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With the rising price of gas and concerns for the environment many people are looking for a cheap, less polluting alternative for getting around town. Enter the humble scooter. Not only do scooters cost less to run and pollute the atmosphere less than your typical motor car, they are cheap to buy also.

Their rise in popularity over the years has seen a number of different companies get involved in the manufacture of scooters and as a result the price of a new scooter straight from the showroom floor is now lower that it ever has been. Of course you still have your classics like the post world war two Vespa’s and Lambretta’s that continue to command sky high prices but many scooters are being manufactured and imported from countries such as China and are taking the market over.

An interesting fact is that any scooters manufactured after 2006 produce on average 72 percent less CO2 that the average car and 78 percent less than the average SUV! Seventy percent is a huge reduction in CO2 and when you consider that a lot of trips done in these ‘typical’ cars could be done on a scooter you soon realize that today’s pollution levels could be reduced dramatically if we all looked for alternatives to using our cars for every single trip.

Over the years the humble scooter hasn’t exactly had a sterling reputation with a lot of people seeing them as a slow, maybe even ugly form of transportation. Well things have changed. Now days there are gas scooter models that range in engine size from 50cc right up to 500cc. Although the smaller and less powerful scooters should only be used for local commuting the larger models, usually with 250cc engines or bigger, are well suited to highway riding with some models going over the 60mph mark as a top speed.

Another area where a scooter shines compared to the typical motor car is in our busy cities where parking space is at a premium and traffic congestion can be an absolute nightmare to contend with. Many people are finding that the beauty of owning a scooter is that they can park as close to the office as possible and can negotiate the peak hour traffic a lot easier than if they were driving the family car.

Throughout the world there are many different rulings on licensing and registration requirements for scooters and you should always check with your local authorities before deciding on a scooter for yourself. Another important consideration is not to just buy the cheapest one that you come across. Although it may be keenly priced you may pay the price down the track when something goes wrong and parts and service costs are through the roof. Also be sure to check the warranty length and conditions, you don’t want to be left high and dry in six months time with a broken scooter and no way of repairing it!