Allison Golf Cars: Local small business steers towards growth, powered by customer care
- Chuck Thompson
- Aug 27, 2025
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 5, 2025
By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent
The idea that a beach trip forever changed the lives of a family for the better, creating a legacy, and a making mark on the community sounds like something from a fiction novel or a feel-good movie, but for Stephanie and Casey Allison, this story wasn’t written in a fiction story or a plot for movie; it changed their trajectory and their fate wheeled itself to success across Cleveland County, and beyond.
For anyone in Cleveland County, it’s possible you’ve heard of Allison Golf Cars – you might have even taken a ride in one of their golf carts and not even realized it when attending a festival or some other event. Their golf carts are everywhere. From driveways to fairways, concerts to corporate events, since 2009 Allison Golf Cars has been in the driver's seat, steering the wheels of change for mobility, rolling along, putting smiles on people’s faces and providing fun for the whole family.
But, before the beautiful customization, before the great customer service and the excitement a customer feels just standing in the showroom of Allison Golf Cars, just south of Boiling Springs, on Gaffney Highway – lets go back to that fateful beach trip.
Casey’s mom, Susan, came back from a beach trip and told Casey and Stephanie about a golf cart she liked.
“Susan asked Casey if he would build her one, because he has always been mechanically inclined,” explained Stephanie Allison, Vice-President of Allison Golf Cars. “He’s messed with tractors, lawn mowers and derby cars his whole life – and he did it. He built her one.”
After building his mom a custom golf car, the husband and wife duo, Casey and Stephanie Allison, decided he would build a few to sell – just to see how it goes, and it took off from there.
By 2009 the first golf cart was sold.
“It was a lot of fun,” President of Allison Golf Cars, Casey Allison said, of getting started. “I enjoy building and refurbishing golf carts, seeing a basic one turned into a fun personalized one. And it was a great feeling when we sold the first one to a client.”
“The potential was there,” added Stephanie, “It proved that people needed and wanted this product, and it was the encouragement that propelled our determination and excitement for future growth.”
“My favorite part is just seeing something transform from one thing to a greater thing,” he added. “I enjoy designing it.”
Stephanie said her favorite part of her day at work is meeting new people and talking to everyone, “I like to talk!” she said.
“Dang right, she does,” Casey added, as Stephanie laughed.
Having been married for 17 years, and working together every day, it’s a dynamic that seems to work perfectly, that others can only imagine.
They demolition derby together, vacation and build carts together.
It’s all about local and togetherness for Stephanie and Casey.
Their golf cart business started as a part-time endeavor, explained Stephanie, “We decided we would do it on the side, in the beginning. We worked on golf carts, just us two, every evening when we got home from work.”
They would eat supper, work on golf carts and go to bed. When a customer wanted to drop off a cart to get worked on, or to shop, it was all done on Saturdays, “Because that was our day off from our full-time jobs, at the time,” said Stephanie.
One day, their fate to customize and sell golf carts full-time took them to the next level. Casey, who was a mechanic and then was a painter for a local manufacturer, was injured in a severe accident and couldn’t work for a long period of time.
It was at this point in their lives that they made the decision to do Allison Golf Cars full-time.
“We really didn’t have a choice,” Stephanie said. “But it was also an opportunity – it was a blessing in disguise that this happened.”
She couldn’t have been more right about that – business soon took off.
“We went full throttle on the business, and we haven’t looked back yet,” she laughed. “We believed it was going to work – because it had to! It’s going to work and that’s how it’s going be – it had to!” she shrugged.
Stephanie acknowledged the two things that made all the difference: hard work and, most of all, their customers.
“It really takes great customers,” noted Stephanie. “The customers make all the difference, and we couldn’t be more thankful for their support, encouragement and their excitement when they see our products.”
And like any great business, it wasn’t built in a day, and it wasn’t always fun and easy. Long tiring days meant for long tired evenings and nights as they toiled away to give customers the satisfaction of a great product and excellent customer service.
The Allisons started the business at their house, which wasn’t always easy, as Stephanie recalled with a smile.
“You couldn’t be outside walking your dog after church because somebody would pull up in the driveway – which we were very thankful for, but every time someone driving by saw us outside, they thought, ‘Oh, they must be open, I see them outside!’” she laughed.
In just a few short years they were outgrowing their residential business store and shop.
“Golf carts were taking over everything and being parked in the back of the house, the side, and the front of the house!” she laughed. “We needed a bigger place and wanted to be on a busy thoroughfare to make it easy for customers to find us."
So, they started searching, talking to people, and finally found the right spot on Gaffney Road just outside the Boiling Springs town limits, just north of Broad River.
Now, they have that separation with their business in a different location, giving the Allisons more of a work-personal life balance. “Some rest is always nice,” she chuckled.
In 2019 they opened their new location at 2102 Gaffney Rd. But what you see outside – or in the sales room – isn’t the whole picture. Allison Golf Cars has a strong online presence both with their website and on social media.
