Will Home Insurance Cover Your Golf Cart?

Although home insurance claims aren’t frequently denied, it happens more often than you would think. Often, home insurance claims are denied as a result of a misunderstanding between the homeowner and their insurance policy.

If you have a golf cart, it's important to have insurance in case you ever get into an accident. Whether your home insurance is enough to cover you or you need separate insurance depends on how you use your golf cart. Here are the different situations you should be aware of.

Driving On Your Property

If you drive only on your own property, your golf cart will often be covered by your standard home insurance policy. This might include hauling lawn tools, inspecting a fence on a large property, or just driving around for recreational purposes. As long as you stay on your property, your golf cart is just like a riding lawn mower or other household tool.

Driving On A Golf Course

If you live on a golf course and can drive your golf cart directly onto the course, your home insurance may treat the golf course as an extension of your property and cover your golf cart. You may also need to add a special endorsement to cover this usage. In addition, the golf course or homeowners' association might require you to get a specific type and amount of coverage. And this may be more than the basic coverage that comes with your home insurance policy.

Driving Around Your Neighborhood

In some golf course or retirement communities, it's common for residents to drive their golf courses around on the neighborhood's roads. Whether you're visiting community amenities, heading to an on-property store, or just joyriding, you usually have higher insurance requirements.

The reason is that once you're out on the road, you're interacting with cars, bicyclists and pedestrians — as well as the risks that come with that. In addition, once you're off the golf course, people may not be expecting to see a golf cart, and golf carts are often hard to hear approaching. Your home insurance typically won't be sufficient, and you'll need to add special golf cart coverage that covers use on private roads.

Driving On Public Roads

Once you start driving on public roads, such as to a nearby store, you have even greater insurance requirements. First, you need to understand where it's legal to drive — as your insurance policy may exclude illegal driving. Second, be aware of if your state has minimum insurance requirements for golf carts — as is common for cars — and make sure you have at least that amount of coverage.