Why does using a scooter as transport save you money? You can save on five key areas: Cost of vehicle, price of gasoline, costs of tires, expense of upkeep, and insurance.

Read on for some legit reasons for hopping onto your scooter—or buying one today.

Pick Your Ride

Everybody wants to a ride that’s real, and so ultimately the swag in your style depends on your pocketbook. Imagine buying something mid-sized and low priced, like a Chevrolet Cruze.

It ranks fifth out of 40 affordable car models. To put one in your driveway you can expect to pay anywhere from $17,868 to $24,214 for a 2013 model.

Not bad, really, when you think that a Toyota Prius can take you up to $29,228, and many cars go way beyond that.

What if you opt for a scooter? The most basic Vespa LX 50 4V single 49cc engine with a catalytic converter will hit your pocketbook at only $3,399.

Even if you want to buy something a bit richer, like a GTS 300 IE Super, with a 278 cc single-catalysed 4-stroke engine that utilises electronic injection, finished in satin black, the price tag reads $6,399.

Even an Evolve Titanium comes in at less than $7,000.

True, some of the big adventure bikes cost more, but they’re still less than an auto. 4 Cylinder, 4 stroke, 4-valves HI-PER4 engine with catalytic co!

Have Gas, Will Travel

You might think you’re getting pretty good gas mileage if you drive the Cruze: In the city you’ll get 26 miles per gallon, and on the highway you’ll cruise at a whopping 38 mpg. That equals a combined mpg of 30. A Prius hybrid will do you a whole lot better, with 51 city, 48 highway, or 50 mpg combined driving.

Some of the electric hybrids fool you into a sense of false complacency. The 2014 Chevrolet Volt will travel 38 miles using nothing but electricity at a cost of 4.1 cents per mile. However, once you reach mile 39, the car runs strictly on gasoline, taking 10.4 cents out of your wallet for every mile you drive.

When you do your math that still isn’t bad. Suppose you drive 40 miles to grandma’s house. For the first 39 miles, it costs you $1.59 for the electrical portion of your trip, and then $4.10 to get back home, a total of $5.69.

For each extra mile, it’s another dime.

However, what if you take the full 80 miles on a Vespa? Just take a spin on a GTS 300 that we mentioned above. You’re going to get 65-70 mpg and even 80 at full speed. So for your entire 80 mile trip, you’ll pay the cost of just a little over a gallon of gas, still under $4.00 in the United States.

Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’

So you’ve bought a scooter at one-fourth the cost of a car, and now you’re hardly ever filling the tank. There’s nothing as dialed as a scooter:

Tires. What’s a pretty grand scooter tire? How about the Michelin City Grip tire—and get some deep shoulder sipes for best performance when the roads are slick.

You’ll can find one if you look for just 60 bucks. O

n the other hand, the tire on a Chevy Cruze will set you back from $63 to $112 depending on how much performance you want to buy. And don’t forget—that’s just for one tire, and on a car, of course, you have to buy at least two at a time. A set of four can cost between $300 and $500. If you find a buy three, get one free deal, they’ll just make up the difference with a higher installation charge.

Maintenance.

Whether you drive a car or a scooter, you’ve got to perform routine maintenance, such changing the oil, air filter or cleaner, and so forth. Let’s just consider the cost of an oil change: With a Chevy Cruze (sorry to keep picking on this car, actually a good ride for the buck if that’s what you want), you have to change the oil every 10,000 miles. An oil change will set you back about 30 bucks, unless you do it yourself for maybe $20 plus a mess.

Consider the Vespa scooter, which needs new oil every 1,000 miles—but it only takes one litre, and you can do it yourself in about five minutes.

Riding With Assurance

Or with insurance, that is. The insurance on your scooter will come to about half the amount you would pay for a car. Of course, insurance price all depends on a variety of factors, such as where you live, how old you are, your driving record, and so forth. But scooters do cost less to insure, because they’re a lower-cost vehicle in the first place. Rest assured that this is just one other area where you will save on your monthly or yearly costs.

The Verdict

All expenses considered, there are countless ways that using a scooter as transport will save you money.

We haven’t even touched on other reasons to own a scooter—the convenient of parking, and the unmitigated sheer fun of taking off down the road, whether you’re in the city or aiming to ride off down the highway, easy, breezy, and steezy, that leads into the Western sunset. Have fun!