Because they would take it to a dealer who could tell whether or not it had been altered to increase the speed. This is according to the Allstate agent. The insurance company is not concerned about whether you DID go that speed, but whether you COULD go that speed. Altering the vehicle gives them an out on paying the claim.

Here's what I think of that: I've been reading about serious golf cart injuries over the past three years on this site and the overwhelming majority are where someone has been thrown out of the cart. I can only remember 1 roll over where there was serious injury.

Give me belts!

These are real world results that we read about in our hometown. If you have real world examples of roll over where people are crushed I'd like to see it.


Remember this: This is the same type of government crap from the same type of people that don't mandate seat belts in school buses!

Wouldn't it be an interesting twist if insurance underwriters are using this forum on speeding to identify likely scofflaws so that they can charge higher premiums or deny future claims?

Careful...you might give the police department another idea .....A Lawn mower permit !!! Am I allowed to run faster then 15 mph ?

They never said you could NOT have seat belts. They simply explained the reason that the manufacturers do not include them as standard equipment.

Please don't shoot the messenger. I am only reporting what was said at the safety seminar. Like it or not, this is the way it is. If you want seat belts, by all means put some in. I doubt they will ticket you for doing so.

As to where you get your statistics from, this forum is not the best place. Check with the police and they can give you some accurate information.

Haven't read the policy (I'm a former auto claims adjuster, but my policy has been physically moved to the Villages, and I'm still in Ohio), but my guess is that claims will be denied if the golf cart does not meet the DEFINITION of a golf cart as delineated in the policy.

Coverage is the first thing a claims adjuster is supposed to look at, including definitions. That is why is wouldn't matter how fast the vehicle was actually going (which probably isn't provable anyway).

Someone will probably chip in and say that their claim was paid even though their cart was altered to go 25 mph - well, guess what, might depend on how good or well-trained the adjuster was who handled the claim.

I agree with Ohiogirl, and what she says about insurance is pretty much what the Allstate agent said at the safety seminar. I think the bottom line is that one can do as one pleases. Pay someone to illegally alter your cart to go faster. According to the police it isn't illegal for them to alter the cart, but it is illegal for you to drive it after they do. Strange, huh? But do so with the knowledge that you may end up in some big time financial difficulties if you choose to do so because your insurance may be useless.

We all have the right to question any law and complain about it. I do it all the time. But I just don't have it in me to go out and break the law just because I disagree with it.

As far as Villagers getting caught speeding, I sympathize with them. A lot of them have carts they bought not knowing they were altered. We rented a house when we first got here. It came with a Yamaha gas cart. It was the first time we had driven a gas golf cart, and I noticed I was constantly tailgating people with it, so we took our gps out one day and checked the speed. It was doing 27mph. I don't know what would have happened if we were caught with it, and we can argue from now on who would be responsible. It was definitely insured as a golf cart. The owner required us to buy our own insurance before he agreed to leave it with the rental. We could possibly have been in all kinds of legal trouble if we had been involved in an accident. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has done this, since there are many rentals in TV that include the cart.

When we rented out our CYV after we bought and included a golf cart, I checked with our Allstate agent to make sure the coverage transferred to the tenant and I also had a separate lease for the golfcart - didn't charge extra for the cart, but the lease made the tenant responsible for any damages beyond the coverage on our policy. It also stated no more than 2 people, etc. Glad I never had to test it by making a claim.

Never had our speed tested, nor did we have a GPS at the time, but I could tell it wasn't altered because we were/are constantly being passed on the paths. I do know it went quite a bit faster than the carts the Villages provided for the Lifestyle program, as I had a friend who stayed there and we pulled well away everytime they followed us somewhere. Those were practically the only carts we ever passed.

Even in our slow cart, there are many places (especially curves into and out of tunnels - and of course, the Morse Rd bridge over Lake Sumter) where we slow quite a bit to feel safe. And frequently another cart would tailgate scarily when we did this.

Plus, even on a straightaway, it's pretty scary when an oncoming cart is racing toward you, has mirrors that extend outward and maybe a knee sticking outside the cart. I personally think they should make those mirrors illegal. We added an extra mirror on the driver's side but it doesn't stick out of the cart - the middle mirror (convex) does the job, but as a car driver we are so used to looking left we just feel safer.

We plan to get seatbelts in our 2nd cart (a 4 seater that we will for sure use when the grandkids are visiting. If we like them, may add to our other cart. I'm a little worried the buckle part will get really really hot when left parked somewhere.

