I don't understand why a trail fee can't be established that is equal to the PROFIT made on a golf cart on a per round basis. This would be very easy to determine and everyone wins!
Does anyone know the price vs cost to operate a golf cart on a per round basis? This is obviously a range since there are many varibles. However, there aren't too many factors.
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Carts sell for about $4000-5000 or so new, individually, clubs get nice discount (25-40%) on volume deals... and write them off in 3-4 years... say 3.5 yrs...at 8% interest, $3750 cost... annualizes to 1270 per year...and you'll recover $ when resold to lowerclass club in future... maybe 500 $ per year for a little oil & grease, nut and bolt maintenance, maybe not...
Gas Carts typically have about a 6-7 gallon tank, and get around 150 miles per tank... about 25 miles per gallon from less than 10 HP motors with govenors... round of golf about 5 miles by foot, probably a little more by cart, especially when its hot and you're driving around to keep cool or looking for balls left and right... say $1.50 per gallon for gas... $0.06 per mile, $0.30 per round base cost,, and a 10 minute cleanup by min-wage type maybe a dollar or so! ... put two golfers in there for $10.00 each... looks like a pretty good return if you milk the carts till they die.
Electric carts usually get 2 rounds between chargings, so once you've paid for chargers, its just 6-8 hours of electricity ... for those amp-hours, in NE you're paying what?... 10 cents? lower in Ohio, 5 cents... in any case it doesn't add up to much continuing costs...