When you purchase a mobility scooter, you should receive some basic guidance on using it and the types of outdoor surfaces that are suitable to use it on, either by the retailer, documentation that comes with your mobility scooter or from a combination of both.

If you have purchased a class 3 mobility scooter then you will know that you can take this type actually on the road and of course that the other types, that are not class 3, need to be kept off of the roads, apart from when you are crossing a road.

Generally most users will be keeping to pavements, occasional road use and areas like outdoor shopping parades and indoor shopping centres.

These are usually areas that will have a suitable surface that enables the tires of your mobility scooter to grip well and there generally wont be too much on these surfaces that could be picked up by the tires that would possibly make them slippery.

Sometimes you might want to take your mobility scooter across an outdoor surface that may not be where you would normally take it but it may be perfectly ok to do so, especially if the weather is not damp or the surface is not ice covered, for example in the fairer weather you might take your mobility scooter across and onto some grass, and this should be fine if the grass is not especially long and that it is not on a slope that could place you in a dangerous situation.

A gravel covered surface may be fine to use your mobility scooter on too, as long as the gravel is not too loose as this could cause your mobility scooter to struggle with grip and you could find that steering across a surface like this is more difficult if the gravel is shifting too much.

A dry sand covered area would in most cases be a bad idea, and would most likely lead to various problems with your mobility scooter and potential damage to it.

Wet compacted sand, like when the sand is wet on a beach near the edge of the water might be suitable to drive over as a surface, if there appears to be no sign of sinking but of course to reach that type or sand surface there will usually be dry loose sand before that, which may prevent you from reaching the wet and possibly better supporting sand on a beach.

If you are tempted to cross any surface, maybe even for a short cut and you see that it might cause you problems, then it’s really best avoided, a grassed area could look ok but if there has been recent rain then it could be muddy and the last thing that you need is getting bogged down in mud while halfway across a field or an area in a park or something.

Also one more thing to consider regarding surfaces is when you take your mobility scooter from the outdoors inside and if the ground is wet from rain, as it will take a few minutes for the tires to dry off, say if you have entered an indoor shopping area, as the floors in some of these could be slippy and dangerous when wet, this could cause the tires to slip a little and you dont want to take any risks in an area with potentially so many people.

So it’s safest to keep speed down and be as cautious as possible while the tires are still drying off, in a shopping centre it’s a good idea to keep your speed down anyway but even more so while theres an increased risk of an accident from wet tires on an indoor surface.

To get the most from your mobility scooter it’s a good idea to look after it well, keep batteries charged and to maintain it well with regular servicing and the replacement of worn parts.

But also some very simple things can make a difference to the running of your mobility scooter and result in very efficient use and ensuring that you get the most from using your scooter.

Making sure that you have the correct tire pressure for the tires on your particular make and model of mobility scooter is important so that you get the best out of the power of your mobility scooter.

If your tires are underinflated, you may find that you are not getting the mileage expected from a full charge of the batteries, also if your tires are inflated too much then this may affect the comfort of your journeys as you will tend to feel the slightest bump because the tires are way too hard from so much pressure.

If you have uneven tire pressure on  your mobility scooter then this could lead to it pulling to one side and you may feel that there is less control and stability of the steering than before, this will of course not usually be connected to any problem with the steering but because each of the tires are inflated at a different pressure and creating an imbalance.

Letting the tires become severely underinflated will lead to drag and will also wear out the outer edges of tires quicker and may result in premature wear of the grip on the tires, leading to them needing to be replsced sooner than would normally be expected.

Do follow any tire pressure advice that is supplied with the mobility scooter, whether in a manual or on a website or from a retailer, it’s important that the pressure is checked every now and then to ensure that the tire pressure is what it should be and that you get the most from your journeys on your mobility scooter.

When it comes to using your mobility scooter, without use of the throttle itself, it pretty much is useless, although the throttle is dependant on other areas of the mobility scooter, like the motor and power from the battery, it’s the throttle that gives you the control and the freedom to get about.

Because the throttle is a moving part and because it is dependant on other parts of the mobility scooter in order to work, it can, from time to time have problems, even though some of the problems may not be directly from the throttle.

Some problems may result in a lack of smooth motion as you control the throttle, and instead of the usual motion that you are used to you may get dead spots or the motion is jerky and unpredictable which can actually make it dangerous to use.

For example you could be crossing a road or travelling on the road and if your mobility scooter is not behaving as normal this could leave you in a dangerous situation if it wont move forwards or backwards when expected.

A fault may exist within the throttle control that can cause problems and lead to abnormal motion as mentioned above with unpredictable acceleration or complete dead spots.

But also you should check the battery, while a complete disconnection of the battery would obviously result in no power at all, it’s possible that a loose, faulty or even dirty connection could interfere with the rest of the parts that rely on power passing through properly for normal operation.

Also the cable leading to the motor needs to be checked to see that nothing is loose or damaged that could lead to the types of problems mentioned.

After checking each of these it’s also worth checking if the motor itself may be the cause of the problem, this doesn’t mean that the whole motor may be at fault but maybe that there are worn brushes within the motor.

While checking each part, it can be a good idea to check some of the easier to test parts first, then you can rule out each one until you find the problem.

The reason that any part of your mobility scooter is not working correctly can sometimes have an obvious answer but this is not always the case and investigating what is happening with or parts can then lead to why another part is not working.

The reliance that one part can have on another means that sometimes it takes a little bit longer to find out the cause of the problem but it also familiarizes you with each area of the mobility scooter if you happen to be doing the work yourself.