When purchasing mobility products the thought of insurance may not be the first thing on a purchasers mind but with mobility scooters costing a considerable amount of money it is definately a product worth insuring.

While for most people, a mobility scooter will be generally easy to use but there is always the chance of an accident happening while using one, even if only a minor accident.

Most of the time you will probably have your mobility scooter stored safely and quite securely but theres a risk of being the victim of a theft or even damage occurring to your scooter through some unforeseen situation and if your mobility scooter is not insured you could find yourself having to replace it all out of your own pocket.

The ownership and use of a mobility scooter can open up a whole range of possibilities, mostly the benefit of being able to get out and about but also the risk of small accidents, for example hitting a pedestrian accidentally or a parked vehicle.

While you may have home insurance and contents insurance a policy of home contents insurance will often only cover your belongings while they are within the property, so having individual cover for your mobility scooter can be good so that you are covered against possible accidents, thefts and damage while out using your mobility scooter.

As you will be aware there are always places that may not have a permanent ramp in place and if you are using a wheelchair or a mobility scooter it can create difficulties when there are steps to get over and sometimes gaps that can cause a problem for a wheelchair or mobility scooter.

Fortunately there is a good selection of lightweight ramps that are portable and can be carried like a suitcase so that where a short ramp may be needed the ramp can be quickly put in place and creates a much better entrance and exist for an individual using mobility products.

The ramps can also be used to provide a safe and sturdy exit from a vehicle where there may not be an actual fitted ramp in place on a vehicle.

The ramps are designed to be easy to unfold and to put into place and are purposely designed to bear high weight loads.

They can be purchased for well under £100 but if you require more from your purchase then you can pay substantially more.

Generally a shorter length ramp will be more suited to curbs and steps, for example a 2ft ramp up to a 4ft ramp, and you will find ramps longer than 4ft, up to 6ft more suited to being used for mobility scooters and wheelchairs exiting a vehicle.

It is important that a mobility ramp is not used beyond its intended use and a shorter ramp should never be positioned at a steep incline if it is not intended to be used to that degree.

After you have used your mobility scooter, even if it was only for a short trip it is a good idea to charge the battery after each individual use of the scooter, you may not have used much of the power in the battery but its better to make sure that your battery is fully charged again and ready for the next time that you need to use the mobility scooter.

Even if you have not used your mobility scooter as much at a certain time, maybe one week you have needed to go out less, its still best to regularly charge and not go too long in between battery charges.

Keeping the battery clean, especially the terminals will help to ensure that your battery gets a proper charge and making sure that the connections to the terminals are on tight enough before attempting to charge the battery is always worth a moment of your time.

Ideally a 12 hour constant charge of the battery each time you charge is better than putting it on to charge for just an hour or two.

After a battery has been in use and charged many times it will gradually lose its performance and if you find that a full charge no longer provides the usual distance range that you were getting and that the mobility scooter doesn’t operate as smoothly as it did before, theres a chance that the battery needs to be replaced, though its always worth having the rest of the scooter checked out first incase any performance problems are related to another part of the scooter and not neccessarily the scooters battery.

When needing to charge your mobility scooter you will either have a removable battery that can be charged on its own or the scooter may require that the battery stays in place while the mobilty scooter is charged up again, in the case of the latter, you will normally find a charging point on the scooter instead of the battery.

If you do need to charge the mobility scooter without removing the battery then you will need to make sure that you have access to a mains outlet, either within your home, garage or a shed, if the battery needs to be removed to be charged, then having an individual who can regularly perform this for you is probably the best idea.

Its worth reading through the manual that will have come with your mobility scooter too, incase there are any specific instructions regarding the charging of the battery and you should only use a charger compatible with your mobility scooter and its battery.

If your mobility scooter and/or its battery are brand new it will usually require a full charge from new, before use.