[Maverick46]

Our house is sold, our settlement date is August 31. We have rented a home for 2 months and will be arriving on September 1 to begin our new life in the Villages.

We do have friends there, we have visited many times over the years, but this is different, this is our turn.

I have already read a lot of the threads in this newby forum as well as pertinent threads in other forums on here and have gleaned a ton of information. Some of it is very helpful and we appreciate that. It's nice to know that there are voices out there for our questions.

One of the contradictions I've noticed surrounds the rental of a golf cart. Some folks say yes, get one right away, others say to hold off, being new to the Villages and trying to navigate your way around in a golf cart can be dangerous. Never one to shy away from danger, my first instinct was to throw caution to the wind and go ahead and rent one. I thought I'd get some advice before doing that.

Should we hold off on the golf cart until we are familiar with the proper way to drive one around TV?

Also, if we were to rent one, where is the best place to go to make that happen.

Thanks so much, looking forward to getting down there. So as not to complicate things, I'll ask my other questions later.

Vince

[BRN_RI_FL]

I say rent one right away. Learn by doing. It's not that difficult. You can take shorter excursions at first. I should say we just closed on June 30 and will be part-time Villagers. We did the lifestyle visit a couple months ago which comes with the use of a golf cart. I was a little nervous at first and didn't drive it any long distances mostly from Alden Bungalows to Brownwood. Our second visit when we bought about a month ago we rented a cart at Sumter Landing and drove from there to the most northern part of the Villages, Phillips Villas, where we bought. We drove from there to Spanish Springs and then back to Sumter. I had one driver in a car yell that I had left my blinker on which is a mistake I made often. Rent one. Buy one.. You'll be fine.

[BRN_RI_FL]

I'm not sure what the long term rental rates are but the daily rate at Sumter was $25 including a full tank of gas which I thought was pretty reasonable. I'm planning on buying one (Yamaha gas) when we get back there in mid August for an extended stay.

[thelegges]

I would was it t o buy a cart after you purchacss a home. As for being dangerous our oldest does not like driving a cart, the rest loved it. It's a personal preference. Rent a two seat gas for a week, try a four seat gas and then rent an electric. Gives you an idea of each.

[jmvalcq]

If you plan to be here long term look at buying a gas Yamaha EFI. If you have a smart phone down load the villages app because it's gps works both on the roadways and cart paths.

[jnieman]

I say wait until you are here a couple of weeks to get the feel for the place. Definitely download the Villages Golfcart GPS on your phone. It even talks to you, if you have a smart phone. We like our gas cart. It's a Yamaha 7 years old with 17,000 miles and still going strong and looks like new. The only maintenance so far has been about $400 total. Not bad for 7 years of pleasure. We did spring for the expensive luxury seats (worth every penny). We spend a lot of time in our golf cart and it was the smartest purchase we made.

[villagetinker]

Do not forget insurance for the golf cart.

[Wiotte]

Originally Posted by Maverick46

Our house is sold, our settlement date is August 31. We have rented a home for 2 months and will be arriving on September 1 to begin our new life in the Villages.



We do have friends there, we have visited many times over the years, but this is different, this is our turn.



I have already read a lot of the threads in this newby forum as well as pertinent threads in other forums on here and have gleaned a ton of information. Some of it is very helpful and we appreciate that. It's nice to know that there are voices out there for our questions.



One of the contradictions I've noticed surrounds the rental of a golf cart. Some folks say yes, get one right away, others say to hold off, being new to the Villages and trying to navigate your way around in a golf cart can be dangerous. Never one to shy away from danger, my first instinct was to throw caution to the wind and go ahead and rent one. I thought I'd get some advice before doing that.



Should we hold off on the golf cart until we are familiar with the proper way to drive one around TV?



Also, if we were to rent one, where is the best place to go to make that happen.



Thanks so much, looking forward to getting down there. So as not to complicate things, I'll ask my other questions later.



Vince

Much ado about nothing new Villager. The only way to see up close the true beauty here is by way of the golf car. Always drive defensively and you'll be fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jeriteri]

60 days rental x 25.00 = $1500.00 I think I would put that toward a purchase of a cart seeing your going to live here now.

