TheScooterScoop

Gas is expensive, scooter sales are booming, blah blah blah and OH! Wait! This time they are giving a little primer to potential scooter buyers to stay away from the “too good to be true” online scooter deals. That’s nice! Here’s the snippet:

Iconic in Europe, where gas has always been at a premium, scooters have yet to fully catch up in the United States, but the upsurge in gasoline prices may change that.

A factor that hurt consumer interest in the past was the unreliability of cheap models — many imported from China — introduced into the United States in the past decade.

“They were very inexpensive, but these Chinese mass-produced scooters came without a warranty, and you couldn’t get parts or service for them,” said Ernie Martin’s son, David. “They were almost disposable.”

The machines had many mechanical issues that became headaches for their owners.

“Six months later, the repairs would cost as much as the bikes,” David Martin said.

Often bought through the Internet, these scooters sold for as little as $400.

But the savings were false, because, in many instances, unsuspecting buyers couldn’t get the vehicles registered because the brands didn’t meet the Environmental Protection Agency requirements that would have put them in the approved list for registration in Florida.

A couple of years ago, staff at the tag bureau routinely had to break the news to many scooter owners that their vehicles could only be legally ridden on private property.

Importers had sneaked the scooters through the ports, often placing three or four Florida-approved scooters in front of the container, while the rest of the cargo consisted of bikes that could never get a license.

As port inspections tightened and the dust settled, the problem has eased.

“A lot of these cheap bikes are now stuck in the port,” David Martin said.