Irrational responses to the high gas price

[Soriak]

I understand that a lot of people have just barely been getting by before the price of gas went up and are now experiencing difficult times... but some reactions just defy any and all logic. Here are three I've read about:


1. Selling a relatively new low-mileage car at a significant loss, then buying a new hybrid.

Let's just do a rough estimation here: Used car bought for $8k, sold at $4k - down $4k. New hybrid, $20k or more if they're going with a Prius. So right away, they're down $24k.

Let's assume the new car has twice the mileage and they really drive a lot, spending $3,000/year on gas with the old car. That's a saving of $1,500. Even before considering the discount rate (money in the future is worth less than money today) and the likely higher insurance cost, it'd take 16 years for this to pay off. Do they keep their new car that long? Probably not.


2. Just read this in a NYTimes article here: A quickly growing number of people run out of gas while driving somewhere. They try to get as far as possible on one tank of gas... why? It's not like they pay a fee for each time they tank, it's the amount going in that matters.

One guy mentioned now tanks only for $20, but does so frequently. I get that some people have to stretch their paychecks, but unless you're getting paid daily, it really doesn't matter when you tank. In fact, he's probably driving (and spending) more because he has to go to a tank station all the time.

The article also mentions someone who tried to cheat his way to free gas. When his car gets stranded, he gets a courtesy gallon free of charge - so on the same day, he called it in with 3 of his cars. This is quite a big scam for $12 worth of gas and surely pales compared to the cost of insurance for 3 cars.

Never mind that by driving with such a low amount of gas, you risk damaging the fuel pump - according to the article, this costs $500 - $1,000 to replace.


3. People will drive for miles to get to a gas station that has lower prices. Some time ago, I read in an article that people at one gas station were waiting in line for over an hour, because the gas there was a few cents cheaper.

So they pay the cost of driving there, they use up a lot of gas driving up in the slowly moving line AND they lose valuable time. Just hope it wasn't hot and they had to leave the engine running for the air condition...


Why do people do this? It just doesn't make any sense on any level... are there more irrational responses to the high gas price?

[Malakriss]

Car payments are monthly and stretched out for years. Gas payments are at least weekly and may fluctuate even higher.

Either way, your (ir)rational perspective is irrelevant beyond yourself and your situation. Everyone else has their own.

[realadxm]

I use public transport. Maybe that's not an option for everyone but at least here in Melbourne, Australia the transport is great. Cost me $28 per week and i'm saving so much money not having a car.

[spronk]

stupid people rule

[Chanur]

I cant tell you the sheer number of people that cant even use their debit or credit card. Its like 70%. Its unreal. I don't expect them to be any brighter in any other facet of their life.

[fat12]

Cars are for chumps! Bike (bicycle) and bus only for me here in the ATX.

[Mkopec1]

No bikes are for chumps, now take out my garbage, bitch.

Thank god I live close to my work, about 10 miles or so. They wifey puts on like 5K miles a year so her gas cost is negligeable.

I can honestly say that gas prices would have to double from what they are today to really start affecting my driving habits. And then maybe consider some more gas friendly vehicles. But right now we spend about $100 a month for gas. And I drive home for lunch 3 out of 5 days. (extra 3 round trips for the slow)

For a comparison I spend about $250 for electricity monthly in the summer, $250 for gas in the winter for heating. So I could easily save more money being more efficient in those realms than fucking with my driving habits.

Fuck, my cable and internet bill is around $120 a month.

[Azrayne]

Originally Posted by realadxm

I use public transport. Maybe that's not an option for everyone but at least here in Melbourne, Australia the transport is great. Cost me $28 per week and i'm saving so much money not having a car.

Likewise in Adelaide. I can pretty much get wherever (if not necessarily whenever) I need to go for a $2.50 ticket, I honestly can't imagine myself buying a car any time in the next 5 years, I just don't need it.

[Mkopec1]

I dont know how the mass transit system works but $2.50 a trip can add up son.

I would be paying $25 just to get back and forth from work paying those prces, which I spend about $25 for gas and can drive whnever and wherever the fuck I want plus the trips to and from work. Obviously not counting the cost of the vehicle since mine has been paid off for the last 3 yrs.

[Cad]

Originally Posted by Mkopec1

Obviously not counting the cost of the vehicle since mine has been paid off for the last 3 yrs.