[Bay Kid]

The best way to learn The Villages is by golf cart. A cart is a MUST!

[Maverick46]

Originally Posted by jnieman

I say wait until you are here a couple of weeks to get the feel for the place. Definitely download the Villages Golfcart GPS on your phone. It even talks to you, if you have a smart phone. We like our gas cart. It's a Yamaha 7 years old with 17,000 miles and still going strong and looks like new. The only maintenance so far has been about $400 total. Not bad for 7 years of pleasure. We did spring for the expensive luxury seats (worth every penny). We spend a lot of time in our golf cart and it was the smartest purchase we made.

Wow, 17,000 miles. That's a lot of cart driving in 7 years-I did not realize that you would be spending that much time driving a golf cart. We're so used to using our cars for everything.

I was leaning toward an electric cart, but after thinking about the size of the Villages and the distances we may have to drive to visit friends and such, I guess a gas powered cart makes more sense. It would be embarrassing to drive somewhere and then not have enough power to make it home.

Does AAA make service calls for our golf carts?

Thanks.

[bgnn54]

You'll find very quickly that you'll be using your golf cart for about everything. It was my first winter at TV last year, a snowbird from Maine. I only put 200 miles on my Caddy in 6 months. Take your time look around, used carts in very good condition go for ~ 5 K. Enjoy TV I can't wait to get back in October. Most of the full timers advised me go with gas, which I did. I only used about 12 gallons of gas in 6 months !

[Henryk]

Originally Posted by thelegges

I would was it t o buy a cart after you purchacss a home. As for being dangerous our oldest does not like driving a cart, the rest loved it. It's a personal preference. Rent a two seat gas for a week, try a four seat gas and then rent an electric. Gives you an idea of each.

What an excellent idea!

After you've test-driven the three, I'd say buy right away. I have a Yamaha gas 2-seat that I love. I put about 100 miles a month on it. I fill the gas tank about every two or three months for ten bucks (how can you beat that?). Find the off-road cart paths. You can go a good distance safe from traffic.

[Henryk]

Oh, and DO get the most expensive seat possible. (And seatbelts.) You'll be very glad for the extra comfort--cart seats are hard plastic and bad for the back IMHO.

[JerryLBell]

We were convinced long before we moved here that a golf cart is a must for living here. Having been here for all of five months now, I'm convinced that is right. One of the best things you can do once you get here is take one of the free golf cart safety courses that are put on monthly or so. I believe they are sponsored by The Villages Insurance (I could be wrong on that) but we got NO sales pressure from them.

The big decisions you have to make are:

* Gas or Electric (this is practically a religious argument here, but the vast majority of folks here seem to buy gas)
* New or used (new is more expensive and takes several weeks to get but does include warranty and the latest features)
* What additional features do you want (I strongly recommend seat belts, head, tail-light & side lights and rear-view mirrors, none legally required)
* Basic, customized or super-duper customized (applies to new ones only)

Just looking at the carts parked at the squares during one of our visits, I estimated more than three quarters were Yamaha gas. I've often seen 10-year-old Yamaha gas offered for sale and still commanding decent money. So we went with Yamaha. I'm not super mechanically inclined so I wouldn't know what to look for in a used cart to know if it's in good shape or not so we went with a new cart. I made sure the features I mentioned above were included. I'm not into spending a fortune on getting a cart that looks like a Model T, a Mustang, a Porsche or a semi-truck (though I get a kick out of seeing them) so I went pretty basic on the cart itself, not even getting a custom paint job. The big splurge for us was the seating upgrade that made the cart a LOT more comfortable to ride plus allowed my shorter wife to adjust the seat way forward to be able to reach the pedals without Velcro-strapped extender blocks on them. The one thing I did not get was a speedometer and I'm planning on rectifying that soon as I'd like to keep track of how many miles I'm putting on it. I'm not worried about the speed as mine is set to go no faster than the 20 mph speed limit on golf carts.

Before retiring and moving here, I actually had dreams of riding around in my golf cart. Now I'm living the dream. I still get the biggest kick out of running up to one of the squares or going to the gym in my golf cart.