Golf Cart Serial Number Lookup: Year, Model and VIN

A golf cart serial number lookup starts with the label on the cart, not a VIN decoder. Most golf carts have no VIN, only a maker's serial number. On a Club Car, the first four digits after the letters give the model year and week, so PH0901 means a 2009 cart built in week 1.

Street-legal low-speed vehicles (LSVs) are the exception. They carry a 17-character VIN that our free VIN decoder can read, and on Club Car and E-Z-GO LSVs the last six VIN digits match the cart's serial number. Everything below comes from the makers' own pages and NHTSA filings (checked October 2026).

Does a golf cart have a VIN or a serial number?

A regular golf cart has a serial number, not a VIN. Club Car states that its non-LSV vehicles do not have VINs and use serial numbers instead. Only low-speed vehicles built for public roads get a 17-character VIN, because E-Z-GO notes that an LSV must be titled and registered with one.

That difference changes how you look a cart up. A serial number is the maker's own code, so only that maker's guide or dealer can decode it. A VIN follows the federal format in 49 CFR Part 565, so NHTSA's database can decode it like a car's.

If a seller calls a cart "street legal," ask for the title and check that it shows a 17-character VIN. A standard cart with lights and mirrors added is still a golf cart with a serial number. Rules for driving a golf cart on local roads differ by state and town, so check with your DMV before you rely on it.

Where is the serial number on a golf cart?

The label location depends on the brand. Club Car prints its serial on a barcode decal below the passenger-side cup holder or above the accelerator or brake pedal. E-Z-GO says models bought before 2023 have it next to a barcode on the steering column or below the driver's side seat.

Newer E-Z-GO models carry more than one label. The 2024 RXV ELiTE manual lists four serial number and manufacture date code labels: one on the lower right wall of the dash panel, one on the driver-side frame under the front splash shield and two on the passenger-side rear frame rail. The TXT Fleet manual lists two plates, one below the front of the seat and one on the chassis crossmember under the seat.

Labels fade, peel and get painted over, especially on refurbished carts. If you find more than one, check that they match. If the dash label is gone, the frame label usually survives. A cart with no readable label at all is hard to identify and harder to resell.

How do you find the year from a golf cart serial number?

Each maker codes the year differently. Club Car puts the model year and production week in the four digits after the letter prefix. E-Z-GO does not publish a serial-to-year chart, so its manufacture date code label and a dealer are the reliable routes. For Yamaha, start with the model code on the label.

Club Car's own example is PH0901-123456:

Club Car's directory lists 415 prefixes, from DS and Precedent golf cars to Carryall utility vehicles and Onward personal carts. Our Club Car serial number lookup walks through the prefixes and the older format without a hyphen.

E-Z-GO is harder. Its manuals ask owners to quote the serial number and the manufacture date code when ordering parts, which is a hint that the serial alone does not give the year. The EZGO serial number lookup explains how to read the date code label instead of relying on unofficial charts.

Yamaha carts carry a model code label alongside the serial number. Give both to a Yamaha golf car dealer, who can match the serial to a model year. We could not reach Yamaha's public serial guides when we checked in October 2026, so we do not reproduce their tables here.

How do you decode a street-legal golf cart VIN?

Decode an LSV VIN like a car's: enter all 17 characters in a decoder that uses NHTSA's vPIC data. Club Car LSVs start with 5J5, and E-Z-GO and Cushman LSVs start with 10R. In our test, vPIC returned the make, model, model year and Augusta, Georgia plant for both brands.

Both makers' NHTSA filings say the same thing about positions 12 to 17: they are the last six digits of the vehicle's serial number. So an LSV's VIN and its serial label should share their final six digits. If they do not match, the label may be from another cart or the VIN plate may have been replaced. That cross-check works on no other vehicle type in this guide.

For more on reading VIN positions, see how to read a VIN. For off-road vehicles that share the same federal format, the Polaris VIN decoder is a good next stop.

Look up your cart

Find the serial label, write down the full code and follow the Club Car or E-Z-GO steps above. If the cart is an LSV, run its VIN through our decoder and check that the last six digits match the serial label.