"Restored" or "Rebuilt" Golf Cart: What Does That Mean?

You see it all over the place, “custom built, rebuilt, restored, refurbished golf cart”, but what do any of these terms really mean? Well to figure that out, we have to take quick step back.

January 1st, 2017, golf cart’s were officially allowed on Ohio roadways, including many other states. (Except most of Michigan, sorry guys). Due to this law change, the demand for golf carts SKY ROCKETED. Everybody and their brother wanted a golf cart as their new toy, but people don’t want just normal looking golf cart, they want a golf cart with a cool paint job, rims, backseat, lights, and a sound system. Well this is an issue because changing the exterior parts on a golf cart is the easiest part of actually restoring a golf cart. 

If you have some skill with tools, I could teach you how to change the body, seats, and rims on a golf cart in just a few hours. Why? Because it's not that difficult. What's difficult is spending hundreds of dollars in labor and parts making sure the golf cart actually runs like it's brand new, and looks like it's brand new from the frame to the engine. But, since a real restoration is more difficult and more expensive, thousands of golf carts are being sold that look sharp on the outside, but look and run terribly on the inside.

This issue in the "golf cart world" we live in, is what keeps all of us here at BA Cart's up at night.

The majority of golf cart’s purchased since Jan 1st, 2017, is the customer's first golf cart. So they don’t know what questions to ask, what to look for, or what is right or wrong with a golf cart mechanically. Fast forward to the present, November of 2019, thousands of people have bought awesome looking carts, that barely run or don’t run at all.

I started noticing this issue in our industry the last two summers because we had more golf cart's in our shop to fix that looked brand new, then we did carts that looked used and abused. This past summer alone, hundreds of people pulled into our parking lot with a golf cart on their trailer, embarrassed and upset because they had just bought a custom golf cart that stopped running after a few hours of use. We would then recognize them because they had been in our showroom before but bought a golf cart elsewhere because it was cheaper. We would then politely grin at them, make a joke like "was it worth it", and then make their golf cart run like new. 

One story that I like to tell to our customers is about buying a classic car. 

Let's say you were buying a 1969 Shelby Mustang from Bob and you agreed on $100,000. However, Bob tells you just before you pay him “yeah I only refurbished the exterior and interior of the car, it doesn't actually run, it's missing engine parts, and none of the electrical components work". Would you still buy that car for $100,000????!!! 

HECK NO YOU WOULDN'T!!

So why would you buy a pre-owned golf cart for $7,000 that is aimlessly restored, when you can buy a pre-owned golf cart for $7,500 that's meticulously restored from tire to top. 

I understand a golf cart is no 69 Shelby Mustang, but we take golf carts seriously here at BA Carts, and if you are in the market for a golf cart, you should take them seriously too.

This problem in our industry is why we at BA Cart’s harp on our “BA Cart’s Restoration Process” because we actually “restore” golf carts inside and out. When we rebuild a golf cart, our FIRST priority is to make the cart’s mechanical components work perfectly, whether that means, tuning, replacing parts, fixing parts, we do whatever we have to, to make sure the cart runs like a champ. Once the cart runs like it’s new, we install the fun stuff like the body, rims, lights, etc.

I foresee this problem growing over the next few years but eventually it will fade because customers will only grow smarter, and golf cart builders that take pride in their work will weed out the mediocre custom built golf carts. 

Sloan Whitaker
BA Carts