They sell new and used, mostly Club Car, as Stephanie explained, “It’s your top of the line golf cart. Quality American made product, which is huge.”
They care a lot about selling American made – “I believe in walking the walk if you talk the talk” she said, noting community and local supporting local. “Supporting local starts with buying in America. Yes, you can get things made cheaper elsewhere, but that’s not always your best value.”
She continued, “We sell quality and care. Our customers are buying reliability, quality, trust and service.”
There’s a lot to the business most people don’t realize – they also rent carts, service them for routine maintenance, and fix something when needed. They’ll even keep customizing a golf cart at a customer’s request, little by little, or all at once.
She said there is so much value in getting an expert in their field to care for your product, and bringing your golf cart to them for maintenance helps extend the life of the golf cart.
“I’m not an expert in HVAC, but I have a company I can call to handle my HVAC and make it last longer, she stated. “The same goes for golf cars.”
Stephanie said the business itself is fun and interesting and something people might enjoy learning more about how the process works.
“There’s so much behind the scenes that a lot of people aren’t aware of, and I want to do more behind the scenes videos and photos to show people,” she added. “I think it’ll be fun for our customers to see what goes on behind the scenes.”
Building and selling isn’t the only thing to a golf cart business, Caseys tunes them, cleans them up and preps an entire fleet of golf carts to be rented out to a company, church, or festival, as needed.
The Allisons have rented golf cars to an array of different groups and people, from festivals, car shows, weddings, sporting events, birthday parties, holidays, practically any event where you might want a golf cart.
“We also have couples come rent one just as a ‘test drive’ for a week or a weekend to see if that is something their family might enjoy having,” said Stephanie, “And then, they usually buy one when they bring it back.”
Allison Golf Cars has seen tremendous growth since Casey’s mom asked him to build her a custom golf cart after returning from a beach trip over 17 years ago.
They faced unparalleled growth by filling a need in the community.
“Local supporting local,” Stephanie noted. “It all makes a full circle – walking the talk of local is important. Our customers know that we care; we’ve proven that, and will continue to do so because they are the ones that make this possible.”
Even during Covid, when things seemed uncertain, Allison Golf Cars was there to give families, who were stuck at home, a way to cope and enjoy their time as the world stood still.
Stephanie recalled those early days of 2020 when the world changed, “We didn’t know what to expect in the beginning, but we were declared an essential business,” she said. “As the months went by and people started becoming bored at home all the time, after being cooped up, people decided ‘we need a golf cart that will give us something fun to do outside,’ and customers came in and sales just took off.”
But that doesn’t mean times were easy, at one point they didn’t have any new golf carts in the show room – production was backed up and even the used golf carts were being sold at an extraordinary rate. Golf courses weren’t having cart leases come off rotation, “It got tight on supply there for a while,” she noted.
But they persevered, sold what they had, serviced what needed maintenance, and continued to drive forward.
Those days were a good time for current customers to have their carts customized, “Most of our pickup and deliveries are for service” she noted. “We pick up and return, which is a huge benefit for our clients.”
While a customized golf cart is fun to own, not everything has to be customized. Allison Golf Cars sells brand new units straight off the line as-is, and the customization is just a buyer’s preference.
Ready-to-go golf carts can be purchased and delivered on the same day, or at least the next day, depending on what time of the day the golf cart is purchased. And with their new delivery driver Donnie Beason, it has cut down delivery times of carts being serviced.
Their inventory is available to browse online, so customers can look at everything that is available for sale during the hours they are closed. Stephanie said its it’s best to come in the store, see the golf carts, and test drive a couple in the store’s parking lot, or a buyer can make laps on a side area.
“We also have hills, too, for people to test out to see if it’ll go up a hill like they want, before they commit,” added Stephanie. “We have you covered and want you to make the best choice before you decide which one to take home.”
While both standard and unique golf carts are available, in both gas and electric models, Stephanie said they sell more electric models than gas.
“Most places are moving to electric,” she said of campgrounds, event facilities, company warehouses and manufacturing. “It’s mainly for the noise, the fumes and pollution.”
But gas is still available in new and used, if electric is not your cup of tea.
As for the future of the business, she continues to focus on customer relationships.
“It doesn’t end when you just buy a golf cart,” Stephanie explained. “You’re going to need maintenance and care, and eventually a customer is going to want to buy a second one, or upgrade – eventually. I want customers to remember us when they buy again, or tell a friend. I want them to say that we care, and our service shows we care as we try to keep the process as fun and simple as possible.”
“I hope to continue doing what we’re doing and selling American made golf carts,” added Casey. “Everyone needs one at their house. It’s a family fun adventure to own and drive one of our custom golf cars.”
Allison Golf Cars is located at 2102 Gaffney Rd., Shelby, NC. To learn more about their business and browse current golf carts available, visit their website at mycustomgolfcar.com.
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Chuck Thompson is a reporter for The Shelby Independent.
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