Rentals
Why batteries are usually the answer
A mobility scooter that has stopped being dependable has usually not broken in any dramatic way. The batteries have simply aged out, holding less charge each month until one afternoon it does not make it back. On our own rental fleet this is far and away the most frequent thing we replace, which is the reason we carry the knowledge in the first place.
What we check before replacing anything
The charger, first, because replacing a healthy pair of batteries because the charger quit is an expensive and entirely avoidable mistake. Then the batteries themselves, the connections between them, and whether the pair has been mismatched by an earlier replacement. Only then does a new pair go in.
Getting more life out of the next pair
Charge it after use rather than waiting for it to be flat, and do not leave it sitting empty for weeks. A scooter stored discharged over a winter is the single most reliable way to ruin a good pair of batteries. Use the charger that came with it. Beyond that, batteries are a consumable, and one to three years is the realistic range.
Any brand, not just Pride
Our wider repair service covers Pride and Jazzy. Controllers, tires and diagnostics are work we take on for the lines we can get parts for. Batteries are the exception. A battery swap is the same job on a Drive, a Golden, a Shoprider or a Pride, so we do it on any brand of mobility scooter regardless of where it came from.
Buying the battery on its own
We also sell MK batteries over the counter for people who would rather fit it themselves. Tell us the make and model of the device, or read us what is printed on the battery already in it, and we will match the spec. If we do not stock the right one we will say so rather than sell you something close.
To get you the newest batteries the manufacturer can supply, we don't keep every battery in stock, so you never get batteries that have been sitting on a store shelf for months. We know waiting to get your mobility scooter going is a pain, so we offer half-price mobility scooter rentals while you wait.
MK batteries fit more than scooters. Power wheelchairs and stairlifts run on the same sealed cells, so we can supply those as well. We do not rent or repair either of those devices; a battery is a battery, but that is where our involvement with them ends.
Name-brand batteries vs. the cheap ones online
This is the question we get asked most, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch: you can buy a pair of sealed lead-acid batteries online for a fraction of what a named brand costs. Sometimes that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Here is what actually differs, so you can decide which case you are in.
The warranty is only worth what stands behind it
Both come with one. What differs is whether there is anybody on the other end of it, and whether the terms say anything specific enough to hold to.
An MK battery that fails from a defect in materials or workmanship within twelve months of installation is replaced with a free equivalent. The part worth underlining is who does that: we are a qualified MK Battery distributor, which means we are authorised to execute the warranty ourselves. You bring it back to us, or we come to you, and we swap it.
There is no claim for you to file, no form to fill in, and returning the battery to MK in California is normally not required. We verify the fault, call MK for the replacement, and you carry on. Compare that with packing a sealed lead-acid battery into a box and paying freight to argue your case with a seller you have never spoken to.
One condition to know about, because it is the one people fall foul of: proof of the purchase or installation date is required for every claim. Keep the receipt. We will date it for you when we fit it.
An unbranded battery usually carries a shorter term, no dealer network to execute it, and a seller who may not be trading by the time you need them. That is the real difference. It is not the paperwork, but whether anyone is still standing behind it in twelve months, and whether honoring it costs you a day and a shipping bill.
The number on the label is not independently checked
Capacity is printed as amp-hours, and on unbranded cells that figure is frequently optimistic. Nobody audits it. The practical effect is not that the scooter stops working. It is that your range quietly comes up short of what you paid for, and you find out at the far end of a day out rather than in the driveway. An established brand has a reputation riding on the rating being real.
Who picks up the phone
When a battery fails in week three, the question is who you call. With a named brand bought from a local supplier, that is a person in your metro who can come and look at it. With a marketplace listing it is a message form, a time-zone gap, and an argument about whether the fault is the battery or your charger, which is precisely the diagnosis that needs someone standing in front of the scooter.
Pairs age together, or they do not last
Scooters run two batteries in series, and they have to be a matched pair of the same age and capacity. Cheap batteries frequently ship having sat partly discharged in a warehouse for months, and a pair that starts mismatched drags the stronger cell down to the weaker one. That is the most common reason a bargain pair lasts a fraction of what it should. It is not that the cells are poor, but that they were never matched to begin with.
When the cheap ones are fine
If the scooter is old, lightly used, or a spare you keep for visitors, a budget pair is a sensible way to keep it going without putting more money into it than it is worth. We will tell you when that is the situation you are in. We would rather do that than sell you a premium battery for a scooter that does not warrant one.
Where we would not cut the cost: a scooter someone depends on daily, or one that has to be reliable away from home. A battery that under-delivers is not an inconvenience there, it is being stranded.
The old pair
Sealed lead-acid batteries are recyclable and should not go in a household bin. If we do the replacement, the old pair leaves with us. If you are handling it yourself, you can drop old lead-acid batteries off with us free, or see our guide on disposing of a scooter battery.