Don't Waste Your Money

Summary: As little as ten to twenty years ago, when you brought your car to the shop for repairs, there were shady people that would find more wrong with your car than you realized. With the increased reports of fraud and unhappy consumers, the governing bodies for auto shops and garages have passed consumer protection laws. With this protection, garages and auto shops that attempt to take advantage of the customers would face heavy penalties. As garages and auto shops received wor...

As little as ten to twenty years ago, when you brought your car to the shop for repairs, there were shady people that would find more wrong with your car than you realized. With the increased reports of fraud and unhappy consumers, the governing bodies for auto shops and garages have passed consumer protection laws. With this protection, garages and auto shops that attempt to take advantage of the customers would face heavy penalties. As garages and auto shops received word, the reports of such practices have declined dramatically. Though there are a few here and there, they are now among the minority. This practice has unfortunately crossed over or migrated to other industries. It is unfortunate that greed and money continues to influence how some businesses treat their customers. As an example; People come into the shop all the time telling us that they need new batteries. We always ask how many and more importantly, how do you know that you need new batteries? With today's electric scooters, the batteries are setup in a series. In five years, I have had to replace all the batteries in a multi battery scooter in less than a handful of occasions. Approximately ninety five percent of the time, only one battery needs to be replaced. Don't waste your money. When someone tells you that you need to replace all of your batters in your electric scooter, follow these tips. 1. Open the compartment that houses the batteries 2. Make a diagram of how they are connected; you will want to make sure that you reconnect them the same way. 3. Disconnect the batteries so that each one is separate. 4. Now get a twelve volt charger so that you can test the charge and verify the voltage. a. A good battery will read between 13.3 and 14.8 volts b. If the voltage reads 10 volts or below, then definitely replace that battery. If the voltage reads 12 volts and up, that battery is still questionable in our book. But, it does not need immediate replacement. c. If the battery charger comes up with a fault reading, usually it will be due to bad connection and if your connections are right, then that battery cannot be charged - Replace the battery. i. All this is assumed that you have hooked the battery up to a 12 volt battery charger and waited for the battery to charge completely. ii. We use the automatic charger that shuts off if there is a fault or when indicates complete charge. 5. Now you know which battery is bad and you can replace that battery. If the other batteries will charge up to 13.3 volts or higher, then those batteries DO NOT need replacing. So "DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY" Now that you know which battery is giving you grief, you can save a bundle by taking it to your local Batteries Plus or 1-800 Batteries shop. These batteries are standard stock and instead of paying up to fifty dollars per battery, you can get them as low as twenty-five to thirty dollars. Dealers will charge you up to fifty-five dollars a piece, so "DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY".