Renting a Golf Cart in Miramar Beach: The Rule Nobody Mentions
Beach Tips · 6 min read · Roger Ridpath
The six-seater you are picturing probably is not a golf cart, legally speaking. What is actually legal on Scenic Gulf Drive, what a rental runs as of August 2026, and where a cart parks at Majestic Sun.
You see them everywhere down here. Six-seaters loaded up with towels and a cooler, rolling along Scenic Gulf Drive at a speed that makes the car behind them look a little silly. Sooner or later everybody staying in a beach condo has the same thought: we should just rent one of those.
Mostly, you should. It is a good way to spend a week here. But there is one detail almost nobody explains at the rental counter, and it decides whether the thing you just paid for is legal on the road right outside our building.
Short answer: the vehicle you are picturing is probably not a golf cart. Not legally, anyway. And that difference is the whole ballgame.
Golf cart or LSV: the difference that decides everything
What is the difference between a golf cart and an LSV?
Florida treats them as two different vehicles, and the rules barely overlap.
A golf cart, under Florida Statute 320.01(22), is built for a golf course and cannot go faster than 20 mph. No title, no registration, no insurance required. It may only be driven on roads specifically designated for golf carts with a posted limit of 30 mph or less.
A Low Speed Vehicle, or LSV, under Statute 320.01(41), tops out somewhere between 20 and 25 mph. It has to be titled, registered, and insured, with at least $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability. It has to carry headlights, turn signals, brake lights, tail lights, reflectors, mirrors, a parking brake, a windshield, a seat belt for every seat, and a VIN. In trade for all that, it can be driven on any street posted at 35 mph or less.
Parked next to each other, they look like the same machine. They are not.
Can you drive a golf cart on Scenic Gulf Drive?
Scenic Gulf Drive is posted at 35 mph through most of Miramar Beach. Run that against the two rules above and you get an answer that surprises people.
An LSV is legal on Scenic Gulf Drive. A true golf cart is not.
Thirty-five is inside the LSV limit and above the golf cart limit. So the street-legal six-seater from a rental company is fine. A real golf cart, the kind a friend might lend you or the kind somebody bought cheap and never converted, is not street legal here. Not at any speed, and not just for a short trip down the road.
That is why the reputable companies on this stretch rent LSVs and put "street legal" right in the listing. If you find a rental that is cheaper than everything else and nobody says a word about registration or insurance, ask the question before you hand over a card.
How do you tell which one you are renting?
A golf cart in the legal sense of the word: built for a course, no plate, no headlights, no turn signals. Walk around the front of anything you rent.
It takes about ten seconds. Four things to look for:
- A license plate. An LSV has one. A golf cart does not.
- Headlights and turn signals. Required on an LSV.
- Mirrors. One on the driver side, plus a rear-view or a passenger side mirror.
- A seat belt at every seat, and a windshield. Same deal.
The carts in that photo are the real article. No plate, no lights, no signals, and perfectly legal right where they sit. Just not on a 35 mph road.
Who can drive one, and where you can take it
Do you need a driver's license to drive an LSV?
Yes. Anyone operating an LSV has to have a valid driver license on them. Not back at the condo. On them.
For golf carts the rule changed on October 1, 2023. Under 18, the driver needs a valid learner's permit or driver license. Eighteen or over, a government-issued photo ID. Either way, handing the wheel to a fourteen-year-old for a lap around the block is not the harmless thing it looks like.
Rental companies stack their own rules on top of the state's, and theirs are usually stricter. Most on this coast want the driver to be at least 21, some want older than that, with a valid license and their own auto insurance. Worth checking before you build a day around it.
Where can you not take it?
The big one is Highway 98. It is posted well above 35, so it is off limits to LSVs and golf carts both. That matters more than it sounds, because 98 is how you would instinctively drive to most of Destin. Sidewalks are out too, and so is the sand.
Local governments can also be stricter than the state, and along this coast several of them are. The rules on 30A are not the rules in Miramar Beach, and a few neighborhoods restrict carts further still. If you have somewhere specific in mind, check that stretch before you go instead of after.
What it costs, and where you put it
How much does a golf cart rental cost in Miramar Beach?
As of August 2026, Glass Casa Carts lists street-legal four and six seaters for Destin, Miramar Beach, and 30A starting at $115 a day, with a minimum driver age of 21. They are the ones I would point you to first. Across the rest of the companies working this stretch, published summer rates for a six-seater tend to run higher, roughly $150 to $200 a day, or somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 to $1,000 for a full week. Fall and winter rates drop by a fair amount.
Two things hide in the fine print. Most companies price on a multi-day minimum, often four days. And most will deliver the cart to your building for free at that length, then charge a delivery and pickup fee (around $100) if you rent for less. Rates move with the season and with how full the week is, so the number you get quoted in June will not be the number you get quoted in November.
Where do you park a golf cart at Majestic Sun?
This is the part that catches people, and it has nothing to do with state law.
Parking at Seascape runs on passes, and a cart needs one the same as a car does. Every vehicle in the lot has to display a valid pass.
For our place, here is exactly how it works. We provide one pass with the condo. If you are bringing a second vehicle, or a golf cart, we can get you a second pass. Past two, there is an additional charge. So renting a cart does not have to cost you your car spot, which is the thing most people assume and then plan a whole week around for no reason.
Now the honest part: this varies. Majestic Sun units are managed by all different companies, and the pass rules and fees are theirs to set, not the building's. It can also come down to who you rent the cart from. Glass Casa manages a lot of units here and runs its own carts, so their guests often have one sorted on property already. If you are staying somewhere else on this stretch, ask your host what your unit comes with before you book a cart.
One more Seascape rule while you are thinking about vehicles: no boats, RVs, or trailers in the lots at all.
So is it worth it?
For a week on Scenic Gulf Drive, I think it is. Parking near the beach accesses and along the restaurants is the daily frustration of a Miramar Beach vacation, and a cart skips most of it. You will use it for the short hops. Dinner, the market, the walk-back-with-wet-towels problem. Far more than for anything ambitious.
What it will not do is replace the car. Anything up 98, anything out to the outlets, anything after dark in the rain, that is still a car trip.
Staying on this stretch is what makes a cart make sense in the first place, because just about everything worth driving to sits inside the 35 mph zone. That is a good part of why we like where our place sits. Most of a week's errands are a short, slow, open-air ride away.
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