Golf Cart Broke on me, course trying to get me to pay

[seancca]

Hey, so I have something that has never happened to me before in the years I have been playing. I was with my friend playing on Saturday and we parked the carts got out hit our tee shots and I get back in the cart with my one buddy and we go to take off and I was turned left already and was prepared to correct back. The cart just shoots left harder than I have ever experienced and the wheel would not correct and I was off the gas but could not get to the brake in time and we bumped into a tree.

 

Called up the clubhouse and said hey the cart seems to have broken on us. I had noticed that right before I got out the cart seemed to like move ever so slightly like it had gotten the tire on something and slipped down. 

 

Fast forward to today, after they said I had to give them info, and they said it was going to be $75 for the parts and labor. Needless to say, I refused to pay for something I did not break. 

 

Has anyone ever had that happen before? The course insinuates you broke the cart but you did nothing to cause the issue. 

 

I would be honest if I did something to cause it but I am respectable of the equipment. I don't just drive with abandon or anything. 

[Peanut05]

I've had a cart break on me, but the course didn't ask me to pay for it.  If it wasn't your fault, I definitely wouldn't be paying for it.  There's a reason you pay cart fees when you play.  

 

The incident I had happened one afternoon close to dark. I was trying to finish a quick 9 holes, and was about as far away from the clubhouse as possible when I turned to take the cart off the path the the tire completely fell off the cart (it was an older cart).  What I didn't know at the time was that at a certain time, the clubhouse closes and all the employees go home, regardless if anybody is still on the course.  So I tried to call and let them know what happened and hopefully bring me another cart, but nobody answered.  I took my bag off the cart and started walking across the course back to my car only to realize I was the only person there. 

[tommc23]

Last Saturday the cart I was in suddenly stopped working m, first time ever. And it would not start. No one asked me to pay for anything and my card did not get billed so not me.

 

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[MDGolfHacker]

I wouldn't pay, especially if there was something already wrong with the cart. Agree with you that if I had caused the damage, it would of paid for it.

 

MDGolfHacker

[00sportsman]

I'm with those guys.  If you didn't cause the damage, there's no reason for you to have to pay for it.  Did they say what the problem was?

[TSauer]

It's not on you if it was already broke, therefore I would not pay it. Especially if it's a place you play regularly or have played before and they know you're not a heathen that's irresponsible.

[josmi15]

Sounds like they just may have known it was broken and thought they could pawn it off on a player

 

 

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[gaussman1]

Hmmm this reminds of a funny story (true story). This was about a decade ago and I was in Philly meeting with a customer. He was a younger guy and after dinner and drinks he wanted to go meet up with his buddies in the bar district. I could see what kind of evening we were in for so parked my rental car once we got to the bars and decided to just take cabs from there. At some point in the evening he and I got separated and I continued bar hopping with a group of his friends, whom I had become best friends with by that point. I cabbed back to the hotel like a good boy and the next morning did 2 or 3 laps walking around the hotel looking for my rental before I remembered that I had parked it "somewhere". My customer was taking the morning off and not answering his phone and I had a plane to catch so I took a cab back to the rental car counter at the airport.

Rental Agent- "May I help you?"

Me- "Um, yeah. Here are the keys for your car"

Agent- "Did you park it outside?"

Me- "Oh definitely. Just, uh, not here. But outside for sure"

Agent- "Ummmmmmm"

Me- "Yeah I was going out drinking and didn't want to drunk drive your rental car so I parked it in this bar district area. Here's the keys. You guys will be able to find it no problem. Probably"

Agent- "Uhhhhhhhhhh"

Me- "No thanks necessary, I thought it was the responsible thing to do. I've got a flight to catch so uh, just send me the tow bill or whatever."

Agent- "Uhhhhhhhhhh?"

Me- leaves rental car counter and gets on plane.

 

They confirm the next day that they did retrieve the car and will be sending me a bill for the tow. I said no problem.

 

3 weeks later I get a bill for $1500. I called and said hey you guys picked this up the next day. They responded that there was damage on the bumper. I said fine, send me a date and time-stamped picture of the damage. In response I got a picture back stamped 10 days after they picked the car up showing some scratches on the back bumper. They refused to say whether it had been rented out again or send me a picture of the current odometer. I basically said you guys can pound sand, I'll pay the tow bill but I'm not eating someone else's damage. They said

 

Creepy Claims Guy- "You'll never rent from us again at Enterprise/National/ Alamo/Thrifty unless you pay this bill

Me- "Whoa you guys are all of those? Oh well piss off anyway."

Creepy Claims Guy- "Just try to book a trip through Expedia or Orbitz. They all go through us. You'll never rent a car again mwah hah hah hah"

Me- "Uh OK."

