The thought of owning a golf cart is probably one of the most exciting ones for any passionate leisure golfer. There is just one problem (or should I say 5 problems) that golf cart manufacturers tend to neglect to tell you about, before luring you into handing over your hard earned cash. It is therefore in your best interest read this whole article in which I will shine some light on the hidden expenses that come along with owning a golf cart.

Now, before I share this highly secretive and most sensitive information, I would like to address one important question you might have. “Why would you, a golf cart manufacturing company, share these hidden costs?” The answer is simple. Tadhole as a company aims to improve the golfing experience of our family members. This is just one way of doing exactly that! By helping you make an informed decision when it comes to buying a golf cart, we feel that we are making a difference in the golfing community in a way that benefits our Tadhole family members without dumping them in a financial crisis by taking their money on every single way imaginable. All we ask in exchange for this classified information is the chance to be able to make a continuous difference in your golfing experience, by sending you information like this, and much more on a regular basis.

Well then, without further ado, let’s get into the type of information that made you open this article in the first place!

Please bear in mind while reading this information, that it is purely based on our personal research and experience, and does not contain any official information from any of the golf cart manufacturers mentioned or assumed in this article.

Finally, here follows the 5 cash devouring expenses golf cart manufacturers ‘forget’ to tell you about:

1. Firstly, Energy is NOT plucked from thin air!

Whether you’re planning to buy a gas or electric driven golf cart, the cart will need some sort of energy to be propelled!

Let’s discuss the fuel carts first. The monthly climbing fuel prices makes this is an extremely important expense to keep in mind. Adding a few bucks to your round of golf every time you play, after having paid a proper amount to get hold of the cart in the first place, can quite quickly add up to escalate your golfing bills to new heights. Bearing in mind that fuel propelled carts are generally more expensive to start with, this is a hefty blow to the reputation of all emission producing fuel carts out there.

Although the previous paragraph may already have been obvious to most people, it is with the electric cart that this hidden expense is commonly overlooked.

Now for argument’s sake, let’s look at one of the more common 2 seater golf cart configurations out there: The 48V, 70Ah battery system used in a well-known 2 seater cart on the market requires around 6.6 kWh of electricity to be fully charged after use. The cost of this would vary depending on the price of electricity in your country. The average cost in the US would be around $0.87 per charge(1). This may not seem like a lot, but simply overlooking this expense, will end up costing you a whopping $870.54 (R13 000) more than expected over the course of the lifetime of the battery. Quite the appetizer to kick off a list like this, isn’t it?

2. Golf carts do NOT MAINTAIN themselves!

Okay, I know you are probably burning to tell me that your brand new golf cart came with a maintenance plan of a few years, but hear me out! Even if you are one of the privileged people that can afford a brand new golf cart, there are still some hidden costs lining up to bombard you in the near future. If you have the opportunity to take out a maintenance plan on your new cart, you are more likely than not paying a monthly fee to make this possible, but let’s leave that out of the picture for now. Consumable components on the cart are typically not covered by any form of maintenance plan or warranty. Some of these would include the replacement of worn out tyres and batteries (typically every 2-3 years). With a replacement set of tyres costing $200 to $500(2) (Depending on the quality) and proper batteries anything between $1 300 and $1 700, just maintaining these two components already adds an astonishing $1 500 to $2 200(3) (R22 500 to R33 000) to your list of expenses over the course of three years! If you are willing to pay the extra amount in the beginning to buy an emission and noise causing, fuel driven cart, you may sidestep the enormous battery cost. Just bear in mind that you would then have a combustion engine to maintain in return!

3. Storage space is scarce!

If you are in the privileged position to already have a parking in your garage that you don’t use, then this is no concern of yours and you can gladly skip to the next point. However, most people nowadays that are looking to buy their first golf cart do not have this luxury. In general, you do not want to leave a possession that cost you upwards of $9 000 outside where it is exposed to all the weather elements.

So where does this leave you as a potential golf cart owner? Well, the sensible choice would be to make a plan to keep your golf cart in a safe place. Depending on how much you care for your cart, you can either have a carport installed somewhere in your yard, or build an additional golf cart garage (which seems to become more and more popular). Although this sounds extremely nice and luxurious, it does not come without a price! To set up a place to store your golf cart can cost you anything between $6 00 (R9 000) (for a cheap carport)(4)and $10 000 (R50 000 in SA)(5) (For a nice little garage).

4. Golf carts are NOT ROADWORTHY!

So what? Why does this even make the list? Well, that means you can’t always drive the cart to where you want to play golf. This is the origin of the fourth forgotten cost on the list. TRANSPORTING THE CART! The traditional golf cart weighs upward of 1 000lbs (450kg), meaning the only way to transport it would be with a flatbed trailer. Now the good news is that a second-hand trailer will do the job just fine. The less good news is that would set you back another $1 000 (R15 000) or more! A new Trailer would cost anything between $1 100 (R16 500) and $2 000 (R30 000)(6) depending on the quality you want. Definitely something to think about and consider before purchasing a cart of your own!

