I owned one of these scooters for a couple years and it was an absolute joy. You can ride right into most stores (larger ones anyhow), pleasure ride (with your pet) at your liesure, and so on. But then there's the down side to these China made misfits.....virtually no conventional local mechanics either knows how or wants to service them because they are unknowns and the parts are usually exclusively provided by the seller......who in most cases resides hundreds or thousands of miles from you. Even the national broker WSR (wheelchair and scooter repair) network could not locate anyone willing to take on my repair needs. I live in Delaware and bought my GT-3 (looked just like an Electric Wheels E-36) from a California dealer, for example. I did most of my own servicing including replacing broken plastic body parts, bulbs, even put in a new motor and gearbox, but when it developed an electrical problem (power not getting to the motor)......well, that was over my head. And as it turned out, not even mechanics from a local electric bike shop (nor some of their known fellow mechanics) could figure out the problem. They told me my only choice left was to have the entire scooter re-wired at an estimated cost of $700-$800.....not much of a choice from my perspective. I also need new tires, new batteries and some new plastic body parts, so by the time I did all that I felt the costs would be better spent on a new one......and thus my dilemma.
As much as I thoroughly enjoyed that scooter, I ask myself if I really want to risk $2,000 or so by going down that highly precarious road again? I would welcome hearing from any of you who can speak knowledgeably about this narrow class of 15mph mobility scooters and perhaps which, if any, you may think would be the most reliable and/or serviceable. They don't seem to be getting more popular or prolific and the reasons I cited above are no doubt a major cause of that fact, because they are otherwise terrific recreational vehicles that don't require a license, registration, titling or insurance. As a matter of fact I couldn't find any American insurance companies that would cover them with a stand alone policy. There are a couple in the United Kingdom, but not here.
Looking forward to hearing any enlightening comments or suggestions......Thanks for looking in any case
As much as I thoroughly enjoyed that scooter, I ask myself if I really want to risk $2,000 or so by going down that highly precarious road again? I would welcome hearing from any of you who can speak knowledgeably about this narrow class of 15mph mobility scooters and perhaps which, if any, you may think would be the most reliable and/or serviceable. They don't seem to be getting more popular or prolific and the reasons I cited above are no doubt a major cause of that fact, because they are otherwise terrific recreational vehicles that don't require a license, registration, titling or insurance. As a matter of fact I couldn't find any American insurance companies that would cover them with a stand alone policy. There are a couple in the United Kingdom, but not here.
Looking forward to hearing any enlightening comments or suggestions......Thanks for looking in any case
