Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise
5 hours ago
Friday, November 14, 2014
SUV sales
The unexpected drop in gas prices has stimulated SUV sales. How does this make any sense? Let's say we get real lucky and the price of gas stays at its lower rates for a year. Heck, let's get crazy and say that it stays low for two years. Most folks finance their vehicle purchase. 6 year loans are pretty common. When the price of gas shoots back up they'll still be on the hook for 4 – 5 years of SUV payments.
Maybe they think they'll just trade it and get something more fuel efficient if the price of gas shoots up again. They could do that, but anyone else remember what happens to trade in values of gas guzzlers when gas prices are high? What happens to people's memories when they go car shopping?
I'm not against SUVs in principle. For some things they make perfect sense. Contractors can put a bunch of workers and their tools in one. What doesn't make sense is all the SUVs out there that have just one or two people in it 99% of the time.
Of course, I'm the guy who desperately looked for alternatives when gas got to a dollar. A dollar for a gallon of gas? Outrageous! Who can afford that?
SUV sales is just part of a larger human problem of perception. We expect tomorrow to be pretty much like today. Too many of us make long term decisions on short term conditions.
-Sixbears
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People have no common sense, and they don't teach logical thinking in schools anymore (it would defeat their purpose).
ReplyDeleteThe ability to plan for the future is definitely a neglected skill.
DeleteI read that article also. Wow, like gas prices won't go back up? No common sense.
ReplyDeleteNone indeed. Expecting prices to stay low is just wishful thinking.
DeleteI can remember when I first started driving, gas was around twenty cents a gallon and at some stations, less than that. During one of the past so called gasoline shortages, I bought a two year old Chrysler New Yorker with a 440 cubic inch engine for almost nothing. When the price of gas came back down, I was still ahead.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I bought a big station waggon in the 80s with a 318 V8. Since I only spent $50 for the car and another $80 to get it on the road, I could afford the gas. It got about 18 - 20 mpg, no matter how I drove it or how it was loaded.
DeleteOne of the perks I was getting from my jog at the time in Detroit, was that they had made arrangements with the gas station just outside the plant gates that all supervision would get free gasoline and all we had to do was sign for it.
ReplyDeleteNice perk!
Deleteit is just another "status toy" like wall screen tv's, having a condo or vacation home, the latest pad from apple' ectra......
ReplyDeletethese are the people whom going to scream when it goes all away
invest in ear plugs
Wildflower
I guess I don't understand status. All I see is stupidity.
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