We’ll, we dodged a bullet by leasing rather than buying our Toyota Highlander four years ago. We just turned it in, and even though we got hit with a $1200 disposal cost (including “excessive” wear and tear), at least we don’t have to worry about $4.00+ gasoline costs now that Karen is driving a 34 combined mpg Toyota Camry Hybrid (I drive a 42 combined mpg Honda Civic Hybrid; both numbers are real world fuel economy figures). Others aren’t so lucky, according to the Wall Street Journal:
Most people who buy a new car or truck don’t think they are making a risky bet on the commodity futures market. But they are. Just ask someone who’s trying to unload a large sport-utility vehicle purchased in the last two or three years.
The market for large, second-hand SUVs is going through its own version of the mortgage market’s meltdown — and for some of the same reasons. GM’s Hummer H2s and Chevy Tahoes and Toyota’s Sequoias were adjuncts to a lifestyle built on cheap energy. Because gas was cheap, living farther from work in order to buy a larger home in a former corn field (or desert) was a reasonable economic decision. Shuttling 100 miles a day from school to work to mall to Costco was a trivial expense — $10 or so when gas was $1.50 a gallon. You could spend more supplying all your passengers with 20-ounce bottles of Coca-Cola.
We’ve also cut back on our $4.00 drinks at Starbucks as well, both to lose weight while fattening our wallets. More on Starbucks later…
Aneil
Filed under: Industry Analysis, Potpourri, Rants and Raves, Technology | Tagged: fuel economy, gasoline prices, GM, hybrid cars, inflation, starbucks, Toyota
