Do Golf Carts Have Titles in South Carolina?

Golf carts do not have titles in South Carolina. The state’s certificate-of-title law applies to vehicles that go through the standard registration and licensing process, and golf carts sit outside that system. Ownership is documented through a bill of sale or the manufacturer’s certificate of origin, and if you want to drive on public roads you register the cart separately with the DMV for a $5 fee and receive a permit decal rather than a license plate.¹

Why Golf Carts Aren’t Titled

South Carolina’s titling statute requires a certificate of title for any vehicle “of a type required to be registered and licensed” in the state, along with mobile homes.² Golf carts don’t go through that process. They’re handled under their own section of the code, Section 56-2-90, which creates a permit-and-decal system instead of standard registration and licensing. Because golf carts aren’t a type of vehicle the state requires to be registered and licensed in the ordinary sense, the title requirement never attaches.

The 2025 rewrite of the golf cart law repealed the older Section 56-2-105 and consolidated the current rules under Section 56-2-90, but it didn’t change the basic point: no title, just a permit.¹

How You Prove You Own a Golf Cart

Without a state-issued title, your paperwork is doing more work than it would for a car. Two documents carry most of the weight:

A bill of sale from the person or dealer you bought the cart from.
The manufacturer’s certificate of origin, if the cart is new enough that the original paperwork is still around.

Keep both. They are your proof of ownership when you apply for a DMV permit, when you buy insurance, and when you eventually sell the cart. There is no state database that tracks golf cart ownership the way the DMV tracks car titles, so if your records go missing there is no clean way to replace them.

A workable bill of sale includes the names and addresses of both parties, a description of the cart with make, model, year, and serial number, the sale price, the date, and signatures from buyer and seller. That level of detail matters because it is the only paper trail connecting you to the cart.

Getting the Permit to Drive on Public Roads

If the cart will only ever be driven on your own property or inside a private community that doesn’t require it, you can skip the DMV. Public roads are different. Before driving a golf cart on any public street in South Carolina, you need a permit decal and a registration certificate from the DMV. The requirements are short:

Proof of ownership, which is where your bill of sale or manufacturer’s certificate of origin comes in.
Proof of liability insurance on the cart.
A $5 fee.

The DMV issues a decal that goes on the cart and a registration certificate you carry while driving. Golf carts do not get license plates. The decal has to be replaced every five years, or sooner if you move, whichever comes first.¹

The driver must be at least 16 and hold a valid driver’s license, and anyone operating on public roads must carry the registration certificate, proof of insurance, and their license.¹ None of this creates a title. The permit is tied to the cart and the address on the registration, not to a transferable ownership document.

Buying or Selling a Golf Cart Without a Title

A golf cart sale in South Carolina works differently from a car sale, and the differences matter on both sides of the transaction.

There is no title to sign over at the DMV and no state lien search a buyer can run. The bill of sale is the whole paper trail. Buyers should ask the seller for the manufacturer’s certificate of origin along with the bill of sale, especially on newer carts where that document still exists. They should also confirm, as best they can, that the person selling the cart actually owns it, because the state will not do that verification for them.

An existing DMV permit does not travel with the cart. The buyer cannot take over the seller’s permit decal; a new owner has to register the cart under their own name and address and get a new decal. Sellers should cancel their old permit after the sale so the registration is not still associated with them. The $5 fee makes the process cheap, but the absence of a title means the due diligence falls on the people involved rather than on a state system.

One Boundary Worth Knowing: Low-Speed Vehicles Are a Different Category

If your cart has been modified to go faster than 20 mph, or you bought something that looks like a golf cart but can reach 20 to 25 mph, you may be dealing with a low-speed vehicle rather than a golf cart. Low-speed vehicles are classified as motor vehicles under both federal and state law, fall under Section 56-2-100 rather than Section 56-2-90, and must comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 500, which requires headlamps, stop lamps, turn signals, taillamps, reflectors, parking brakes, rearview mirrors, windshields, seat belts, and vehicle identification numbers.³⁴ By contrast, NHTSA has determined that conventional golf carts topping out at 20 mph are not motor vehicles for purposes of federal regulation.⁵

The practical point for the title question: a true golf cart stays in the no-title permit system. A vehicle that crosses into low-speed vehicle territory is treated as a motor vehicle, and the paperwork and equipment rules change accordingly. Installing a speed kit on a cart you plan to drive on public roads can quietly move you from one legal category to the other, so it is worth being sure which one your vehicle belongs in before you register it.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 56-2-90 – Operating a Golf Cart on a Public Highway
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 56 – Chapter 19 – Section 56-19-210
3
GovInfo. Federal Register – Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 56 – Chapter 2 – Section 56-2-100
5
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA Interpretation – Kozloski 1635