I recently went out and bought myself a new scooter. When I was a kid I had a 50cc moped, and it was a great bike. I can’t really describe the sense of freedom that gave me when I first bought it. Turning up at a mate’s house with a couple of cans of beer in the helmet compartment. I felt as if I could go anywhere and do anything. How times change.
I’m not sure scooter that size would be any good for a man of my size any more. So this time I bought myself 125cc scooter. It’s more suitable for a big bloke like me I suppose. Anyway, I got it for practical reasons this time. I do have a car, but I use a gallon a day getting to work, and another gallon getting back. That’s 11 pounds a day on fuel alone.
The first thing I did when I took delivery of my new scooter was to do my little work commute to find out how it compared. I put a gallon of fuel in and drove to work, then drove back. There was traffic, but perhaps not quite so much as they would be during normal working day.
If I said I use less than three quarters of a gallon on the whole trip, I would probably be overestimating it. It may be as little as half a gallon.
So a 55 mile round trip now costs about three pounds rather than costing 10 pounds. It’s a trip I make five times a week or twenty times a month. Let’s add that up. That’s a saving of thirty five quid a week or one hundred and forty pounds a month.
The repayments on my moped are only seventy a month, so even while I’m paying for the bike I’m still making a clean profit. I don’t know why I didn’t do this before.
Of course, there are other advantages of riding a scooter, it’s easier to park, and frequently you don’t have to pay for parking at all. Security is a little bit of an issue, but I have a good scooter chain, and I only park it in proper monitored carparks.
There are times when I need to use the car of course, doing the weekly shop or going on holiday. At the weekends we tend to visit my parents or go to the wife’s parents, and at times like that you have to have a decent vehicle. But most of the rest the time I find myself using my scooter instead of the car, saving more money into the process.
If I’m thinking of popping to the shop to buy some milk or a newspaper, I would frequently drive their in the car, it’s only a mile or two, so I suppose I should really walk, and on cold days are now go on my scooter. It all adds up doesn’t it?
I don’t know whether riding a scooter is for everyone, but I know it has saved me a lot of money in a very short space of time. It’s also a lot more fun than driving a car. The sense of freedom you have is that much greater. Don’t ask me why that is – I don’t think I could explain it.
Perhaps you would consider a scooter as part of your transport. You may find once you do the maths that it’s a lot cheaper than your car, and will pay for itself in no time.
