Club Car Serial Number Lookup: Find the Year and Model

A Club Car serial number lookup tells you the model and the year from one short code. The letters at the start name the model, and the next four digits give the model year and production week. Club Car's own example, PH0901-123456, is a Precedent i2 Electric built in the first week of the 2009 model year.

This guide uses Club Car's official FAQ and prefix directory, plus the VIN filing Club Car sent NHTSA in August 2025 for its street-legal models (checked October 2026). If your cart is a low-speed vehicle with a VIN, you can also decode it with our free VIN decoder.

How do you read a Club Car serial number?

Split the serial into four parts. One or two letters give the model. The next two digits are the model year and the two after that are the production week. The last six digits are the cart's sequential number for that model year. Club Car's FAQ describes the same four pieces.

Club Car shows the serial in two styles. Newer decals use a hyphen, as in PH0901-123456. Older ones run together, as in F9901123456. The parts are the same: F is the prefix, 99 the year, 01 the week and 123456 the sequence. Club Car's directory lists F as the Carryall 1 Electric, so that example is a 1999 Carryall 1 from week 1.

The two-digit year repeats every century, but that rarely matters for golf carts. A 09 year will be 2009, not 1909. Where it can matter is with old prefixes still listed in the directory. The DS, which Club Car says was built from 1980 to 2014, had several prefixes over those years, so check the prefix and year together.

If the year looks wrong for the model, recheck the prefix. A serial reading PH with a year before the Precedent existed means you have misread a letter or the decal came from another cart.

Which Club Car model does my prefix mean?

Look up the prefix in Club Car's official serial prefix directory. It lists 415 prefixes covering golf cars, Carryall utility vehicles, Onward and Tempo personal carts and some vehicles built for Case, Bobcat and other brands. Many models have several prefixes for different power types and seat counts.

Common prefixes from the directory:

The prefix tells you more than the model name. On Onward carts it shows the battery type, the number of seats and whether the cart left the factory lifted. That makes it useful when a seller describes a cart as "lithium" or "factory lifted." If the prefix says otherwise, the cart was changed after it was built.

A few directory entries are incomplete, such as CS, listed only as "Precedent Chassis ?". If yours is unclear, an authorized Club Car dealer can confirm it from the full serial number.

Where is the serial number on a Club Car?

Club Car prints the serial number on a barcode decal. It is mounted below the passenger-side cup holder or above the accelerator or brake pedal, depending on the model. Clean the area gently before reading it, because the digits are small and the decal often sits in a spot that collects dirt.

Take a photo of the decal before you copy the serial. Small digits and worn print make 0 and 8, or 1 and 7, easy to mix up. If you are buying a used cart, compare the photo with the seller's paperwork.

A missing decal is a real problem when you sell, insure or service a cart. Club Car's FAQ points owners to an authorized dealer or 1-800-CLUBCAR for help. Do not move a decal from another cart, since that only creates a false identity for both.

How does a Club Car LSV VIN work?

Club Car low-speed vehicles carry a 17-character VIN starting with 5J5. Club Car's 2025 NHTSA filing lays out each position, and positions 12 to 17 are the last six digits of the cart's serial number. That means an LSV's VIN and serial decal should end with the same six digits.

We decoded five LSV VINs in NHTSA's vPIC database, and each matched the filing:

The Cru VIN shows an X in position 9. Its weighted sum is 186, and 186 divided by 11 leaves 10, which the federal formula writes as X. That is correct, not a typo. Our how to read a VIN guide explains the formula in full.

Check your Club Car

Read the serial decal, look up the prefix and note the year and week. If the cart is an LSV, decode its VIN and confirm the last six digits match the decal. Then check Club Car's Safety & Recalls page. For other brands, start with the golf cart serial number lookup or the EZGO serial number lookup.