Sun Buggie Fun ATV Rentals — Attraction in Grover Beach

I barely ever write reviews but this one needed it. My email to their customer service with no response.

Reservation for Monday May 6th 2024 at 1:00PM for 2 hours.

We arrive a little before 12:00PM- so early. We were assisted by someone that clearly has never had any type of home nor professional training. Rude, inefficient and completely unaware of your simple transactional process. Wasn't giving us any information as to why it was taking so long, no updates were being provided. I had to ask him if there was an issue numerous times cause he clearly wasn’t one to tell, and he just kept saying “no”. He took our credit cards and IDs and gave them back and took them again and gave them back and finally told us there was a printer issue which I had to painstakingly inquire about. Told another couple that they can grab their helmets which was strange since the customers mentioned that they didnt even make a reservation yet so he was about to just let them ride for free and before us when we had booked and were told to wait longer than expected. We end up leaving an ID because it was so back and forth that we ended up forgetting it. Why he didnt tell us? I have no idea and is very concerning considering we saw him again when we dropped ofd the helmets. His demeanour, body language and just lack of hospitality was incredibly frustrating and had already set a terrible start to the experience. For him to be front and centre, certainly the worst individual chosen to represent your services.

We finally receive our helmets and are waiting for the vehicle to transport us to the training area. We get there and are informed that we are not getting the vehicle we reserved because the $600 reservation was apparently not enough to secure what we wanted and was provided another vehicle which was pitched to us as a “free upgrade” which was another disaster that didnt start until 2PM when our reservation was made for 1PM, so an entire hour gone to unorganization

We were provided the two seater which was the worst experience. Absolutely no proper way to drive the vehicle and is structured terribly cause the sand is aimed straight to your face when driving it. Got stuck the moment we reached the open dunes so we called the number we were informed to call in case of assistance. We were on hold for 20 minutes and only 5 minutes into our experience. Luckily a truck driver saw us stranded and was able to assist us. We went back and told the rep and she said we had to wait 15 minutes for another vehicle which was still not the one we reserved.

The next vehicle we got was for half an hour and we were told we could only take the one cause it was bigger or something and I immediately assumed she meant one bigger one and the original one we already had because we reserved for 2 vehicles but she meant one overall and I said no we’re taking both because I genuinely thought she made a mistake because why are you only giving us one vehicle when we literally paid for 2 and youre not even giving us the one we reserved.

After the half an hour we went back to grab the other vehicle we were mandated to bring back cause I guess they were fulfilling another customers order while ruining ours.

We were told we must bring ID and the same credit card that the reservations are under otherwise there will additional charges and delays etccc. We were also advised to come an hour early or there will be some similar consequences. Sure, understandable a business requires policies to succeed. But I dont know how your establishment has the audacity to enforce such rules when the customer service and organization of this experience was absolutely grotesque and unprofessional. Im sure locals are very familiar with this service but needless to say, its the tourists that actually propel your business and this experience was just bad marketing unfortunately, especially as a Canadian visitor going back home to recite the situation.

Do...

I had a very mixed experience here and I’m still not entirely sure if I would recommend it to a friend or not. If you do go, you need to be more assertive and proactive than I’d normally expect at a rental place this size.

Summary: The website could use some updates, the instruction could be more thorough, and some of the vehicles are busted up. When you get a good vehicle, it’s definitely worth the experience. I did not get a good vehicle.

Good: -Very friendly staff -Good prices -Do offer some nice discounts that other rental places in the area don’t -staff will work with you on some things. I couldn’t get the “You are My Hero” discount but staff still offered 5% off. See below

Needs improvement: -need to update some discount offer details on their website (“You are My Hero” discount doesn’t say you need a 2 hour minimum but apparently it does) -Need to update website with better or more clear vehicle names. I made a reservation online and just trying to figure out what vehicle I wanted took a good 5 minutes even though I read the ATV name straight off the website. Even when I got to the location, they called the ATV something completely different (called it a 2 up). It wouldn’t have been a huge deal if it weren’t for the fact I was quoted over $300 instead of the $170 I was planning. -The instruction for how to start and stop vehicles needs to be more thorough, or at least test people before letting them leave. Just a quick “okay start the vehicle and then shut it down without my help” from instructors would go a long way. I know it wasn’t just me because the instructor even said about 30% of people were breaking down or unable to start back up again once they went out to the dunes.

