It’s not just Tom Hanks and friends riding them in the new movie Larry Crowne, US scooter sales have revved up 50% Q1 2011 from a year ago. High gas prices are helping drive the trend towards scooters, which can get 70 mpg and only need filling every 2-3 weeks, depending on your use. Plus they’re cute. But there is one key difference between this year’s boom and the one three years ago:

“This year, the market is thriving but not like it did in 2008 when customers were buying scooters with their credit cards,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Not as many people are getting approved for financing,” Mike Frankovich, owner of NoHo Scooters in North Hollywood told the paper.

I wonder how many scooters got repo’d during the downturn. Now there’s some footage I’d like to see on Operation Repo. Some trendster chasing after a big burly repo guy driving off with his Vespa.

For tips on snagging a good deal on a scooter, check out this intel from Consumer Reports.

Scooter sales surge after two-year slump [Los Angeles Times]

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