Southport Magazine

If you haven’t noticed, golf carts aren’t just for the links or cruising around Bald Head Island anymore. As the use of electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes has grown, so has Always Ready Cars, expanding from their Bald Head Island location to a shop at 4019 Long Beach Road in front of the Cape Fear Jetport. We spoke to Leanna Cable, Sales and Marketing Manager for Always Ready, about supplying the growing demand. 

Can you give us a little history of Always Ready? How long have you been in business?

Always Ready Cars has been in business for a VERY long time – it started more than 10 years ago on Bald Head Island as Gene’s Golf Cars. The current owner, Dan McConnell, has grown the business from one location on Bald Head Island to now include our store in Southport in front of the airport and a warehouse location in Boiling Spring Lakes for additional cart inventory storage.

What products do you offer?

We are Southport’s local Authorized Club Car Dealer, and sell their consumer Club Car Onward product-line as well as their commercial line of vehicles, including Carryall and Transporter models.  

We also sell Bintelli electric vehicles. Our most popular product from Bintelli is their Beyond model Street Legal golf cart – now becoming much more common in Southport (you’ll know them by their bright distinctive colors) – plus we can order any of their E-Bikes line.

Going beyond just sales – we also offer maintenance programs to customers who are interested in signing up for some kind of annual service contract with us. Having our first location on Bald Head Island has helped us perfect this program – we take care of many carts there and hope to be able to help our Southport community just the same.

Can you explain the difference between a golf cart and a Low Speed Vehicle (LSV)?

We sell golf carts and low speed (street legal) vehicles. One of the first things we will ask a customer when they walk through the door at our Southport store is where they are located. Oak Island requires carts to be street legal (Caswell Beach and handicapped registered carts being the exceptions). Southport, on the other hand, allows both street legal vehicles (LSVs) and golf carts. Golf carts are typically slower and don’t require a VIN, windshield wiper, speedometer, DOT windshield, side mirrors, plus a few other things which LSVs are required to have. Golf carts are usually 19 mph or less, while LSVs are required to be able to drive at 21-25mph.

How have you seen the electric vehicle market change, especially locally?

We discuss the golf cart market as being very fluid…it has changed a lot in general through the country over the last few years. Like many markets, the golf cart market was severely affected in 2020-21 by COVID-19. The price of golf carts increased at that time, and with rising inflation in our current market, they haven’t really declined going into the present.

You might think that might slow our market down – but it has not. Quite the contrary, the rate of growth in Brunswick County, the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, and more than that, I think the rising popularity of a lifestyle vehicle like a nice open air golf cart that you can decorate and make your own individualized “thing” – are really things that has contributed to the rise in popularity of golf carts and LSVs….that and parking, but that is a totally different conversation.  

Do you have a typical customer? What are they like if so?

We really don’t…that’s one thing that I love about this job and the area that we live in! We have some of the most interesting customers from all walks of life ranging from recent retirees to young families.

Can you speak to the safety features in today’s low speed vehicles?

Low speed vehicles are required to have headlights, tail lights, brake lights, a horn, seat belts, DOT-rated windshield, a windshield wiper, and side mirrors.

Upgrades available on some of our carts which are kind of nice from a safety standpoint: 3-point seat belts and back-up cameras.

How long have you carried electric bikes? 

We’ve carried the electric bikes from Bintelli for about one year now.

Can you explain what they are and how they work? Are they pedaled and electric driven?

All the electric bikes we sell have both a trigger throttle and a pedal-assist mode. Pedal-assist basically just means that you are still putting some effort into pushing the pedals and moving the bike yourself (so you are still getting exercise!), but you can allow the motor to assist you in pedaling the bike. Pedal assist usually has several different settings, so you can do a lot of work pedaling, or just a little, depending on your needs. The trigger-throttle on the other hand engages the motor and allows you to use the bike without pedaling at all if you want.

Who do the electric bikes most appeal to in your experience?

I would say our biggest market for electric bikes are retirees. We have one customer that is in his 80s and bought one to be able to ride the entire length of Oak Island again. He’s told us so many times how much he loves this bike.

What makes an electric bike a great choice for our communities?

I think they are a great choice for our communities for several reasons, but two of the more important ones I’ll mention here in the interest of not being longwinded are probably parking, and the environment.

First parking – of course bikes and golf carts take up a lot less space, so the increased use these modes of transportation in communities which do have known parking problems during the summer months could potentially be one means of helping ease that congestion.

I think the environment is of course an even more important reason that electric vehicles like E-Bikes or golf carts are a great choice for our local communities. In an ideal world I think anyone in one of our local communities would be able to take their golf cart to all their day-to-day activities from grocery shopping to dinner to taking fido to the dog park – in the long run saving our local environment from unnecessary vehicle emissions, and saving everyone gas at the same time…plus driving a golf cart or riding an E-Bike is just more fun!

What are your future plans for Always Ready? 

For now we just hope to continue to grow and serve all our existing, new and future customers in the Southport, Oak Island, Bald Head Island, and surrounding areas.