Excessive Carts is a Dallas/Fort Worth-based custom golf cart dealer that specializes in… EXCESS. These custom carts are not your run-of-the-mill rebuilds. Excessive Carts are something different altogether. Think Kevlar, brush guards, top-end stereo systems, beefy suspensions, custom-molded dashes. These carts are over-the-top bad ass and are becoming something of a legend.
We were very excited to have a friend of Golf Carting Magazine, Jennifer Alexander, a long-time golf cart industry expert, spend some time with Rob Wallach, the founder of Excessive Carts and a Retired 20-year Air Force Veteran. We wanted to find out how this iconic golf cart dealer started and where they are headed.
GCMAG: Okay. Rob, it is so good to be able to spend some time with you again. I have seen you grow almost from day 1 back when I was your sales person at Double Take. You have built quite a business here, Let’s get right into it…
How did you start in the industry or rather, how did you get into the industry?
Rob: Jennifer, thanks to Golf Carting Magazine for even considering myself and the Excessive Carts team this great opportunity.
Back in 2014, I was looking for a golf cart. I had two jet skis and wanted to get rid of those to buy a golf cart. I like to support the little guy so I opened Facebook and searched for custom golf carts, I found Epic Carts in Frisco TX a local corperate guy looking for some new innovated fun way to earn a little extra income. I called him up to check out his carts. I went over, checked out the cart, and drove it around and I was really checking out the stereo set up. The owner, Blair, asked me what I did and I told him I install stereos. We made an arrangement where I put stereos in his golf carts. He would just order the carts and I’d put stereos in them because he had no one doing any warranty for him. At that point, he was working out of his garage. Whenever he ordered a cart, he’d call me up and I would put in the audio and LED Lighting in my garage. Outside 20 years in the Air Force, car audio has been my passion and installing stereo system in golf carts was my introduction in this fast growing amazing industry.
As customers asked for more customizations, I started molding dashes fiberglassing TV’s in the dash, get it all painted or wrap it with vinyl. This was real exciting to Epic and we formed a great relationship. Long story short, I said to Blair, “Whoever is building your carts, the quality and craftsmanship could be a lot better.” So sarcastically he said, “You want to start building my carts?” I said, “Yeah, sure.”
We then changed our arrangement where I would build the carts and he would sell them. At this time, he was building on Club Car chasis and I knew nothing about golf carts. I didn’t know the difference in quality and craftsmanship between the various brands and models. With my background in car audio and customizing vehicles for so many years, I just started winging it, taking the carts apart, putting Kevlar on them, covering seats, putting stereo systems and LED lighting in them and it evolved more and more.
This went on for a while and I actually hired my first employee, Ryan within 6 months in July of 2015. I taught him how to take your time and do it right the first time, like how to assemble and wire, how to solder, and the importance of paying attention to detail. I passed along to him as much knowledge as I had, If you deliver a premium product, you will attract premium clientele.
During this same time, late summer early winter of 2015 I would travel up to Alaska and install Remote Starts on 500-700 local vehicle’s. I have been doing this for several years and being away from my family 5 month out of the year was putting getting old. I decided to sell the business in Alaska so I I could focus on producing golf carts full time and be with my family. Just as I made my decision to sell my car audio business in Alaska, I received a phone call from Epic Carts and they told me they are moving on with a different plan. I was torn and had no direction so out of the blue I decided to start something on my own. Excessive Carts was born, I created the name, a logo and a Facebook page.
It was eye-candy on Facebook, people could not resist seeing these different colored carts scrolling through their timelines. I put out a post saying, “Excessive Carts is giving away a free golf cart” and I received 3,000 likes on the page within two weeks. All of a sudden, people started showing up at the door and it was starting to evolve. The quality and unique designs of our carts really spoke for themselves. We developed a strong following by throwing eye-candy on there and showing our carts on Facebook. We would show our carts at local flea markets, neighborhood functions, and supported various local fundraisers. Excessive Carts was getting a name in the little small town of Prosper TX. Ryan and myself were so busy I then I hired my second employee the summer of 2016 for Excessive Carts.
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GCMAG: Who was that?
