Rising Gas Prices

I think lots of us on the forum have mixed feelings about it, because high gas prices partly validates our choice of vehicles.

Some people have already made comments to me along the lines of "you must like the higher gas prices since you drive a hybrid now." My response is that I would have no problem using less gas, and paying less for it.

 

Not to brag, but our family income is way over $75K per year and we still made the decision to abandon a gas guzzler in favor of the Prius. My wife drives about 30,000 miles a year and was driving an SUV that got 15 MPG and ran on premium fuel only. It was a rational decision to get her into a Prius and we are saving over $300 a month as a result.

 

We are indeed about $75K - but that doesn't mean we like paying the prices! We can afford them, it really didn't change our budget too much, but we bought the Prius anyway. It's not just economics for us, but an attempt to lessen US dependency upon oil.

I feel bad for those who can't afford the change in gas prices. How many people have jobs where between higher gas prices and child care costs, it just isn't sensible to continue working?

This is going to hurt the economy (and I heard a report that it already has). As people shift more of their budget to gas, their spending on other things goes down. I heard that people are going to cheaper restaurants, etc. - it's the discretionary stuff that gets cut. So now a whole new bunch of people is getting a double whammy - they are spending more on gas to get to work, AND the amount of work will go down as the businesses they work for get less business.

In the Sienna we were using $200/month for fuel, the Prius will be about $60-$80. Our payment on the Prius is $192. So the fuel savings are going towards the new vehicle, our budget isn't going to change much even with the car payment. I'd rather make payments on a car than to the gas companies!

 

I'm not concerned with the gas prices because with our 2 priuses, we don't use all that much gas. The difference between $2.50 gas and $3.50 gas for our family is about $35 a month.

 

I was certainly feeling the financial effects BEFORE we got the Prius. It was the sole reason for me and the wife to buy one - to save money at the pumps. We've got about an 80 mile round-trip commute and we carpool to save even more (She gets to work early, I wait a little bit for her to pick me up when I'm done). Combined we make about $75-$80K (that's probably not even middle-class these days) and we were certainly starting to feel the hurt in the wallet in her PT Cruiser that we used to use on the drive (about 24mpg). We had to fill up roughly every 3 days (think about it-that's around $250 - $300/month depending on what kind of travel we did on the weekends - that's almost as much as our payment was), now it's more like 7 or 8 days with the Prius and it's awesome! Plus the Prius is just a blast to drive and has way more features than our PT had. I actually used to really like the SUV's - at one time, a few years ago, I really wanted an H2, an Escalade or a big Nissan truck, just because they looked cool I guess. Have retail prices come down on those big gas-guzzlers, are there special incentives or rebates or something? I find it really hard to believe that SUV sales have actually increased with fuel prices where they're at.

 

Nope, I don't fear the rising gas prices, because I know He supplies all of my needs. When I saw that it went up to $3.65 yesterday, yeah I was a little surprised, but not by much.

I don't even make near $75K a year, and I am not hurting, not by a long shot. I just plan a bit smarter when it comes to filling up. Even when I had the Olds, the tank usually got filled when it got to half since it had a slightly bigger tank, and it also was a 4-cylinder. Currently on my Prius I have 281 miles and on half a tank....not too shabby I think.

But at the same time, these price increases makes me glad I gotten my Prius not only to help save on gas, but to have a more environmentally friendly car too.

Those folks on that ABC report that say they will still buy the gas guzzlers are the main reason why the prices are so high....they simply don't care. And the people who don't make that kind of income are really hurting because its less money to do other things because of the increased gas cost, especially younger people trying to establish careers and such. I am sure at some point the businesses will feel the effect too because less people will be spending money because of it. The ripple effect can be pretty devastating for some.

I am sure the prices will drop at some point, but I am sure not going to stop living life because of it. You just have to think smarter.

 

Well, if you can afford a $22,000 base model car, then you have to be making at least 50k/yr. The reason we dont talk about gas prices as much as say, the caddy escilade forums do, is because we do make enough money that we arent hurt as much by raising gas prices, and oh ya, we drive 60 mpg hybrid cars.

 

I don't make anything near $75,000/yr but I do make an effort to spend my money wisely. Contributing to my retirement fund is priority #1, contributing to short-term savings is priority #2, and everything else is planned so that I can meet #1 and #2. The cost of fuel is a non-issue right now because I avoid spending money on stupid things...like a $500/mo payment on a car that's too big and uses too much gas.

Staying out of the race with the Jonses is critical to financial security and general peace of mind. It also helps to be really anal about keeping receipts and putting them into the spreadsheet.

 

Wait till next year. I've never seen so many trucks and suvs for sale lately.

 

I too fall into the >$75k category and when gas hit $3.19 here in GA and I put $80 in my 04 Tundra that was the last straw. I traded it the next day.

I think its each persons personal economic sense and desires that make them either care or not care what they pay at the pump.

