How to tell how much life is left in a used cart's batteries

If you're only going to check one thing before buying a used golf cart, make it this. Batteries are the most expensive part. Replacing them costs thousands of pesos, and it's the only part of the cart that wears out on its own, even if you don't use it. Here's how to tell where they stand, without being a mechanic.

First: ask for the date

Almost every battery has its date marked, often on a label or stamped into the cover. Ask the seller to show you. As a reference, a lead-acid battery in daily use lasts two to three years. A lithium one, five to eight. If the seller doesn't know their age and won't let you see them, you have your answer.

Second: look at the terminals

Lift the cover and check where the cables connect. You should see clean metal. White, green or blue buildup is corrosion: it means moisture, no maintenance, or both. In Cabo, with the salt air, it happens faster than elsewhere.

Third: the ride test

This is the good one and it costs nothing. Ask for the cart charged to 100% and take a twenty or thirty minute ride, including a hill if you can.

• If the gauge drops gradually, the batteries are healthy.
• If it collapses in the first few minutes and then “recovers” when you stop, they're at the end of their life. That rebound is the classic sign.
• If the cart loses power on the hill even though the gauge shows charge, that's a problem too.

Fourth: how long it takes to charge

A worn battery charges faster than normal, and that confuses people who take it as a good sign. It's the opposite: it fills quickly because it holds less. If the seller says “just give it a quick charge and it's fine”, be skeptical.

What means nothing

Batteries looking clean on the outside. They can be washed in five minutes and it says nothing about their insides.

And the cart starting fine. Even a nearly dead battery starts; the problem shows up on kilometer ten.

If the batteries are due, is it a bad deal?

Not necessarily. It can be a good buy if the price already reflects it.

Do this simple math: price of the cart plus price of a new battery set. If that total is less than an equivalent cart with good batteries, it's worth it. If it's more, it isn't.

What you must not do is pay good-battery money for tired batteries. That's why you ask.

How we do it

Every cart we list gets a load test in the workshop, and we publish the result in its listing along with the battery type and age.

If the batteries are due, we say so and the price reflects it. We'd rather you buy informed than come back upset in three months.