Tips on buying a new scooter

Life Cars & Motorcycles
1

Hi all, wondering if anyone here has experience buying a new scooter? I’m thinking of buying from somewhere like Carrefour or RT Mart.

Anyone got any tips on things I should be aware of? For example:

  1. What are those serial numbers that people get imprinted all over their scooter? Is that standard, or does it cost extra? I guess it’s some kind of anti-theft thing??
  2. Should I look for (and are there any) insurance policies that cover theft? Mine will be parked on the street.
  3. I assume new scooters come with some sort of warranty? What’s normal?

Any other tips on buying a new scooter ??? :notworthy:

BTW, I’m looking at the ‘SYM GR125 limited’. Not looking for anything flash or too nickable. Any advice appreciated.

2

No answers, sorry, only more questions.

What are the pros/cons of buying a new scooter at places like Carrefour as opposed to a small scooter shop. Do the prices differ a lot? What about servicing the scooter? And if there are any minor problems will the chain stores be able to see to them?

3

Don’t buy a new scooter. No seriously, just don’t. Why flush 60k+ on something you can get for 15-20? There really are not many advantages to new in the realm of scooters. Worried about reliability? Well, the fact that it won’t break down too soon is hardly a big bonus because the most expensive repair (blown cylinder) on a scooter is under 10k. Besides, it will get scratched to shit the minute you park in public. And you sound worried about theft, so there’s another reason to buy used. No need to spray paint squiggles all over that shit like A-Bei. :bow:

4

Can’t help about the buying new bit, but I’ll add to Tiger’s post - if the scooter you are looking at has loads of plastic panels like mine (I’ve got a Fighter) - you can replace all of them for about 3000nt anyway and have it look brand new again :slight_smile:

5
  1. Those serial numbers are to link those parts to you and your scooter registration. You can get it done at the police station. Most scooter thefts are for parts and plastic, so having those serial numbers all over the body helps prevent theft in its’ own way.
  2. Yes, you can look for theft insurance, but when I bought my new scooter, it didn’t even cover a third of the cost. Also I noticed that the theft coverage went down, so in the first 3 months it was at less than a third, and upto the end of the year it was about 10%.
    To me, it’s not worth it. Just get a good disk brake lock if you are that worried about it. It will at least make you take your keys out of the ignition, if the lock key is on the same key-chain as the ignition key. (Leaving the keys in the ignition is easy to do and
    probably the most common cause of bike thefts.)
  3. Warranty is usually 3 years for the engine and 1 year for everything else.
6

Are you wanting a scooter over a motorcycle because they’re cheaper and more available where you are?

7

Can anyone provide some confirmation on this? Some scooters come with theft insurance (like the Kymco 110 cc cute one that my wife likes). For the ones that don’t, you can buy theft insurance for 3,000 NT for one year, at least for the Kymco brand. Is this worth it? Or does it go down progressively as mentioned above, making it basically worthless in my opinion? My gut instinct is to buy used so that I don’t have to worry about this at all, but it’s getting harder to find places that sell used scooters in the area of our house (I want to buy from a place close by so that I can go there conveniently any time anything breaks down).

8

[quote=“BlackAdder”]Hi all, wondering if anyone here has experience buying a new scooter? I’m thinking of buying from somewhere like Carrefour or RT Mart.

Anyone got any tips on things I should be aware of? For example:

  1. What are those serial numbers that people get imprinted all over their scooter? Is that standard, or does it cost extra? I guess it’s some kind of anti-theft thing??
  2. Should I look for (and are there any) insurance policies that cover theft? Mine will be parked on the street.
  3. I assume new scooters come with some sort of warranty? What’s normal?

Any other tips on buying a new scooter ??? :notworthy:

BTW, I’m looking at the ‘SYM GR125 limited’. Not looking for anything flash or too nickable. Any advice appreciated.[/quote]

One reason I would say not to buy from Carrefour or RT Mart is because they have a set price. Unless their prices are much lower you can negotiate at a local Sym/Kymco dealer and probably get a better price.

  1. Those link everything to your scooter so they can try to track stolen parts. My bike came with it standard.
  2. I wasn’t able to cover theft on my bike but that may be because its a motorcycle and not a scooter. Also you can buy a lock that goes through the wheel to prevent it from moving. However if they are really determined they can always steal something.
  3. Yes depending on the brand they will come with a warranty. Normally 1-2 years but different models may vary.

If you’re parking on the street I would recommend not buying new as it will be scratched within a week. There are plenty of second hand shops that sell scooters for much cheaper. Just make sure you take it for a test ride and that its been properly maintained. If you do need to do some repairs to it, it shouldn’t cost a whole lot.