Rob: That was Mike. He’s a Louisiana rough-neck that don’t take no chit from anybody. He was rough around the edges, however Ryan molded him and turned him into a valuable asset to the team. Within 6 months, we hired our third (Austin), fourth (Ron), and fifth employee (Cory). I used to pretty much do every drop-off, pic-up, powder coat runs, Kevlar runs, service calls. I handled the marketing, sales, and every other aspects of the business while Ryan, Mike, Ron, and Cory focused on building the carts.
Clientele grew in up into mid 2017 and word got around, we were having the time of our lives and all of a sudden we were just getting overwhelmed. I brought my cousin Derek aboard, with his knowledge and expertise in financials and analytics, we grew the business together as a team and now had 20+ employees. We were having tremendous growth with this great team over the next 2 years and it was being noticed in the golf cart industry.
GCMAG: What are your future plans for growth and expansion?
Rob: We recently merged with 3 other Dealerships, these are owned by a long time friend and business associate Terry Hundley. He help guide and support Excessive Carts almost since our first custom build. He took over and introduced an opportunity to continue growing Excessive Carts along side of his other locations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He brought Club Car as a dealer to Excessive Carts. We now brand new carts as well as our custom builds. As the golf cart industry grows, we want to continue offering our customers unique products they can’t get anywhere else.
We would like to see growth and eventually become one-stop-shop for brand new, custom remanufactured Excessive Carts, and service in North Dallas. We are striving to be a brand here locally and nationally.
GCMAG: You are nationally known. You’re doing it.
Rob: Yes, we probably ship 40% of our custom carts out of state and even international. We shipped a cart to Qatar. When starting this I had a vision to be the West Coast Customs of golf carts, and we think we’re on our way to that. We think a lot of people know who we are, we just want to continue to do that and keep evolving. As the industry matures, the market will see similar carts to what we have been building. Our goal is to continue evolving and always be on the cutting edge of innovation and design. We’ve been able to do that through strong partnerships with local vendors and a great production team.
GCMAG: Where do you see the future of the industry as a whole?
Rob: I see it continuing to grow. We see the master-planned communities out here and it’s almost like people are forced into keeping up with the Joneses. People get carts because of the convenience of taking the kids to school, whipping over to the neighbors, or just a late night stroll under the stars w/ a hint of The Eagles playing on the stereo. Its growing year by year
We live right across the street from one of the nicest and largest master-planned communities in the nation, Light Farms they’ve received all kinds of awards. There’s going to be thirty-five-hundred homes in there, and I guarantee 60% of the people have or will carts. There’s another master plan community at the same size down the road and another one down the other road. We are at the right place at the right time.
GCMAG: That’s great.
Rob: We seeing it being huge. As long as the laws stay in place and people abide by the laws.. We are hoping there’s more towns like The Villages in Florida and Peachtree City in Georgia, these communities rely on golf carts as their primary transportation to and from everyday activities.
GCMAG: True. I know a little about your team. You’ve got 20 people there. That’s a lot.
Rob: Yes, we have been growing steadily, but even more so in recent months. We have a really strong team of dedicated professionals who work hard to deliver a quality experience and product from our initial design session to final cart delivery. As hard as we work, we have to remember that this is a really fun business.
Rob: We love the customers that come in and we get to design a unique cart together. We feel honored that customers are willing to invest in a product and have absolutely no idea what the finished product will look like. We have never had a dissatisfied customer in a design.
GCMAG: Yes. That sounds great.
Rob: Also, something to add, a lot of people ask us how we get the inspiration of the color combinations, we have absolutely no idea. We are having fun just like an artist is on slapping paint on a canvas. It all comes together in the end.
I just think of things and sometimes, I question myself, “Oh, my God, was that a good decision?” The cart, when it’s being built, it’s pretty much not what we really wanted. Then when the seats come in, you’re still not sure, but then when you put them together, they match up and a masterpiece appears. Its always good when a plan comes together and since we opened in March 2016, its has come together and I could have not done it without my team, Team Excessive!!!
For more information about Excessive Carts in Prosper, TX visit them online at ExcessiveCarts.com, check out their Instagram @excessivecarts or give them a call at (972) 971-3717.