 

And that's the story of How I Became a Hertz Gold Club Member. And why I don't book trips on Expedia.

[seancca]

Oh for sure I am not paying it. It does feel like they are trying to get money from me. I am not sure what broke, I should have asked but I have been a little out of sorts since later that afternoon, I do know that with the steering wheel straight both wheels were pointed out from center. Like a "V".  

 

I probably stupidly gave them my insurance info, that is what I get for trying to be an honest guy, and the guy was like well we are going to give this to EZ-GO and then they are going to go to your insurance and it is gonna cost you even more. Scare tactic probably as it was supposed to be the general manager that contacted me and it was the guy we checked in with on Saturday. Also tried to say when you sign out a cart you are agreeing to pay for any damages. 

 

Anyway I contacted my insurance just as a heads up, and needless to say I am not playing there again ever. 

[seancca]

I have a sneaking suspicion you might be right. I think maybe because they thought we were a bunch of idiot kids who didn't know how to play because we were "slowing down play" we were within a normal Saturday public course round time and we had a friend who was very new to the game and we were trying to help him and were always cognizant of if we were holding up the group behind us. Sorry for the gripe session! Hey at least I shot under 100 again for the second time in a year. Making some progress!

Sounds like they just may have known it was broken and thought they could pawn it off on a player


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[josmi15]

Keep making progress!!! Glad to see that part!!

 

 

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[Canucklehead]

Never had anything on a cart break on me luckily. Worst I've had was turn the key and use the choke. Weird that something like that would happen. Did you demonstrate to them that the wheels wouldn't turn properly/turned past the normal range of motion?

 

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[seancca]

They actually sent someone out to get us another cart because we were still in the middle of a round. I showed him, said he was the course Pro, and he was like you must have hit something. Yeah, a tree because something made the tire go cockeyed! 

Never had anything on a cart break on me luckily. Worst I've had was turn the key and use the choke. Weird that something like that would happen. Did you demonstrate to them that the wheels wouldn't turn properly/turned past the normal range of motion?

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[russtopherb]

I was in a cart with a buddy a few years ago and we went to turn left and the front passenger side where I was sitting suddenly dipped down. The tire had basically come right off of the cart. We weren't that far from the clubhouse, so he and I were able to get it there and went in to tell them what happened.

 

All we got was "oh... OK. Here's another cart" and away we went. That was the end of it. If the course had tried to get me to pay, I would've politely declined. 

[seancca]

That is why I am so perplexed by how they are approaching this.

I was in a cart with a buddy a few years ago and we went to turn left and the front passenger side where I was sitting suddenly dipped down. The tire had basically come right off of the cart. We weren't that far from the clubhouse, so he and I were able to get it there and went in to tell them what happened.

 

All we got was "oh... OK. Here's another cart" and away we went. That was the end of it. If the course had tried to get me to pay, I would've politely declined.

[seancca]

Update to this craziness. They actually called my insurance and tried to submit a claim too the same day I called up to let my insurance know. I had called as a follow up and Geico told me they called and let them know they were not going to cover, obviously, and said they mentioned something about a lawsuit. 

 

Gotta love they are willing to spend more than it costs to fix the cart to try and get the money. Seems more and more they are trying to just get me to pay but making any threats. We shall see if they reach out to me again. 

[ChrisS]

Cart fees and insurance, that's how our courses around here deal with any cart issues unless there is true negligence like purposely driving into a pond or rolling over cause they really will tip over sideways on a steep slope. If they harass you again, just tell them you will have to get back to them after you get your neck checked for whiplash from their cart slamming you into a tree. I would almost bet they will leave you alone.

[mychm]

A guy in a group I was paying with (who I didn't know) was asked to replace the windshield on a personally-owned cart that he hit with an errant shot. The problem was, the course conditions were cart path only and the cart was about 20 yards off the path, so when the owner threatened to call the pro shop and get the marshall, the guy said "go ahead, please do". In the end, I think he gave him about $20 toward the windshield, but not nearly what the owner was initially requesting.

[RoverRick]

Closest thing I have had was I came back to my SUV and someone had driven a golf ball through the rear passenger window. The course said. "You take responsibility for the damage when you park your car here."

 

A month later I broke a window on the club house. I tried saying "You take responsibility for the damage when you put glass here."

 

That didn't work out, and I paid for the window.

 

However, they also had a valid point. I did drive a golf cart through that window.

[MaxEntropy]

However, they also had a valid point. I did drive a golf cart through that window.

 

:D

[ChrisS]

But, if you take a personal cart out on a course you do so at your own risk. You should be covered under your homeowners insurance. It is just like a course itself, unless there is gross negligence any damage done is covered by their insurance and the fee you pay to use/rent the cart.