When everything goes sideways on a Saturday on Anna Maria Island, you find out fast what a rental company is actually made of. Street-legal golf cart rentals on AMI are easy to find. A company that loads a stuck family into their truck and drives them past the bridge when they’re in a jam is a different thing entirely.
Any company can take a reservation. Not every company shows up when the plan falls apart. That difference matters more than any price list.
What Saturday Changeover Looks Like on Anna Maria Island
Saturday on Anna Maria Island is a different kind of day. The bridges back to the mainland become parking lots. Traffic lines up for two hours outbound. Every car service, every rideshare, every option a stranded visitor can think of is already spoken for.
Last Saturday, a family sat outside the shop on a returned golf cart with luggage piled around them. Mom was on the phone, working through every option she could find.
One of the crew passed by a couple of times before she finally looked up. She couldn’t get off the island. Rideshare drivers wouldn’t come. They had somewhere to be down in Siesta Key and no way to get there.
The answer took about thirty seconds: I’m leaving the island in half an hour. Hop in the truck.
Ten minutes later, they were out past the bridge and in range of every rideshare driver who had been declining their requests all morning. No charge or big deal made of it. Just a local heading the same direction who had room.
That is a story they will probably tell for years. They did not even know they were riding with the owner.
How 25 Years of Island Life Shapes a Rental Business
The crew at Fun And More Rentals has been doing this long enough to remember when Anna Maria Island was genuinely undiscovered. In those days, stores closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Delivering rental gear directly to a vacation home was not something anybody on AMI was doing yet. We started that delivery model before it was a model. Before the rest of the world caught up.
We started with one bicycle and picked up furniture off the side of the road. Our team built something from nothing because we care about doing it right, not because we had a playbook.
That origin still shapes how the business runs. The person behind the wheel on Saturday had helped build this thing from scratch.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles classifies street-legal golf carts as low-speed vehicles (LSVs) under Florida Statute 316.2122. It governs where and how you can operate them on public roads.
Fun And More Rentals maintains every cart to LSV standards and covers the rules during a one-on-one safety briefing at each delivery. That briefing is not a formality. It is how guests actually understand what they are driving before they pull out of the driveway.
The team at Fun And More has been doing that briefing since before most AMI rental operations existed. That is the version of local knowledge that does not appear in search results.
“We started from nothing. We weren’t mom and pop at the time. We were just boyfriend and girlfriend, and we turned into mom and pop. We’re as organic as you can get. And maybe part of the success has been that we’ve kind of cared. Offering a ride to somebody that’s stuck, that just doesn’t need a reason.” – Duane Gartman, Owner, Fun And More Rentals
Why Loyal Guests Keep Coming Back Year After Year
There is a version of this business that optimizes for efficiency: rentals out, rentals back, next customer. They have clean margins and controlled interactions.
That is not what gets built when you spend 25 years living on the same island you serve.
The guests who have been coming back for two decades, ordering the same kayaks and bikes, seeing the same familiar faces on the delivery truck, are not loyal to a rental company. They are loyal to people who have shown up for them, year after year, without making it complicated.
Free delivery was part of that from the start. Show up at the house, gear already waiting: nothing to haul, nothing to return. The whole idea was to remove friction so that the vacation could actually start the moment a family walked through the door.
“A perfect experience for a Fun and More customer is them pre-booking, arriving at the house, and all their gear is set up and ready to use. Sometimes check-in is not till four, and you want to catch the first sunset. And at the end of the vacation, there is nothing for them to do. They check out, we pick up the items, bring them back, and do it again.” – Duane Gartman, Owner, Fun And More Rentals
Pre-booking a street-legal golf cart and beach gear before you arrive is the single easiest thing you can do to ensure a smooth first day on the island. Not sure what to reserve or when to book? Review delivery options and build your rental list before the Saturday rush makes it a scramble.
The Value of Pre-Planning on AMI
The stuck family on Saturday had done everything right. They booked and showed up. The chaos came from outside their control: the bridge, the traffic, the timing of a Saturday changeover. That is the one thing no reservation solves. But local knowledge goes a long way toward avoiding everything else.
- Book the golf cart before the week you want it.
- Call ahead for the beach wagon and the umbrella.
- Confirm the free car seat if you are traveling with a child under five.
The families who return every year already know all of this. First-timers who wing it learn it the hard way, usually standing at a counter on a busy Saturday morning, asking if anything is still available.
Pre-booking does not guarantee a perfect vacation. But it guarantees that the golf cart will be waiting at the house when you pull in. The only thing left to do is walk out the door and get the salt air in your lungs.
And if something goes sideways anyway, the same people who started loading that truck nearly 20 years ago are still the ones picking up the phone.
If you want to understand the full picture of where a golf cart can legally go on the island, our Anna Maria Island golf cart laws guide covers every city’s rules in detail.
Answers to Common Questions
Do rental companies deliver golf carts and beach gear on AMI?
The team from Fun and More Rentals delivers directly to vacation homes, and we handle pickup at the end of your stay.
Where can you drive a golf cart on Anna Maria Island?
On most public roads with speed limits of 35 mph or lower, which covers most of the island.
What if golf carts are already booked?
They often book up quickly during peak season. Early reservations are the best way to avoid missing out.
Are car seats required in golf carts?
Yes. Child safety laws apply to street-legal golf carts.
What’s the easiest way to get around AMI?
A golf cart is the most flexible option, especially with limited parking and short distances.
What should first-time visitors know about getting around?
The island is small and slow-paced. Planning transportation ahead makes the stay much easier.
The Company You Want Before You Even Need It
The families who get the most out of Anna Maria Island arrive ready. The golf cart is already at the house. The beach gear is waiting. The kids hit the water within an hour of checking in.
Start the right way and reserve your golf cart with Fun And More Rentals before your arrival week.
Keep it safe. Keep it easy. Enjoy the slower pace.
Duane Gartman is the owner of Fun And More Rentals, the largest vacation equipment rental company on Anna Maria Island. With nearly 20 years in business, Duane started with just two bicycles and built a fleet that now serves thousands of families each year. Fun And More Rentals is known for its free delivery and pickup service, Best Price Guarantee, and a focus on making island vacations effortless from arrival to departure.
