Colorado Golf Cart Laws (2025)

By default, no, a regular golf cart is not street legal in Colorado. The only small vehicles generally allowed are Low-Speed Electric Vehicles (LSEVs) that meet specific safety standards and are registered. Standard golf carts lack the required equipment and cannot be registered for highway use. That said, Colorado law lets cities or counties pass local ordinances to allow golf carts on their roads. So in a town that has done so, you could legally drive a golf cart under the conditions of that ordinance. If there’s no local ordinance, then golf carts are not legal on public streets (except maybe to directly cross at an intersection). In short: Only street-legal if either it’s an LSV, or a local government has explicitly made an exception for carts.

Yes, if you’re on a public road. Colorado requires any vehicle operator on public streets to have a valid driver’s license. This applies to LSVs as well as to golf carts in the rare cases they’re allowed locally. So if you’re driving your cart on the street (legally), you must be a licensed driver (generally meaning 16 or older with at least a minor driver’s license). There’s no special permit for golf carts – just the normal driver’s license requirement.

Yes. If your golf cart is registered as a Low-Speed Vehicle and you’re driving it on public roads, Colorado law requires it to be insured (minimum liability coverage, just like for any car). Even if you’re in a small town that allows carts without formal state registration, you should carry insurance – many municipalities require proof of insurance as part of their permitting. Additionally, Colorado’s financial responsibility laws can still apply if there’s an accident. So practically speaking, to be street legal, make sure you have an auto policy that covers your LSV/golf cart.

For a vehicle to be registered as an LSV in Colorado, it must have seat belts (among other safety features). So an LSV/golf cart that’s street-legal will indeed have seat belts and you are required to wear them. If you’re talking about a basic golf cart that a town lets putter around locally, the town might not explicitly mandate seat belts if the cart didn’t come with them – but many carts that have been made street-ready do get retrofitted with seat belts. Bottom line: any fully street-legal LSV needs seat belts. If your cart somehow is being used under a local ordinance without belts, it’s still strongly recommended to have and use them for safety.

Colorado’s Low-Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) definition caps the speed at 25 mph. So a street-legal LSV/golf cart will top out around 25 mph by design. Also, you’re only allowed to operate it on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less, so you won’t be driving in high-speed traffic. If a golf cart goes faster than 25 mph, it wouldn’t qualify as an LSV and would need to meet a bunch more safety standards (essentially it becomes a regular vehicle). Most unmodified golf carts are slower (15-20 mph), but for street use, 25 mph is the max permitted speed.

At least 16 years old with a valid driver’s license to drive on public roads. The state doesn’t have a special lower age for golf carts; it relies on the normal driver licensing rules. So only licensed drivers can operate a cart on the street. (If you’re just driving on private property, like a farm or a private community, then age requirements are up to the property owner – but on public streets, you must follow Colorado’s driver licensing laws.) Some local ordinances may explicitly say “must be a licensed driver” which implies the same thing.

You can’t register a regular golf cart through Colorado DMV. What you would do is register it as a Low-Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) if it meets the criteria. That means the cart needs a VIN and a Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin stating it’s an LSV, or you’ve gone through the process of certifying it meets safety standards. With that, you’d fill out a title and registration application, pay the fees, and the DMV will issue a license plate and registration. Many commercially sold “street-legal golf carts” come with the needed paperwork to register as an LSV. If your cart doesn’t meet LSV requirements, the DMV will not register it for street use. (In a local ordinance scenario, some towns issue their own local permits, but that’s not a state registration and is only valid within that locality.)

To be street-legal in Colorado, a golf cart essentially must be converted into a low-speed vehicle. Key requirements include: headlamps, tail lamps, stop lamps, turn signals, reflectors, a windshield, rear-view mirrors, seat belts, and a parking brake – all in working order, just like a car. The vehicle must be electric (for Colorado LSEV classification) and capable of speeds between 20 and 25 mph, but not over 25. It must have a 17-digit VIN and be certified to comply with federal LSV safety standards. Once it meets those, you register it with the DMV and get Colorado plates. Only then can it be driven on public roads (and even then, only on roads with ≤35 mph speed limits). If your cart doesn’t meet those requirements, it can’t be driven on public streets unless a local ordinance provides a special exception – and even those usually require basic safety features like lights and a slow-moving emblem. So, bottom line: equip it like a mini car to make it street legal.