Me personally, I get livid and down right angry every quarter and year when I read the financial reports from Exxon/Mobil/Shell/etc.... and their bend us over at the pump profits. "For the 2006 year the company earned net income of $36.1 billion, or $33.9 billion excluding special items. That's up 31 percent from the $25.9 billion it earned on that basis year earlier."

Every consumer should get just as angry. As our PPG goes up, so does their massive profits. Those are PROFITS, not Operating Expense but PURE PROFIT. And its all coming out of our pockets when Gas could easily be much lower.

Its the Frog in Water effect.

Toss a frog into boiling water and he'll jump right out of it.
Ex: take gas from $0.99 to $3.09 in one swing

BUT,

Put a frog in cold water and slowly raise the temperature and he'll boil to death.
Ex: spend 3 years taking gas from $0.99 to $3.19 in slow incremental steps
(THIS is what is currently happening to the consumer, us.)

The same people that don't care about spending $3-4/gallon are probably the similar to the people that didn't care when cigarette prices went up and up and up over time, swearing they'd quit when Marlboros hit $2/pack years ago yet they still smoke today.

Eventually enough is enough and some people wake up and do something about it while others continue to sleep through it.

To each his own

 

I don't make anything near $75k nor even $50k and the cost of gas has hurt me even driving a Prius. I am a janitor who saves money to get the things I want, and that is how I was able to get a Prius. It's nice to be able to drive by the gas station for longer periods of time before filling up, but when I finally do, it does hurt financially. What little I get for a raise each year will probably be consumed by my gas tank.

 

The oil companies' profits are up in sheer dollar amounts - but their profit margin has stayed pretty much the same. They are making more money because they are selling more gasoline.

I have a small business, a PT photography studio. My profits are double what they were last year. I didn't double my prices - but I did double the amount of customers. So someone could easily say I was gouging because I made twice as much as I did last year, but that's not the case.

The oil companies sell gas for the prices they do because they can. When demand goes down because people are buying more efficient vehicles, or carpooling, or cutting down the miles they drive - that is when we'll see prices go down.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(spideyman @ May 23 2007, 07:40 AM) [snapback]448151[/snapback]</div>

Except for the job, I'm like this too. My wife has a Windstar, which we use for major carrying and trips with 4+ people. Most of her weekly budget goes into the tank. She's a techophobe and has yet to even get behind the wheel of my Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Walker1 @ May 23 2007, 07:50 AM) [snapback]448051[/snapback]</div>

I make over $75,00, and boy was I happy to dump my gas guzzling SUV.

Yes, I can afford gas at today's prices, but I refuse to be gouged at any rate, and didn't really need that SUV anyway, (except for toting around my huge dogs), thus the move to a hybrid.

 

Yes we are way way below the 75k mark I am disabled and we live in a rural town.
If I had the 75k plus income I would still be in Cali. on the coast but no It would have been worse if we did not buy the prius when we did we save approx 225.00 a month on fuel alone now. You gotta do what you gotta do.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Walker1 @ May 23 2007, 05:50 AM) [snapback]448051[/snapback]</div>

No. It just means most of us are driving a Prius, and just gloating that it's not costing us nearly as much as it is everyone else.

Dave M.

 

High gas prices haven't affected me, but I don't drive that much to begin with -- no more than 15-20k miles per year and that's divided between 4 cars, including the Prius.

My daily driver is my SUV which gets about 12 mpg, which is almost entirely City driving -- trips to the back country and snow will increase that to about 15 mpg. My sports car gets about 25-30 mpg, which is all back road & highway driving. My truck gets about 9-10mpg of almost all highway driving -- that's because it's big & heavy and has a 500 hp engine -- and fill ups for it of about 25 gals (it has a 34 gal tank) of premium (that's all it takes) cost close to $100 at $3.69-3.89 a gallon in overpriced San Francisco, which is why I bought the Prius. It allows me to average down the cost of gas -- between the Prius and the other cars, particularly the truck & SUV. I average about 25 mpg overall, between all 4 cars, which is just fine w/me.

Frankly, the cost of gas wouldn't affect me until it hit $5 a gallon and, even then, I could afford it, but would probably drive the Prius more often, unless I needed the SUV or truck for a specific purpose. On the other hand, the sports car is irreplaceable for the purpose it serves. The Prius is a very functional vehicle, but, I'm sorry, it just doesn't cut it when it's a sunny day and you want to drive the back roads w/the top down, an attractive "friend" in the passenger seat and the wind in your hair.

Sorry if this offends anyone's "green" sensibilities, but I like to have FUN when I'm driving. BTW, there is an all electric sports car in pre-production. It's called the Tesla and there's a $75k buy in, which is not an acceptable financial trade off to drive "green." The Tesla is quick and handles well, but has no engine noise (which is part of the fun) and has a 150 mile range limitation, so I doubt I'd ever buy one, even if it means buying an environmentally unfriendly Porsche or Corvette instead.