How to Buy Your First Mobility Scooter

If you’re in the market for your very first mobility scooter, then you’ve come to the right place. This guide will give you the essential information you need to help you find the scooter that best suits your individual needs.

There’s a great deal of choice out there, and this can make the search incredibly daunting at first. Once you start to narrow the search down, however, you’ll get to know about the various types of scooters and what kind of benefits they can provide you.

Here are some top tips to help you get started.

Focus on Your Needs

What exactly do you need the scooter for? It’s important to think about your lifestyle, your mobility, your size, and your current living situation, as there’s no universal solution – it’s all about what works best for you.

For example, if you find it extremely hard to leave the house, you’ll likely need a specialist scooter supplier to come and assess your needs.

Try them Out

Buying your first mobility scooter is not unlike getting a car – it’s vital you take it for a test drive!

If you’ve arranged for a specialist supplier to come to your home, they should bring a range of products for you to try out, so make sure you take advantage.

When you’re trying out your prospective scooter, you need to think about a few key points, which include:

Comfortability

You might be spending a fair amount of time in your new mobility scooter, so it’s crucial that it’s comfy. This might not be apparent straightaway, so it’s worth trying to envision how it would perform in the future.

Controls

It’s critical that you can reach the controls, otherwise, you might have a hard time going anywhere at all. Some models will have adjustable features, but you should expect to pay a little more for this.

Storage

Does it have room for your groceries? Storage can be a defining factor for some people.

Accessories

Does it come with all the accessories that you need? You may have to ask just to make sure, as some retailers will have optional extras you can pay a bit more for.

If you have to limit the range of scooters you take a look at to test them all out, it’s probably worth doing, as scooters can be expensive, and you don’t want to end up with an uncomfortable ride.

Watch Out for Additional Services

It’s important to find out whether or not your retailer offers advice and follow-up support. This way, if you have any problems, you can benefit from their expert advice.

It’s also worth keeping an eye out for any product guarantees on offer, as you likely want to be covered in the event that your scooter stops working.

You should make a point to ask the retailer questions, too, such as:

• Are there repair services and spare parts readily available for my scooter should anything happen?
• Does it come with all the necessary accessories?
• Are there support manuals and training services available?
• When will the scooter be delivered?
• Do you offer insurance?

The last point is incredibly important, as your retailer may be able to offer you a special deal on insurance once you buy the scooter. You don’t necessarily need insurance, and if you’re not quite sure if it applies to you, don’t hesitate to ask.

The Cost

You can generally expect to pay anything between £1000 and £3000 for a new mobility scooter, so it’s safe to say they vary in price substantially.

The more expensive models tend to have more adjustable features, longer battery life, and various other benefits.

However, if you go online, there’s every chance you’ll be able to cut down on the price substantially, even by as much as half in some cases.

However, there are some obvious drawbacks to shopping online, such as a lack of test-driving options, delivery wait times, and a lack of face-to-face support.A

good middle ground would be to find and try out the scooter you like in real life before hopping online to see if you can get it cheaper.

Speaking of getting it cheaper, it’s always worth haggling. If you’re paying the full retail price, you are probably not getting the best deal by any means.

There’s usually a deal to be made, so make sure you ask about it before you’re stuck with the full price tag.

If you can’t quite afford the price tag, you could always consider leasing or buying second-hand. Mobility scooters are not usually made available on the NHS, but there are charities out there that may be able to help with the cost. Just give ‘mobility scooter charity funding’ a quick Google search.

Hopefully, this guide has given you the information you need to get started – good luck on your search!