you are exactly where I was 4 years ago, except that I had pretty much made the decision that I would be spending at least 3 or 4 months per year in TV. DW and I had not decided yet to buy a place, because we had not decided if we'd be here the 6 or 7 months/year that tipped the scales decidedly towards the financial sense of buying vs. renting.

I figured that if I bought, and decided a few years later this wasn't for me, I'd sell the cart, and the difference in cost probably wouldn't be any worse than renting a cart multiple times. If you are only here for a couple of weeks, you are probably better off, (safer financially, anyway) by just foregoing the "cart experience" associated with being in TV. Which is a shame, because it is, IMO, a really fun part of being here.

I never did a TV sponsored "Lifestyle Visit". I wonder how they handle it. I've always assumed that the "Lifestylers" have a cart at their disposal so they would get the full feel of the lifestyle, and be ever thus more inclined to drink the Kool-Aid.

When we first bought we rented our place out. Bought progressive insurance online and I could list our renter on the insurance policy. That way we were all covered

On a lifestyle visit TV makes you sign a liability waiver. You assume all responsibility for driving the cart.

that's interesting. I hadn't really thought about it until I got into this thread. I was thinking that with all of the financial clout the developer has, and their interest in promoting TV, they'd have found a way to insure the lifestylers, just to avoid that one sliver of negativity.

This is because you do not own the cart.
I would never rent from someone who does not insure their cart.

Check with your insurer. We are covered by USAA and I had the same question. USAA's coverage extends to rented or borrowed vehicles, and they have a list of the types of vehicles coverage is extended to...among other types (RVs, small moving vans, etc), "golf carts" and other low speed vehicles. As long as you are borrowing or renting within the USA, you would be covered according to their phone representative. I'm sure every company is different, so definitely call yours...

I'm not surprised to hear that USAA covers this. They are a great company. Unfortunately for many of us, they won't insure us because their focus is military personnel. I have a pile driven dock on a lake in NY State. There is some risk of ice damage in harsh winters. The only people I know who were able to get coverage against ice damage are retired military, through USAA.

Ask your Credit Card provider. They insure rented cars all the time.

We rented our first few months in the Villages and a cart was included in the rental. However, the landlord had us sign a rider that said we were responsible for any accident involving the cart. It sounded like if we were at a light and were rear-ended that we would be responsible for the damage to his cart!

I spent several days trying to get insurance on the rental and couldn’t get it because I didn’t own it. I asked the landlord to insure it and told him that I would pay for the three months of coverage. It was under $200 a year. After I moved out, I told him he could charge his other tenants for the insurance coverage so it wouldn’t cost him a penny. He refused to take out the policy so we didn’t use the cart the entire three months.

Some winters when I’m away I rent out my home , I don’t own a golf cart , but I didn’t even want a rental in my garage , liability always concerned me , so I always said no carts , but in a few of my homes they did get a nice golf course view .

We have a pile driven dock as well. We have a replacement value clause on the homeowners insurance via Erie for this purpose.

^ This sounds like an outstanding solution. As long as there is a spoken, non-binding understanding (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) that the renters always intend to find the golf cart unsatisfactory by the end of the rental period and they don't ACTUALLY try to buy it.

Here's a discussion from five years ago. Seems like nothing has been resolved!

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...enters-253270/