Choosing American-Made Over Chinese-Made Golf Cars.
For nearly 25 years, my passion has been selling golf cars. When you are in sales, the highest of highs is making a sale, and the lowest of lows is when you lose one. For a competitive soul like me, those losses are hard enough to take as it is, but when you know in your heart that a prospective customer has made a poor purchase, the sting you feel is not for yourself; it is for that person or that family that just spent a good deal of money on a poor product.
In recent years, Chinese-made golf cars have flooded the market. At last count, the number of brands manufactured in China reached over 30, and +90% of those brands have existed for less than three years.
Those 30+ Chinese-made brands have fewer years in the golf car business combined than Club Car, E-Z-GO, and Yamaha, which are built right here in the United States. They have over 175 years of combined manufacturing experience. Chinese-made golf cars are like that shiny present under the tree; they look great in their wrapping, but you may not get all you bargained for once you open the box.
To be blunt, Chinese-made golf cars are junk. Consider:
- Those 30+ brands are made in three factories in China; they simply slap on slightly different body pieces and a different brand nameplate.
- These Chinese brands are made with cheaper components, creating a less safe, unreliable, less comfortable, and poorer-performing product.
- The vast majority of places selling these junk brands…. box stores, car lots, boat dealers, some new golf car dealers…. have zero service and parts to back up that $10,000.00+ purchase, and what you have is a recipe for a very disgruntled and defeated consumer (how can you offer a 5-year warranty if you’ve only been in business for three years?)
These junk brands have come into existence as golf car sales boomed during COVID-19 (which ironically originated where?) However, at some point, two things will happen:
- Tariffs will take effect and the cheap product, with all its cheap components and no support infrastructure, will not be so cheap anymore. The companies selling these golf cars will begin to fall by the wayside, leaving consumers helpless when the time comes for parts and service.
- The economy will slow down, and golf car sales will flatten back out, leaving only the strongest golf car brands to survive. Most of these 30+ junk brands will go out of business and leave consumers with no support or recourse.
The sad reality is that many of these Chinese golf cars are already a source of pain and frustration to consumers. Golf cars are mechanical items; they can and will break down. When someone buys one of these brands from a boat dealer or a box store and needs parts or repairs, they quickly learn that the retailer they purchased from provides neither.
One of my favorite business quotes is:
When these brands need parts or services and customers can’t go to the retailer, they bought them from, they turn to us. Many times, however, we can’t help because the cost of repair is prohibitive, or parts are non-existent.
At the end of the day, I will never, ever enjoy losing a sale because I believe that we offer the best products in the world and the service and support to back them up.
Do yourself a favor; do your family a favor; buy American-made and buy local. Our amazing team of employees works their tails off to provide you and your family with the safest, best performing, most reliable, and most comfortable golf cars on the planet at a good price. But not only that; we create unmatched value because we also provide the service and support you deserve, and will eventually need, to go with it.
Brian Cheever, CEO, Clear Creek Golf Car & Utility Vehicles