by looneycat

but the villages includes a cart with lifestyle visits....

I have been told by a salesman that they intend to stop that also -- but they have plenty of lawyers to fight claims --and they are most likely self insured

[ilovetv]

Originally Posted by looneycat

but the villages includes a cart with lifestyle visits....

And wisely, they require the lifestyle preview guest to sign an agreement to hold harmless TV and to assume the risks/liability yourself. Dealers do this too. A homeowner is doing no favor by providing the renter a cart that is not insured....in fact it will be a huge disservice if the renter has a wreck with it.

[LatDoc]

This looks like a real opportunity for some insurance company to make a policy that would include renters using a cart when they rent their place...
This is not some vague theory...there are tons of carts...and lots of rental units...someone clever should solve this...IMHO

[l2ridehd]

There are a couple ways to solve this issue. You can form an LLC and transfer ownership of the cart to the LLC and then rent the home from the home owner and with a seperate agreement rent the cart from the LLC. Not perfect, but better then doing nothing.

You can rent the home without the cart and provide names of cart rental places to your tenant. Again not perfect but better then doing nothing.

I believe there is a third way yet not available. A good contract should be able to hold harmless the cart owner. There are many places this works. Think about this recent cruise ship incident. So far there have been over 100 laws suits filed against the cruise ship company. However because of the way they sell their tickets and the "iron clad" language they use, almost every lawyer out there says the cruise ship line will be held harmless. So why can't a golf cart rental contract work the same way?

[ilovetv]

Don't plan on insurance companies trying to make money by insuring golf carts at rental homes here. The insurance companies write policies based on risk.

While we have a separate policy for our own cart that we drive, the agencies here have said they will not write a policy for renters on a cart if you were to supply one with a rental home. They have said it's too high risk with renters from all over the country and from other countries not knowing how to navigate and drive a cart on streets with cars/trucks etc. here.

Knowing how people will sue over any little thing THEY caused, or they will sue to get a settlement for a few thousand just because it costs more than that for the landlord to "lawyer up", it's a bad idea to provide renters a golf cart with no insurance policy available to buy for it. Let them rent one themselves and assume the risks themselves.

[Kelsie52]

Originally Posted by ilovetv

Don't plan on insurance companies trying to make money by insuring golf carts at rental homes here. The insurance companies write policies based on risk.

While we have a separate policy for our own cart that we drive, the agencies here have said they will not write a policy for renters on a cart if you were to supply one with a rental home. They have said it's too high risk with renters from all over the country and from other countries not knowing how to navigate and drive a cart on streets with cars/trucks etc. here.

Knowing how people will sue over any little thing THEY caused, or they will sue to get a settlement for a few thousand just because it costs more than that for the landlord to "lawyer up", it's a bad idea to provide renters a golf cart with no insurance policy available to buy for it. Let them rent one themselves and assume the risks themselves.

I agree 100% --Remember even if you have people sign a hold harmless letter --it does not stop the other person involved in the accident from filing againt the owner of the cart ----you still would need to hire someone to fight it ----