By Carol Fletcher
McClatchy News Service
HACKENSACK, N.J. — Call it scooter-mania.
Skyrocketing gas prices and the warm weather have triggered a buying frenzy of highly fuel-efficient scooters that has emptied most dealers and increased sales of scooter insurance policies.
What’s drawing customers to the two-wheel side is their high gas mileage: Small-engine scooters — those with 50 cubic centimeters — can get up to 100 miles per gallon; larger ones — 650cc — get 50 to 70 miles per gallon.
Paramus, N.J., resident Joe Tramontana, 48, drives his new Vespa to his job in Tenafly and uses it to take his 12-year-old daughter to her day camp, rather than his Nissan Armada. The Armada was costing him $120 a week to fill the tank; the Vespa, $7 every couple of weeks.
“They’re a lot of fun to ride, and the gas prices are ridiculous,” he said.
Dealers say interest in scooters and small- to medium-size motorcycles, which also get higher gas mileage, began in May when gasoline prices approached $4 a gallon, where prices have remained.
Top speeds for scooters can vary based on make and model, but dealers say the 50cc can reach around 40 mph, the 150cc between 60 to 70 mph and some 650cc can exceed 100 mph.
“We have not a one,” said Edgar Luzunaris, sales manager for Ramsey Motorsports. “People keep coming in and saying they want to save on fuel, but they’re a couple months late on the idea.”
It’s the same story elsewhere: The normally less popular vehicles dealers stock in small numbers are in high demand. Manufacturers didn’t anticipate the rush, so dealers have been unable to bring in new stock. Dealers say they are increasing next year’s orders for scooters and small to medium bikes.
Auto insurers that offer motorcycle policies — required in New Jersey for scooters — also are seeing sharp increases in the number of new scooter policies sold this year compared with previous years.
Scooters are powered mostly by gas engines and differ from motorcycles with engines in the back and a step-through design. They’re considered easier to ride because you don’t have to shift gears.
Engine size is measured in cubic centimeters ranging from 500cc (they can get up to 100 mpg) to about 650cc (they can get about 50 miles per gallon). Costs range from $1,899 to more than $8,000.
New Jersey considers most scooters motorcycles, so riders must get a motorcycle license, registration and insurance. Classes on how to ride the two-wheel vehicles are not required, but the state recommends them.
It was a good time to sell scooters, dealers say, when they had them in stock.
Bergen Sportcycles in Lodi said June’s scooter business was up 60 percent over June 2007. Ramsey Motorsports said its scooter sales jumped 30 percent in the second quarter and 24 percent in the first quarter over last year. Pompton Honda in Pompton Plains saw scooter sales surge 15 percent in the first two quarters.
“There’s a market now, and gas prices aren’t going down,” said Gary La Forgia, co-owner of Bergen Sportcycles. “The problem is, they’re not available.”
He’s sold all but three of his 50 scooters when he normally sells two to maybe five for the year. La Forgia plans to increase his inventory to 150 next year. He also sold out of the Honda Rebel, a small, 250cc motorcycle.
Tom Bellusci, general manager for Pompton Honda in Pompton Plains, has only three scooters left out of about 12, he said, including last year’s leftovers. He plans to buy twice the number for next year, he said.
Demand for Vespa and Piaggio scooters at manufacturer Piaggio Group Americas Inc.’s new Jersey City dealership caught general manager Elizabeth Young off guard.
She said the dealership, open since June 10, has been selling at least two to three scooters a day, clearing out 20 percent of its inventory in the first 21/2 weeks.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” said Young. “I would expect that as we grew, but immediately, I wasn’t ready.”
Nationwide, late-spring sales broke records for the Italian manufacturer, with June sales soaring 146 percent over last June and 106 percent in May, said Piaggio spokeswoman Elke Martin at its Manhattan headquarters.
“It’s certainly driven by fuel prices,” said Martin, but she also said sales have increased consistently in recent years.
Also fueling the interest is that weekend joy riders are now taking their scooters to work because of high gas prices.
New Jersey scooter sales increased 36 percent over the past five years and 395 percent over 10 years, said Mike Mount, spokesman for the Motorcycle Industry Council in Irvine, Calif.
Customers want anything that gets more than 50 miles per gallon, including small- to medium-size motorcycles.
The “50 mpg, stop in here,” sign outside Bergen County Harley-Davidson in Rochelle Park has made May and June “fantastic” in sales for small bikes that normally are slow sellers, said owner Liz DiGennaro, who expected sales to fall as the economy slowed.
“We’ve increased our orders for 2009 for the 500-to-883ccs by 10 percent,” she said. “We haven’t done that for about five years.”
In Passaic, customers bought all six of F.W. Speer Yamaha’s 50-mile-per-gallon, $6,000 medium-engine bikes, the ones no one used to want before this year, said owner Vito Addabbo.
Motorcycle riding classes, which people can take to learn how to ride a scooter, are booked into the fall at the Bergen Harley-Davidson dealership.
Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck is adding a scooter-riding class in late August for graduates of its basic motorcycle class in response to more than 10 calls since March.
The scooter demand has prompted some die-hard motorcycle dealers to reconsider selling them.
“Economic conditions permit us to grow the business a bit by bringing in scooters,” said Addabbo.
Auto insurers are seeing a ripple effect.
Dollars made from selling scooter policies were up 50 percent for motorcycle insurer Rider Insurance Agency Inc. in Springfield, 30 percent of which are new policies, said Nicole Vokoun, marketing and dealer operations manager.
Within New Jersey, Allstate Insurance Co. in Roanoke, Va., had a 94 percent surge in new scooter policies between April and June of this year compared with the same time in 2007. The Progressive Corp. in Mayfield Village, Ohio, saw an 80 percent jump from January to June over the same period in 2007. Other insurers also saw increases.
While scooter and motorcycle sales are hot, their profit margins are not, say dealers, and some suspect it’s temporary.
“It helped the bottom line somewhat,” said La Forgia, “but there’s not a great margin on those.” He said he makes $400 from a $2,600 scooter and about $1,500 from a $10,000 motorcycle.
Addabbo said scooters and bikes are not “a transportation industry yet” and that bad weather and cheaper gas prices will slow the trend.
But Martin said Americans are seeing the fun of scooter driving, albeit because of high gas prices.
“I think we’re creating a whole new generation of people riding on two wheels,” said Martin.
— The Hackensack, N.J., Record
