Maintenance costs?

[pixell]

I'm just starting off on scootering, and my MSP course is next week. For my first scooter, I thought it would be a good idea to go for the Buddy - if I drop it, it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to fix. Or will it?

This page had some rather shocking (at least to me...) Vespa maintenance costs. What about the Buddy? From what I understand, maintenance is included during the first 2 years. But after that, what maintenance costs will I be looking at?

[Lostmycage]

Defects are covered by the 2 year warranty, but service items come out of your pocket, unless you've got some pre-paid service worked out with your dealer. Oil, tires, brake pads, lamps... the usual stuff. I hope your dealer didn't tell you otherwise.

The plastics are fairly cheap to replace, should you need to. If you're starting out with the MSF course, you're starting out on the right foot. Well done on that.

Welcome to MB and scootering. Be sure to check out the New member thread, the Tech section and the FAQs/Guide Section.

[MYSCTR]

This page had some rather shocking (at least to me...) Vespa maintenance costs.

Almost makes you want to just buy something really cheap so you can just throw it away when it breaks. Like something from China eh?

Now that will get someone all bent out of shape!

[Vic]

Yeah, Vespas are pretty amazing machines, but you are going to pay to keep them going unless you have the skill to handle it for yourself.

It is hard to tell about maintenance costs, it seems to vary by locale, your dealer should be able to provide you with some ideas of what is typical based on the recommended service intervals.

Some things are going to also vary based on your riding style, how much you ride, and options that you might choose.
For example you will, eventually, need new tires and it seems to be really hard to tell how long tires are going to last because tire wear is impacted by a whole fitsful of variables
Just off the top of my head some of those may be:
~passenger weight
~do you have a backrack/topcase and carry a lot of weight on there
road conditions in your area
~the tires themselves (soft tires give better grip but sacrifice life, harder tires last longer but sacrifice some of that grip)
~the storage of the scooter when not riding (they can dry rot if left long enough in not-ideal conditions)

At the shop that I go to, they charge a flat fee of $40 to remove a wheel, replace the tire, and replace the wheel. Some shops will charge less if you remove the wheel and just bring it to them, some charge more for the back wheel because it is harder to access...

Your dealer can't give you a promise of exactly how much it will cost you but they ought to be able to give you a good idea of about how much various services typically cost and how often various things typically need to be done so that you have a very general, ballpark idea of what to expect if you have them do all of your services.

Cheers,
-v

[nateandcourt]

This page had some rather shocking (at least to me...) Vespa maintenance costs.

Almost makes you want to just buy something really cheap so you can just throw it away when it breaks. Like something from China eh?

Now that will get someone all bent out of shape!

I have had quite a few of those . I don't plan on going back, at least after the wheel fell off of my neighbors..

My wife wants to learn how to drive a scoot. she suggested the same thing. I told her we are just gonna get a buddy 125 or 150 for her. While driving a scoot is risky in itself I do not want to place her on a scoot that is more likely to suffer such critical failures.

[DutchIV]

I've just got to reply to the shocking Vespa costs.

I've got an LX 150 and a GTV 250ie. In the last 2 years I've spent around $300 at my dealers on maintenance and repair on 3 Piaggio scooters. I had a BV 200 but sold it last month.

I had to buy a battery for the LX 150 but it was the original battery 4 years old. I also had to do the first checkup on it a year ago and it was around $200. Oil changes, carb adjustment and cleaning, new sparkplug and fixing the rear brake. It wouldn't start when I pulled the rear brake handle. Just the front brake.

Recently I had to put a rear tire on the GTV. It was going to cost an hour labor and the cost of the tire around $50. When I went to the dealer I asked him to do an oil change while I had it in the shop. They changed the oil and tire while I waited. When it came time to settle up I reminded them that they said they would cut me a deal as I'd helped on their first scooter rally. They said I was correct and just charged me $51 for the tire, a quart of oil and the filter.

Of course I think I've got an extraordinary dealer. Their customer service is top notch and their prices are very reasonable.

Maybe my experience is out of the norm but so far I'm very pleased with my total cost of ownership.

Now if I could just stop buying accessories I'd have it made.

[Cheshire]

A big factor will be how fast you accumulate mileage. How much you just spend in a year...that's hinged on how addicted to voodoo, accessories/add-ons, scootering "stuffits" you become. I'm pretty far gone.

Learning to change my own oil helped quite a bit for my maintenance costs. Parts are pretty inexpensive as well, especially compared to motorcycles. I've yet to have a service visit break the $200 threshold, including parts and labor. Most of the time they're double digits.