Selecting Your Gas Scooter Preferred Vendors

You are making a significant investment in your new gas scooter and need to be sure that your vendor will be there to support you after the sale. We take you behind the scenes with our in depth look at the spectrum of issues you should consider.

I know when I first started looking into purchasing a gas scooter I was stunned at the number of vendors there were on the web. As you probably found, many of the models appear identical in nature having come from the same suppliers. This means price and vendor support become the distinguishing factors when making your buying decision, and in many cases, due to the thousands of vendors all competing for your sale, there will not be that much of a difference in the price points of two similar scooters. So in reality, once you have settled in on a particular model, vendor selection becomes of paramount importance. Here are some things you need to consider when evaluating a particular vendor.

Gas Scooter Warranties

The differences can be huge. Many vendors state that the scooter has a warranty, but if you look closely, you will find that the warranty is administered by the manufacturer and you will deal with them directly. This is not necessarily a bad concept provided the manufacturer is one of the majors (X-Treme, Goped, Lashout, Tanaka, Evo, Razorback, Rhino to name a few) and not simply a clone importer with no USA based distribution. Read the warranty information for the length of the warranty. Some are 30 days others, as long as 180 days. Some want you to send the gas scooter back to them at your cost, while others will offer to send you parts and have you make the repairs yourself. Not altogether bad if you have the skill to make the repair, since it will eliminate the costs and risks of having to ship your scooter.

The razor thin margins on gas scooters make it prohibitive for the dealers to replace your scooter if you decide you don't like it. Spend some time on this site before plunking down your hard earned cash and shop around. Prices can change daily.

Gas Scooter Spare Parts Support

You want to check to see if your vendor offers spare parts. There are certainly places you can go that only sell spare parts, but your chances of getting the right part for your particular model increase appreciably if your vendor actually stocks the parts for the scooters he or she is selling. I like the approach that Neo Scooters takes by dedicating a large part of their site to parts. You can see a clear picture of exactly what the part looks like to see if it matches what you need, and the parts are sub-grouped by model of the scooter.

Gas Scooter Storefront

This is an interesting one. You want to pay the lowest price but you also want to be sure your vendor is going to be there when you need them. You want to pay the lowest price but you would love to have the peace of mind to know that your vendor isn't just a person working out of a self storage unit. Fortunately or unfortunately, the low price that you are able to pay for a gas scooter purchased on line is a direct result of not having to invest in a bricks and mortar location with a full staff.

The price differential will be significant in most cases. My advice is to buy high quality, American made goods from vendors that have clearly stated warranty policies. Don't assume anything. A dealer that clearly states what they will and will not cover is a much better bet than a dealer than might appear to have a better deal, but does not clearly state what they cover and what they don't.

International Gas Scooter Sales

Very few dealers will ship internationally. This is for several reasons. Firstly, most orders come in via credit card and it's not easy to establish a site that has a currency converter. These orders take a longer time to settle (move the funds to the dealers account) as well. Shipping can be problematic as many of the scooters are not packaged for international travel necessitating repackaging. Importation into the target country can be tough. If the scooter does not clear customs, it will be shipped back to the USA at the dealer's expense. Neo Scooters is one of the few that will work with you if you truly want to attempt an international shipment. They require payment up front and you will take the risk as the importer, but they will ship to many countries.

APO Addresses

The issue with APO addresses is not so much with the dealer as with the shipping company they use. DHL will not ship to such an address, but FEDEX will. Neo Scooters will ship to APO's and has done so in the past. If you are contemplating shipping to an APO I recommend again that you go with a higher quality American sourced product such as Boxer, Goped, Martin Monster or EVO.

Gas Scooter Price

If you have spent more than 10 minutes searching Google using the keyword "gas scooter" you will notice the huge emphasis on price. In particular "cheap price" "extremely cheap price" "extremely low price" gas scooters. In fact there are sites where the domain name has done it's best to incorporate those keywords.

The reality is this. The bulk of the inexpensive gas scooters on the market are imported from China, Taiwan or Thailand and are somewhat cosmetically customized to give the appearance of being different for the various US importers. Just about everyone is buying from the same suppliers, and the price breaks that are offered are the result someone buying in a larger quantity, or having lower overhead than their competitor. In that the bulk of gas scooter sales in the USA are done over the internet by individuals who are not interested in managing huge warehouses of goods, the price points are not as wide as you might hope between similar models. That said though, the distributors do run sales, and often others will either track to, or offer to meet their competitors prices. Just about everyone offers free shipping (some worldwide) so that is no longer the differentiator that it used to be.

In fact you may have noticed between sites of differing domain names, identical layouts with identical models, with identical prices. This is due to the distributors/importers offering web site owners and path to set up their sites to help make quick sales. There is nothing at all wrong with this approach, but it bolsters my point that your time is better spent researching the options, getting knowledgeable about braking systems, drive mechanisms and shock absorbers since there is not that much price stratification out in the market for this commodity product.

There will indeed be sales during the slow retail periods, and the best way to become aware of these events is via a newsletter like ours that will let you know when one of the sites I follow has a sale.

One thing to think about when shopping for a new gas scooter is the maintenance that that low priced Chinese Import can require. The warranty is good for 30 days and chances are you will need something during that time that will be shipped to you free of charge. But, after the first 30 days is up, when the recoil starter fails that will cost you $30. When the gooseneck that fastens the handle bars to the deck fails, that will be another $30. At this point the $299 American Made Goped that you passed up for the $245 Chinese Import starts to look pretty good. Gopeds come with a factory 90 day warranty and last forever. Neo Scooters goes the extra mile and has their customers acknowledge a Imported Chinese Economy Scooters Notice on their warranty page.

Preferred Gas Scooter Vendors

This page became too long so I had to break it in two. Follow this Preferred Gas Scooter Vendors link to read about the vendors that I track here daily. These are are the vendors that I recommend you do business with based on the categories that I have described above. Where possible I have provided directions to the warranty description pages of each. The easiest way to navigate to all of them is to book mark my site so that you can return here get the link for the next vendor to visit. If you want to save time you can see all the products side by side with a convenient summary of their features at our comparison chart or products gallery.

We try to answer all your questions in the articles above. Still have a question? Write to us at info@gas-scooters-on-the-web.com and we'll answer it.

GOT GAS SCOOTER PARTS?

I get mine from Neo Scooters. What you see below are actual pictures from their parts catalog. No more guessing if you have the right part by an obscure description. They sort by the model of your scooter and have pictures of each part, with the price and part number. With Free Shipping Included, you cannot go wrong. Look for their parts link in the lower left corner of the page the link above on the Neo logo takes you to.

Not convinced that you need another newsletter?; Had you signed up earlier you would have been the first to know about Neo Scooters huge February sale. You would have heard about Rad Scooters buy one get one for half price Dirt Dog sale. You would have been the first to see the new Bladez Moby XL monster just released by Trendtimes.com.

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