Over the 2010 Labor Day weekend, Horry County Police say eight golf carts were stolen from beach access parking lots and homes within the Garden City and Surfside Beach areas.
This year, the HCPD's Property Crimes Section is already seeing a slight increase in golf cart thefts around the beach area of Horry County.
Now, alarm system installers want to protect the smaller golf carts just as they do with standard vehicles but still containing all the punch.
"We try to make something that makes a lot of noise to alert people their carts are being tampered with," says Audio Rhythms manager Heath Brady.
The Little River business offers golf cart alarm systems convenient to beach-goers. "We know people aren't always going to be near their carts, especially when they go to the beach. So, we have transmitters that can reach 1500 feet to a mile away to alert if someone is trying to steal your golf cart."
Owners can buy systems that use just a secondary key to start the golf cart or an override to shut down the carts battery when started incorrectly. "Once the alarm is triggered," says Brady, "it's disabled."
The Horry County Police Department suggests owners to secure to a solid object with a locking mechanism to keep their carts safe, and people not to leave their keys in the cart. One golf cart key can start several golf carts.
