Golf Cart vs. a Second Rental Car for a Beach Week
This is not the question of whether to rent a car at all. You almost certainly need one — Pleasure Island is about 19 miles from Wilmington International, roughly a 30-minute drive, and no major national rental brand keeps a counter on the island. You're renting at the airport or in Wilmington regardless.
The real question is the second vehicle. Two families in one house, teenagers who want to get to the boardwalk, a group that can't all fit in one car. That's where a cart competes, and where the math turns out to be less close than people assume.
Start with what the car actually costs, not what it's quoted at
Base rates at ILM for a standard or midsize car generally land somewhere in the $45 to $85 per day range depending on season and how far ahead you book. That's a range on purpose — rental pricing is repriced continuously, and anyone quoting you one fixed number is guessing. Check your own dates.
But the base rate is the beginning. On top of it:
North Carolina charges an 8% alternate highway use tax on short-term vehicle rentals. That's statutory, not a company fee.
Airport concession fees run roughly 10% to 14% industry-wide, per the Tax Foundation — and their analysis found that combined state taxes, airport fees, and other charges push the total burden past 25% of the transaction in every major city they sampled.
Then the optional-but-often-not-optional ones. A driver aged 21 to 24 typically adds $20 to $30 per day. A second driver commonly runs $13 to $15 per day, though most companies waive it for a spouse and many memberships waive it outright.
Here's the part worth knowing: you are not guaranteed to see any of that upfront. The FTC's junk-fees rule took effect in May 2025 requiring all-in pricing — but the final rule covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging only. Rental cars were in the proposed rule and were cut from the final version. The number you see first still often isn't the number you pay.
Then add parking, which is the part nobody budgets for
Carolina Beach enforces paid parking March 1 through October 31, 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. On-street is $5 an hour. Standard lots are $6 an hour or $25 a day. Premium lots are $7 an hour or $35 a day, and those two are enforced year-round.
At the daily lot rate, a seven-day trip is $175 in parking for one car. The town does sell a weekly visitor pass for $100, which is the sensible move if you're driving daily.
Kure Beach is a separate program entirely — March 15 through September 30, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, $6 an hour or $25 a day, with its own season pass. Your Carolina Beach pass does nothing there, and vice versa. The full two-town breakdown is here.
The asymmetry that makes the whole comparison lopsided
Look at the town's own 2026 permit schedule side by side:
A visitor parking pass costs $100 and covers one week. The annual LSV parking pass also costs $100 — and covers a full year, and anyone may buy it, resident or not.
Same hundred dollars. One buys seven days. The other buys twelve months.
And on a JellyCarts rental you don't buy it at all — the annual LSV pass is already on the vehicle, included in the all-in price along with the Road Service Plan. It covers the street-end spaces and most town lots. Not all of them — five lots charge every vehicle regardless of permit — but it covers the parking you'll actually use.
So what does the cart cost?
All-in, with road service and the parking pass included: $160 for one night, $390 for three, $660 for seven — one flat rate, all year. The week works out to $94.29 a night, and delivery is free at three nights or more — we bring it to your place and collect it.
Put the week next to a second car: roughly $45 to $85 a day base, plus 8% state tax, plus airport fees in the 10 to 14 percent band, plus any driver surcharges, plus $100 to $175 in parking. Against $660 — with parking already in it.
It's not close, and the gap is mostly the fees and the parking rather than the headline rate.
Where the car genuinely wins, and the cart cannot help you
We'd rather say this plainly than let you find out on day two.
You cannot leave the island in an LSV. US 421 is posted well above 35 mph on the Snow's Cut Bridge approach and span, which puts it out of legal reach. A cart is an island vehicle, full stop. Grocery runs off-island, the outlets, a Wilmington dinner, the drive home — that's the car. The route rules are here.
Weather. A cart is open. A rainy afternoon is a car afternoon.
Carolina Beach State Park. Its only road connection is Dow Road, which is posted 45 to 55 mph. You cannot legally get there in a cart no matter how close it looks on a map.
Big hauls and long days out. Four passengers and beach gear is fine. A full grocery restock is not.
The honest framing
This isn't cart instead of car. It's cart instead of a second car — and for the trips that actually make up a beach week, the cart is the better tool, not just the cheaper one.
The island is served by a single bridge, and the Town of Carolina Beach cited "increased foot traffic and higher vehicle volumes" when it converted part of Canal Drive to one-way traffic in December 2025. Adding a second full-size car to a July weekend on Pleasure Island means competing for the same scarce spaces as everyone else. A cart parks in street-end spaces a full-size vehicle struggles with, and it parks there on a pass that's already paid for.
Rates, taxes, and fees change — the parking figures here reflect the Town of Carolina Beach's published 2026 season schedule, and rental car pricing moves constantly. Confirm current numbers before you rely on them. Sources: Town of Carolina Beach parking; Town of Kure Beach parking; NCDOR motor vehicle lease and subscription tax; Tax Foundation on rental car taxes and fees; FTC rule on unfair or deceptive fees. Questions about your dates: text or call 910-999-2278.