Posted by My neighbor drove his golf cart to the grocery store every week for two years. Same route, same cart, same assumption that everything was fine. Then someone ran a stop sign and T-boned him three blocks from home. The impact broke his wrist and destroyed the cart.
When he called his homeowners’ insurance to file a claim, the conversation did not go the way he expected. His policy, it turned out, explicitly excluded coverage for vehicles driven on public roads. That was a twelve-thousand-dollar lesson he never planned on teaching.
And suddenly our whole neighborhood started asking questions about golf cart insurance, which we had never thought to ask before. Golf carts exist in this strange middle ground. They are not cars, obviously. But they are also more than lawn equipment or recreational toys. And that ambiguity causes real problems when people assume they are already covered.
I remember standing in his driveway while he told me the story, shaking his head at the invoice in his hand. He kept saying, “I just thought I was fine.” I think most of us would think the same thing. So, when do you actually need golf cart insurance? The answer depends on where you live, how you use your cart, and what risks you are willing to carry yourself.
If you have ever wondered whether your homeowners’ policy has your back when you take the cart to a neighbor’s cookout or down the road for ice cream, you are not alone. The truth is that most people do not find out what their insurance covers until after something goes wrong. And that is exactly why understanding golf cart insurance requirements ahead of time can save you from a very expensive surprise.
Let us start with the legal side because it is more complicated than you might expect. Arizona requires golf cart insurance with the same minimum liability limits as regular vehicles. Florida takes a different approach: no insurance required for standard carts, but the moment your cart exceeds twenty miles per hour, you need coverage.
Some states have no insurance requirements at all for carts used exclusively on private property. And then you have local governments and homeowner associations adding their own layers. I have seen HOAs require not just insurance but also that they be listed as additional insured on the policy. So the answer to “do I need insurance” is often “it depends on whose road you are driving on and what your association says.
The good news is that golf cart insurance is not particularly expensive. Liability-only coverage can start around seventy-five dollars per year. If you want comprehensive protection, you are looking at somewhere between four hundred and one thousand dollars annually. Compared to auto insurance, those numbers feel almost too small to be real. But that modest premium buys protection against some genuinely devastating financial losses.
I used to think homeowners’ insurance filled this gap. And sometimes it does, but only in very narrow ways. A standard homeowners policy might cover your golf cart while it sits in your garage or while you drive it across your own lawn. But take it onto a public road, and that coverage evaporates. That is the exact moment you actually need protection.
My neighbor found that out the hard way, and I decided I was not going to make the same mistake. A standalone golf cart insurance policy works a lot like auto insurance. Liability coverage pays for injuries or property damage you cause to someone else. Collision coverage repairs or replaces your car after an accident. Comprehensive covers theft, vandalism, fire, and weather damage.
You can add medical payments coverage for you and your passengers. Uninsured motorist coverage protects you if someone without adequate insurance hits you. These are not exotic coverages. They are just tailored specifically to how golf carts actually get used. Whether you need all of this comes down to a few honest questions.
How often do you drive? Where do you go? What is your cart worth? If you only take it out occasionally on the course, your risk is minimal. But if you use it weekly in your neighborhood or on public roads, the exposure grows significantly. A new golf cart costs seven to nine thousand dollars. That is a lot of money to replace out of pocket because you assumed you were covered when you were not.
Some people assume auto insurance covers golf carts. It does not. You cannot just add a golf cart to your car policy. It requires a separate specialized policy designed for vehicles that are not quite cars but absolutely need protection. I now carry comprehensive golf cart insurance that costs me about ninety dollars a year.
After watching my neighbor go through his accident and the aftermath, that feels like one of the best values I have. The peace of mind is genuine. Every time I drive to the mailbox or over to a friend’s house, I am not wondering what would happen if something went wrong. I already know. Golf cart accidents are low-probability events. But when they happen, the impact is high. And in my experience, the best insurance decisions are made long before you ever need to use them.
References
Progressive. Golf Cart Insurance: Get a Quote Online.
Insurance.com. (2025). Golf cart insurance: Coverage, costs, and when you need it. https://www.insurance.com/other-insurance/golf-cart-insurance.html
Progressive. (2025). What Does Golf Cart Insurance Cover? https://www.progressive.com/answers/what-does-golf-cart-insurance-cover/
ValuePenguin. (2025). Golf Cart Insurance: Do You Need It and What Does It Cover? https://www.valuepenguin.com/golf-cart-insurance-basics