Should you buy a brand new or a used scooter?

New scooters are considered by many to be very expensive, and in the past their belief was justified. Nowadays, brand new scooters are cheap, thus eliminating the need for most people to buy a second hand scooter.

Second hand scooters made by popular manufacturers can be very appealing to some people, the brand recognition makes people feel that they have made a sensible purchase.

The reality is that brand named scooters are very overpriced, the cost of manufacturing the scooters is very low and the majority of the retail price is made up of profit, not expense. This is fair, after all, scooter manufacturers are in business, and the sole purpose of business is to make money.

Over the years, new manufacturers have emerged, wanting a piece of the scooter business all to themselves. These manufacturers struggled to make a name for themselves and compete with the more established companies, so, they decided to keep their prices low, and as a result have  made huge sums of money by offering reliable, high quality scooters at bargain prices.

A well known scooter company may make £1000 profit (after costs) on the sale of a scooter whereas a cheap scooter manufacturer may make just £200 profit (after costs) on the sale of a scooter, but the cheaper scooters sell better so the lesser known company makes a good amount of money overall.

So who is the real winner? It is usually the customer and the lesser known scooter companies that reap the biggest rewards, while sales of the overpriced branded scooters start to drop. I mean really, why would people pay 5x more for a scooter that is practically the same as a scooter that costs just £600?

Because brand new scooters are so cheap, the second hand scooter market has dwindled, leaving consumers with a basic choice to make. They can either buy a brand new scooter for about £600, or a second hand scooter for about £600.

Not a tough choice really.