Hoping you mean "I constantly COULD HAVE tailgated people with it".

I shouldn't have to explain this, but what I meant was that I was constantly catching up to others and having to either pass or back off. Of course I didn't stay right on their tail. I'm sorry my choice of words offended you. If you haven't noticed, it's a lot like when you drive a car and you are going faster than the one in front of you. You catch up and either pass or back off.

Did I say anything else that someone can take offense at? This is the 2nd time in this thread that something I have said has been questioned. If so, let me know and I will attempt to straighten out what I meant. It's kind of difficult to say everything in a post without making it so long that it starts getting boring.

I figured that is what you meant and were not saying you tailgate. I saw your word slip and poorly articulated how much I hate being tailgated. Sometimes when I write a post I think I am being funny or toungue in cheek and I fail. Sorry.

Alan

I, too, am sorry. An earlier post was obviously misread or not read well and it seems conclusions were jumped to, so when you posted it kind of irritated me. One of the problems with a forum like this is that you aren't face to face having a conversation and intentions and meaning can get misconstrued.

If anyone is concerned about their golf cart being too fast or being altered, the Lady Lake policeman at the safety seminar said to look him up at Spanish Springs town square on Sunday evenings (he said he was too busy keeping track of juveniles Fridays and Saturdays) and he will be glad to go to the parking lot and use his radar gun to determine your speed. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, he also said that he will NOT give a ticket if your cart is too fast, but he would advise you as to your best options if it is. I thought it was nice of him to offer since many Villagers have carts that are too fast and don't know it and are therefore in danger of being ticketed for it.

Good job working through that, guys......seriously! Nobody's going away in a huff or with misunderstandings.

Bill

I would like to ask again my question from yesterday again, I would be interested to know if anyone has a golf cart policy issued through Allstate what does it state about speed, I would think it has to be stated in the policy document...gn

golfnut - it wouldn't need to say anything about speed - if the definition of a "golf cart" or "insured vehicle" on the golf cart policy can be interpreted as one going under 20 mph (since that is how golf carts are designed, or assumed to be designed) or anything similar, then it doesn't meet the definition of the insured vehicle. It wouldn't NEED to say anything about speed as they are not designed to go more than 20 mph.

It may or may not have been tested in court (since this is Florida, I'm betting it has been) but if the Allstate spokesperson said they test for speed then it appears they are being denied.

Quoting from my Allstate policy:

We may deny coverage if you or an insured person have knowingly concealed or misrepresented any material fact or circumstance.

The premium for each off-road vehicle is based on information we have received from you or other sources. You agree to cooperate with us in determining if this information is correct, if it is complete, and if it changes during the policy period. You agree that if this information changes or is incorrect, we may adjust your premium accordingly or take other appropriate action.

It seems that if you insure it as an off-road vehicle, it must comply with the state of Florida's definition of an off-road golf cart. According to the police dept. that means 20mph or less. If it has been altered to go faster, I think we can assume the insurance company is not going to cover anything. This would mean that even if you never go over the speed limit and are involved in an accident with an altered golf cart, your insurance company won't pay any claims. At least that's the way I read it.

What it boils down to as far as I am concerned is that it just ain't worth it. Look up the 56 people who were caught in Sumter county over the last couple of months and ask them if it was worth it to them.

We were specifically asked if the cart went under 20 miles an hour when we purchased our insurance.

For what it's worth, I have a Polaris Breeze and it came with seat belts, front and rear. Also it seems that the supports for the roof are stronger that most.
Bob

The info wasn't necessarily from this forum. From time to time someone will post a link to a story about a cart accident.

I didn't have any issue with you being the messenger either. I was just stating my opinion about seat belts in carts. This is a forum, that is what we do:). I apologize if it seemed personal.

I don't have an Allstate policy . However my policy is clear on the subject. I am not going to dig it out but it says, in essence, that tampering or changing factory settings and/or specifications will void the policy. If I were to replace the motor it would have to be the same as the original equipment. Replacing the 8" tires with 10" tires would be in clear violation of the terms of the policy. Adjusting governors, changing gear ratios, etc., etc, will also violate the he terms of the policy.

I am probably repeating someone else but the policy does not have to spell that out. The insurer is insuring a golf cart. When it is altered to exceed 20 MPH it is no longer a golf cart but an unregistered motor vehicle.

