Selling a mobility scooter

Tiddlywinks

Looking for some advice from anyone in East Berks sort of area.

My mum has got a big buggy (cost nearly £2,000 :eek:) and a small one that fits in the boot. She got the large one to go into town shopping but very soon after getting it she realised that it was really too big to get around the aisles of the smaller shops and she could no longer leave it outside and walk in as her legs have got much worse.

Anyway, it's been sitting in her shed for over a year but is in really good condition so she should sell it rather than just leave it in there. I've looked on ebay and they don't really sell for very much - does anyone know of anywhere that buys and sells secondhand buggies? We don't really want to go back to where she bought it from because she did pay over the odds (she went on her own and it was an impulse buy on her credit card) and he sold her all the accessories as well - I know it was her own fault, I just don't want to go back there.

Any recommendations of trustworthy places would be good.

Thanks

Tiddly

rogerblack

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Anyway, it's been sitting in her shed for over a year but is in really good condition

If it's been sitting in the shed for over a year, not charged, it's likely the batteries need replaced.
At the least, you should charge them immediately, and see if it works at all.

Tiddlywinks

rogerblack wrote: »

If it's been sitting in the shed for over a year, not charged, it's likely the batteries need replaced.
At the least, you should charge them immediately, and see if it works at all.

She has charged it and run it down about once a month so the battery is conditioned well and all works fine.

onejontwo

I recently had the very same problem and after searching for somewhere to sell it to I was offered a fraction of the price I wanted, I ended up selling it on e-bay for a decent price.

Tiddlywinks

onejontwo wrote: »

I recently had the very same problem and after searching for somewhere to sell it to I was offered a fraction of the price I wanted, I ended up selling it on e-bay for a decent price.

The trouble with ebay is that mum doesn't want strangers around but this buggy is too big to get in my car to bring to my house to sell - we'd have to hire a van to move it.

I was hoping someone local to us had a recommendation of a trader that could be trusted.

craftygranny

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

The trouble with ebay is that mum doesn't want strangers around but this buggy is too big to get in my car to bring to my house to sell - we'd have to hire a van to move it.

I was hoping someone local to us had a recommendation of a trader that could be trusted.

Could you put it on ebay with a buy it now price that you would be happy with . You could always send the winner your telephone number to arrange collection from your mums when you can be there. My mum paid 3,000 for hers and 2 years later my sister was offered less than 100 from the local eden mobility shop. she sold it on ebay for about 250 as she put no reserve or buy it now,
I just bought a big one myself only a couple of months old from a dealer and only paid 1,000 compared to the 3,000 the previous owner paid i thought it was a bargain as it is still under warranty but they do lose value as soon as you buy them.

CRH71

You may not realise this but all the "big" scooters do come apart to facilitate transportation. If it's one of the "Rascal" series, it's quite simple and instruction manuals are available free from the manufacturer's website. The instructions look a little daunting initially, but once you've done it once or twice, it becomes quite easy. I am sure that other manufacturers of these products have similar information available from their website(s), too.

You'll need a fairly big car, though, to take it off in unless you can "spread" the parts out over the back seat, for example - by the way, watch the seat "tube" - on ours it was covered in some sort of thick black grease that stained anything it came into contact with - I suggest taking some cheap latex gloves with you to cover this seat tube with during transportation.

As to selling it - can only echo the above posters' advice to eBay it - a dealer will offer you an amount that is, quite frankly, almost insulting for it - for some reason these machines really do not hold their value for long.

CRH71

As an addendum to my last post, I've done some further research today and there IS a website that may be able to assist.

http://www.preloved.co.uk/fuseaction-adverts.listadverts/sec-Home%20and%20Family/cat-Disabilities/subcat-Electric%20Wheelchairs/keyword-mobility%20scooters/e8435a80.html

You can, apparently, place an advert for free (haven't personally tried this site - I was looking at something different today for our scooter and came across this site in one of the searches).

I wish you luck in selling the scooter.