Bent Wrench Carts has new indoor showroom and shop
Bent Wrench Carts, an authorized Club Car dealership, recently opened a new 6,000-square-foot showroom and shop at 4635 Old Linwood Road. Partners in the business are (from left) Brian Lewis, Mike Myers and Patrick Cash. {Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
What started out as a hobby for Mike Myers of refurbishing used golf carts in his garage has evolved into an authorized Club Car golf cart dealership that offers sales, service and customization.
Bent Wrench Carts recently opened a 6,000-square-foot showroom and shop at 4635 Old Linwood Road.
Myers, who had been in the landscaping business for 35 years with his father, began buying and refurbishing golf carts in 2014. In 2017, the business was incorporated and he brought in two partners, a friend from church, Patrick Cash, who has a background in sales and marketing, and Brian Lewis, his brother-in-law, who was in the banking and finance industry. At that point, they had a 1,500-square-foot shop with three roll-up doors.
By late 2019, Augusta, Ga.-based Club Car, approached Bent Wrench about opening a full-fledged dealership in Davidson County to serve the area from north of Winston-Salem to just north of Charlotte. Club Car is a premier electric and gas golf cart manufacturer that has been in business 65 years.
“We just kept growing and we had to decide if we were going to move forward or backward,” said Myers, who manages the shop and daily operations.
So the partners bought seven-and-a-half acres of land down the road from the original shop and built the indoor showroom and shop to meet Club Car’s criteria for a dealership. Cash noted Bent Wrench is featured in the dealer spotlight in Club Car’s April newsletter.
In addition to having an indoor space to showcase new carts, the dealership also has an accessories area that sells tires, lift kits, LED lights, cargo beds, seat cushions and stereos. They get many of the after-market parts from Custom Golf Cart Supply in Salisbury.
Bent Wrench offers complete service in the shop including brakes, batteries, chargers and fuel systems, but only specific to Club Car and E-Z-GO brand carts.
Additionally, customization work is done in the shop. Cash said much of that involves people who want seat cushions in school or team colors, such as a black-and-orange upholstered model purchased by a family in the North Davidson area.
“The sky’s the limit on customization,” Cash assured.
Lewis said 70 percent of sales are within 45 miles but people from out of state will purchase from Bent Wrench to get a specific model. Pickups and deliveries of carts in the area are available.
Surprisingly, the majority of their customers do not use the golf carts on a course.
“About one in 50 customers actually use these on a golf course,” Lewis said, noting most courses rent carts to players. However, some courses, such as the local Sapona Golf, Swim and Tennis Club, do currently allow golfers to use their own carts.
“They are marketed as golf carts but they are really personal transportation vehicles,” Cash said. He added members of county club communities often use them to get around the property to the pool, tennis courts or dining facilities as long as the homeowners association approves their use. The large Meadowlands community in northeastern Davidson County allows the carts on streets as well.
“We also sell to campers,” Cash said, as people with RVs are another large customer base as well as some area campgrounds. “And people who have large properties and use them as utility and passenger carts.”
Bent Wrench has partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Special Olympics and a couple of local high schools for use of their carts at special events and fundraisers.
“We’ve been blessed so we try to give back when we can,” Cash explained.
Business hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