5. Insurance is a monthly expense!

So this one is quite variable, but definitely needed! The cost of your insurance may depend on the value of the cart you bought, where and how you store it, how often you use it, where you use it and a lot more! For this reason, I have decided to mention this expense in the list, but not to put a specific value on what your monthly cost would be. The point is that it is something you need to enquire about and do some proper homework on before blindly pulling the trigger on the purchase of your shiny new golf cart!

These 5 ‘forgotten’ expenses may seem obvious to you once you read it, but they are often overlooked by new golf cart buyers, and sometimes even by experienced ones. This is exactly the reason I have decided to put all these expenses in one write up, to ensure that no potential or existing golf cart owner ever blindly pulls the trigger ever again!

But if I am not mistaken, I promised you a BONUS expense right? Well, since the Tadhole team pride us on making good on our promises it is with pleasure that I share the bonus point of interest with you right away! So here it is:

BONUS: Depreciation creeps up on you!

Oh yes! What is a list of hidden expenses without depreciation right? Now let’s just clear up one thing straight away. When something loses value, it is costing you money. Although not directly hurting the cash flow, it will be something that you need to keep in mind for the future! Golf carts in general do not depreciate as much as normal cars, but it still loses on average close to 10% of its value per year.(7)

So let’s say you bought a brand new 2 seater golf cart from one of the leading manufacturers, and you paid around $10 000 (R150 000). By the end of year 1, you will have lost $1 000 (R15 000) on the value of your cart! If you extend these calculations over the course of 3 years, you will end up losing $22 650 (R40 650) on your cart!

Although I said earlier that this is not really hurting the immediate cash flow that much, you have to add this to the rest of the expenses in order to have a proper idea of what you are actually paying for your golf cart and the experience of playing golf with a cart!

The result of all these expenses is quite astonishing. Let’s take a look at what all these hidden expenses add up to over the course of the first three years:

1. Electricity/Fuel – $870+ (R13 050+)
2. Maintenance – $1 500 to $2 200 (R 22 500 to R33 000)
3. Storage – $600 to $10 000 (R9 000 to R50 000)
4. Transport – $1 100 to $2 000 (R16 500 to R30 000)
5. Insurance – Dependent on variables
6. Depreciation – $2 710 (R40 650)

The sum of these unexpected expenses is thus a jaw-dropping $6 780 to $17 780 (R101 700 – R171 700)!

So what if I sell my golf cart after three years and get some money back?

This is a good question, and definitely something to think about. The key, however, is to consider this is a realistic fashion in order to paint a picture that is as close to reality as you can possibly get at this stage. So let’s say you buy a brand new 2 seater cart from one of the big competitors in the golf cart market. This will cost you somewhere around $10 000 (R150 000). If we add the unexpected expenses, without depreciation, the total amount over three years could easily be north of $16 500 (R248 000). After three years of enjoying your golf cart, you now decide to sell it. Bear in mind, that in order to get the best possible price, you still need to replace the batteries and tyres before selling, or accept a much lower offer than the one in this example. Now our good friend depreciation comes to the party. The cart is now only worth about $7 300 (~R110 000)! Deducting that from what the cart sum of expenses on your cart over the past three years, leaves you at $16 200 (~R150 000 in SA) of money spent during the mentioned time period. If you decide that buying another cart is not an option anymore, you can sell the trailer for about $1 000 (R15 000) if it is still in a good condition. This puts the final amount of money spent (not including insurance) over the three year period at $15 200 (~R135 000). That’s $5 066.67 (R45 000.00) per year!

Depending on where you play golf, and what your membership at the golf course entails, that could require quite a few rounds of cart rental fees to be made up in a year! (Between 104 and 167 rounds in South African terms)

Where does this leave us?

As I mentioned in the beginning, the goal of this article is not to scare you or stop you from buying a golf cart at all! In fact, the joy of playing golf with a cart and the amount of money spent on golf by golfers all around the world make these numbers seem quite reasonable. On top of this, the comfort and freedom you experience when being able to quickly use your golf cart for whatever you feel like just delivers that final nudge towards pulling the trigger and buying your own personal golf cart.

The goal of this article is merely to make you as a Tadhole family member aware of the possible expenses that come along with buying a golf cart. All we hope to achieve with this is to help you make an informed decision when purchasing your own cart. Pay attention to how much electricity you will use to charge the cart, how much the maintenance on the cart would cost, where you can store the cart, how you need to transport the cart, what your insurance premium will be, and finally, what the dollar amount of your losses due to depreciation will be.

Fortunately, we are living in a time where no one has to settle for something that will not fit their budget and short to medium term financial plan. The number of different options on the golf cart market puts you firmly in the driving seat! You have all kinds of choices from fuel vs electric to single seater vs traditional cart et cetera and the best part of it all is that you can find out all these things and more with the click of a button.

To see how Tadhole can lower these unexpected expenses for you, feel free to visit our website at www.tadhole.com for more info and some fantastic limited time offers!

I hope you have found the information in this article useful, and I am excited to meet you (sitting comfortably in your brand new golf cart) on the course soon!