Insurance companies do not like paying claims. That is one reason for adjusters. They are going to examine a cart that has been in an accident, regardless of fault. And if they can find cause to void the policy and return the premium instead of paying a claim not only will they do it, they are obligated to do it

I was also at the golf cart safety meeting. The Sumter County Sheriff who was present stated that the only tickets given out in the past couple weeks were for speeding carts were ones clocked going 25 mph or more. Warnings were given for carts clocked at 21-24 miles per hour. Some of the tickets were given to drivers in LSV's that were not registered which according to law enforcement at meeting is required by Florida law. Someone asked if you use LSV as a golf cart do you have to register and insure as auto. Answer by law enforcement was that an LSV is always an LSV and required by law to be registered insured and a valid license plate.

A gentlemen from Cart World said that an altered golf cart has more hp than manufactured golf cart. He also stated that Cart World has been asked in the past to determine speed of cart after accidents.

Good info,aaffmom.

I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forum.

Ditto. Thanks for the post, aaffmom!

Bill

I don’t know where these ‘officials’ are getting their information from but a roll bar is absolutely not a requirement of Florida law for classification as an LSV/NEV. And few of the current LSV manufacturers provide them. In fact, my Tomberlin LSV comes close to it but they call it tip over bars designed to help prevent the cart from actually rolling over onto its roof.

Secondly, the golf cart manufacturers don’t include safety belts for their carts because it would increase the cost and they would get laughed out of the industry. I mean, what golfer is going to buckle and unbuckle themselves 100 times in a round of golf.

And I agree with RussBoston that there are few true complete rollover accidents with golf carts. Just go to YouTube and search for golf cart crash and you’ll see lots of tipovers, but nary a rollover.

It did seem personal. As I said in a previous post, that's the one problem with e-communication. In a face-to-face conversation we can easily understand what the other person means. It's easy to misunderstand when reading it in a forum such as this. I apologize for jumping to conclusions (a flaw my wife constantly reminds me of).

The Sumter county police officer at the safety seminar said they have about 1 accident per month with golf carts, and most of them require an airlift. He said there are usually 2 types of injuries. One is from being thrown out of the cart because the driver took a turn too fast and the other usually is the result of curbing one of the front tires, causing the cart to flip over. If you hit a curb while driving flat out at around 20mph, it causes the cart to swing sideways and flip over. Seat belts would help in the first but could cause more severe injuries in the second. He also said the best thing for us to do when driving a cart is not get tanked up at the squares and then drive home in our carts, which is when most of the accidents tend to happen.

Take a look at this news report:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enoYM6QgGoo[/ame]

And here’s a bunch of golf cart crash videos with lots of knuckleheads doing stupid things. Most of the crashes resulted in the cart flipping onto its side.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...olf+cart+crash

EdVinMass .... thank you for taking the time to research this video and posting it. It should be "required viewing" by every resident here who hands over the keys to an unlicensed child on a visit. As the mother in the video states "You're not supposed to visit your child in a cemetery because you let her ride a golf cart". Sad!

Safety? The reporter is driving on the wrong side of the road!

EdVin - Thanks for the post. Pretty sobering......

Bill

Just curious Russ, is the Polaris Breeze sold as a golf cart or an LSV?

Golf carts
 

all Polaris Breeze are sold as golf carts.

I just looked up the Polaris Breeze on line. The brochure states the SL model's max speed is 24 miles per hours. The other two models max speed is 19.6.

How would they know?
 

Golf carts do not have Speedometers and are not required to have them. How would a driver know especially if he is not use to driving a golf cart on the roads? The cart paths you can go what ever speed you want.

Remember it is not about safety
 

You get your ticket and drive your cart away the same cart so it is not safety related. They just didn't collect their money for a registered cart. The registered cart can still do 25 MPH and if they hit you look out. They drive on the same cart paths you do. They have seat belts to protect them not you. A registered golf cart or a regular golf cart going 20+ miles per hour hits you at least the registered person is better protected.

You can put belts in any cart regardless of street legal status.

I think you are going to start finding more street legal carts which just mean they have paid a Registration Fee to pass you. Kind of a neat idea.

Might be a good idea for the roads, but I hope peeps don't start buckling up between golf shots. Talk about slow play! :laugh:

I agree with that pt.............

Seat belts are not required either, but are optional, as are speedometers. If an operator cannot tell they are exceeding the 20 mph limit, they should get one. There are many ways to tell if you are going to fast: relationship to other cart traffic, wind noise, and how your cart handles. It does not take long to learn these tell-tale signs.

We attached the wife's GPS to the windshield the other day and it seems to work fine. Are GPS's a reliable gauge?