Unacceptable: The quality of some of the vehicles. The safety video you watch tells you to go through a thorough inspection of the vehicle with the employee and mark down any issues prior to leaving. That never happened. I did a quick inspection by myself and there was, in my admittedly unexperienced opinion, quite a bit of rusted parts that didn’t give me a lot of confidence. Also the speedometer had busted glass and I found out while riding that it didn’t work, which is important because there are speed limits at certain points. Also, MY VEHICLE WOULDN’T IDLE. If you let off the gas for about 5 seconds then it died and needed to be restarted. I thought maybe this was just normal for ATVs because my instructor didn’t say anything about it. So it turned off while I was trying to read my map out in the dunes and wouldn’t restart. I tried to put it in park so I could get off to call the number they supply and when I tried to do that THE GEAR SHIFT SNAPPED IN HALF. I look at the metal arm and there are clear signs of rusting. Even the recovery team looked at it and said “well, you only half broke it.” Get back to the buggy pickup site and now the instructor tells me that sometimes the gear shift will stick if the vehicle is sitting in a weird position. If that happens then you just need to pull forward a little to unstick it (wouldn’t have mattered because the ATV wouldn’t start anyway) but still why would you not tell people that?

The whole experience ended up costing me $200 in repair fees even after I told them all of this info. The only saving grace was that they did give me another vehicle and this one was extremely well maintained, no rust at all, actually idled, way more comfortable, and was just a completely different experience. If either I had gotten this one to begin with, or they would have said “ya we set you up for failure. No repair charge” or even cut the charge in half or something, this place could have...

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and frustration regarding the experience my family and I had with Sunbuggie during our recent trip to Pismo last weekend, September 6, 2025, for my birthday celebration. What was intended to be a significant and enjoyable outing turned into a truly regrettable and stressful ordeal. After extensive online research for the best deals on ATV rentals, I ultimately chose Sunbuggie based on what appeared to be competitive pricing and a promising online presence. Unfortunately, this decision proved to be a grave mistake, as the reality of the service and equipment was drastically different from what was advertised. We rented three 450cc quads and one 125cc quad. Alarmingly, within the first ten minutes of our rental, two of the 450cc quads broke down. We immediately contacted the provided assistance number, and while one quad was replaced after a 30-minute wait, the replacement for the second quad took an unacceptable three hours to arrive. Despite being in close proximity to your stand and directly approaching your staff for assistance, we were repeatedly told to wait and call the assistance number. This significant delay meant that by the time we received replacements, we had only one hour of ride time remaining on our four-hour rental, and no additional ride time or reimbursement was offered. The issues did not end there. The 125cc quad I had reserved for my 10-year-old niece was unavailable upon our arrival. She was instead provided with a 250cc quad, which, to our dismay, broke down within five minutes. This was then replaced with a second 250cc quad, which subsequently broke down in less than 20 minutes. To add insult to injury, we were then charged $600 for this second quad. We were initially accused of blowing the motor, and then the accusation was changed to burning out the clutch. It is important to emphasize that my niece barely rode this quad for more than two minutes before the issue occurred, making these accusations feel entirely baseless and predatory. I ultimately paid the $600 to avoid further conflict and to salvage what little remained of my birthday. The entire experience felt like a complete scam. The equipment provided was clearly not in the condition depicted online; in person, it appeared broken, poorly maintained, and run-down. Furthermore, the attitude and responsiveness of your staff were consistently rude and unhelpful throughout our entire ordeal, exacerbating an already frustrating situation. My entire day at Pismo was consumed by dealing with broken equipment and endlessly waiting for my family to be able to participate. I am fortunate enough to own my own motorcycles; otherwise, I would have been just as stranded as my family. I feel terrible for having recommended Sunbuggie to my family, which is why I felt compelled to cover the cost of the fabricated issue with the quad my sister-in-law rented, despite my strong belief that the charge was unwarranted. This was a truly horrible experience that utterly ruined my birthday celebration and caused considerable stress to everyone involved. The only positive aspect of the day was going out to dinner that evening. I rarely write reviews, but I felt it was absolutely necessary to share this experience to warn others. I strongly advise anyone considering renting ATVs to choose a different company, even if it means paying more elsewhere. The additional investment is worth the peace of mind and will likely save both money and time in the long run. The online inventory does not accurately reflect the actual condition of your equipment, and I urge potential customers not to make the same...