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Scooter damage by airlines and insurance questions


mlbcruiser
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Considering buying a light weight folding travel scooter. If we check it with our bags or get it gate checked when we reach the boarding area, I wonder what the risk of damage is?   Additionally, I wonder if there is any type of insurance one can buy any protection to prevent breakage and cover repair costs such as the ones offered with appliances, furniture and such? (IHaven’t noticed any offered when looking at the various scooter styles, prices, ordering info and vendors online.)
Thanks for any helpful info!

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10 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

Considering buying a light weight folding travel scooter. If we check it with our bags or get it gate checked when we reach the boarding area, I wonder what the risk of damage is?   Additionally, I wonder if there is any type of insurance one can buy any protection to prevent breakage and cover repair costs such as the ones offered with appliances, furniture and such? (IHaven’t noticed any offered when looking at the various scooter styles, prices, ordering info and vendors online.)
Thanks for any helpful info!

I travel with a repair kit.....electrical tape, screwdriver, adj wrench, a few extra bolts.  There are lots of types of damage, from dropping it 50 feet to it bouncing around and loosing a bolt.  Prior each trip, all bolts and screws should be checked for tightness.  Look at your chair upright and upside down.  (folding ones for this).  If you see a dial, or control that is not protected, take an extra step to protect it.  What kind of wheels does it have?  blow up, or solid?  Repair kit for that. 

 

At some point, it will be handled rough, and have things break, or damaged, or scratched.  At the end of the day, as long as it works, moves my wife, and I can fix it, I'm ok

 

The issue is the cost is higher than what insurance will pay.  Even travel insurance.  After 4 trips, the chair pays for itself in rental costs.  It's only used on vacations, or other "long trips".  It's always will need some fixing.  There are parts, like batteries that will need to be changed.  So for every piece of damage, you can file a claim with an airlines, and maybe get something for the damage, and go fix things and enjoy the trip. 

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Your point is well taken. The tools will be heavy and I'll already have all my dh's bags and my own, plus the scooter. 

I'd only buy one with a lithium battery, but those wear out as well, of course. Thanks for the tip about making sure to look over all the "parts" before and after handing it over to an airline.  For us, purchasing one would cost about 8 times what we have rented one for. However, if one is going to do a cruise from, say, Chile to California and a drop off is required, I know from having checked in the past that it would run a good deal more than our usual cost to rent. 

 

Thanks for replying.

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I used a travelscoot scooter for 10 years before I had to change to a "fold-and-go" wheelchair as I no longer have the balance to step across the center of the scooter. I traveled extensively with the scooter and would suggest having two batteries. I only ran the battery down once but it was wonderful to have a second battery to get back to the ship. I kept the battery charged overnight and alternated between the two batteries. I also purchased a second charger so if the original broke I would have a back-up. I never used the extra charger.

For airplane travel I went to a "Dick's" sporting good store and bought a hard sided golf case. My husband was with me and we collapsed the scooter and made sure it would fit into the golf carrier. This worked well and the scooter survived all the travel. 

Finally, we got a rider on our homeowners insurance to cover our scooter and have kept it for my wheelchair. It is only about $24 per year and covers "accidental" damage and theft.

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Thank you for some really valuable tips, katisdale.  I have seen a couple of travel scooters that have cases as options. I don’t think the Pride folding scooter has one as an option  but I could be wrong.   Perhaps I could find something that might work, though. Some of the cases I have seen in the ads appear to be made out of nylon or vinyl. A golf case for a Travelscoot is a great idea but wouldn’t work for the shape of the one we are thinking of getting. I am happy to hear of the good luck you had with your scooter at and that it lasted a long time. Thanks again for all the info and for taking the time to reply.

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18 hours ago, katisdale said:

I used a travelscoot scooter for 10 years before I had to change to a "fold-and-go" wheelchair as I no longer have the balance to step across the center of the scooter. I traveled extensively with the scooter and would suggest having two batteries. I only ran the battery down once but it was wonderful to have a second battery to get back to the ship. I kept the battery charged overnight and alternated between the two batteries. I also purchased a second charger so if the original broke I would have a back-up. I never used the extra charger.

For airplane travel I went to a "Dick's" sporting good store and bought a hard sided golf case. My husband was with me and we collapsed the scooter and made sure it would fit into the golf carrier. This worked well and the scooter survived all the travel. 

Finally, we got a rider on our homeowners insurance to cover our scooter and have kept it for my wheelchair. It is only about $24 per year and covers "accidental" damage and theft.

I agree with the extra battery.  We have a lithium, and a spare drycell pack.  (Tzora Elite travel).  The lithium last a long time, but we have run out of juice on occasion near the end of the day, especially if there were a lot of hills.  The tools actually only weigh about a pound, so not much to give up.  We also carry an extra charger, and usually have it in a pack back to "freshen up" the battery if possible.  The lithium takes 2 hours so eating someplace, I might get a quick 1 hour charge in which tops the battery off again.  I'm going to look into the homeowner insurance.  The chair has never been destroyed but bolts and plastic cracked.

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