Yea I forgot vehicles stop depreciating when they are paid off.

Oh wait.

[Cathan]

Originally Posted by Soriak

I understand that a lot of people have just barely been getting by before the price of gas went up and are now experiencing difficult times... but some reactions just defy any and all logic. Here are three I've read about:


1. Selling a relatively new low-mileage car at a significant loss, then buying a new hybrid.

Let's just do a rough estimation here: Used car bought for $8k, sold at $4k - down $4k. New hybrid, $20k or more if they're going with a Prius. So right away, they're down $24k.

Let's assume the new car has twice the mileage and they really drive a lot, spending $3,000/year on gas with the old car. That's a saving of $1,500. Even before considering the discount rate (money in the future is worth less than money today) and the likely higher insurance cost, it'd take 16 years for this to pay off. Do they keep their new car that long? Probably not.

Hybrids have a nice tax break with them you can deduct come tax time also. Some people also are willing to take the hit to get a hybrid to help out the environment also. Not saying I would do it, but to some the money is less of an issue than the environment to them.

A while back the I think it was the Prius that was in hellacious demand and backlogged several months. One guy was selling his new Prius he was driving for higher than the sticker price he bought it for, by a few thousand dollars (somethin like 5K$ more than what he paid for it). I dunno if he sold it or not. Resale value is probably pretty good on hybrids right now.

I talked to a guy recently that went looking for a Civic and he said you could buy a new one for about the same as a used one, maybe not literally but a few k more for a brand new model w/ the mfr warranty etc?

I drive a 94 civic myself w/ 322,000+ miles on it. I got 39.5 mpg this last week off a tank of gas, almost all freeway miles and it was a good traffic week but I never get less than 30 mpg. I love that car. It's got so many miles on it and the car still looks good. I call it the tank.

My friend has a steep driveway at his house and he parked in front of my car the other week. I asked him if he put the park brake on and he said yeah. I said good cuz I don't want your car rollin back into the honda and tearin your car all to hell

[Blide]

Saw some retards the other day protesting at a gas station about high prices. The gas stations can really do jack shit about the gas prices and protesting at a random gas station just hurts the station's sales. Any sort of protest about gas prices is useless since everyone is getting hurt by it; just due varying incomes it takes a larger portion of some people's incomes than others but everyone is still paying the same price more or less. Protests are about bringing awareness to issues and possibly changes but at this point it is futile since everyone knows about it and there's really nothing that can be done.

[Soriak]

Originally Posted by Cathan

Hybrids have a nice tax break with them you can deduct come tax time also. Some people also are willing to take the hit to get a hybrid to help out the environment also. Not saying I would do it, but to some the money is less of an issue than the environment to them.

Yeah, that's understandable, though not really informed either. A Prius uses more energy over its lifetime than a Hummer right now. Part of it is the shorter lifetime (100k miles vs 300k miles), part of it the additional accessories and part the much more specialized components. A Hummer is steel and shit that's used in other vehicles also.

The number of hybrids being sold would still have to increase a lot before economics of scale would tip in its favor. Whether it makes sense to buy hybrids now to encourage research into better hybrids, I don't know. Short-term, it's not a good call though.

[Dis]

A real method to "save" money for gas is this:

If you regularly drive 70 to 75, try dropping down to 60 to 65. In a SUV/Truck you can improve your gas mileage 2 to 3 MPG going 60 to 65 vs. 70 to 75. Netting you about $9 to $12 a fill up.

In a car, you can typically see 7 to 10 MPG improvement in doing the above suggested. Netting you $7 to $10 a fill up.

Mind you when you are driving you want to minimize your throttling, try to drive an a consistant speed. It is possible, I live in Houston and have seen a marked improvement in my MPG on my Pilot. I have gotten 24 MPG at one time, but on average I sit around 20-21 MPG city driving. Before prices went sky high I would average around 18 +/- MPG.

The reason for the drastic difference in gas savings between SUV/Truck vs. car is typically the bigger engines pulling the weight. Wish I had a link to the study, but it has been done, and I tried it. Currently swear by it. I love my Pilot, use it a lot for work, but expensive to fill up. I can tolerate driving it a bit better now that have at least cracked 20 MPG.

Also, talking about car purchases, my wife recently got a new car which I pretty much determined would be an Accord. After we got to the dealership, my wife decided she would be fine with a Civic (she wanted to drive a small car). So we spent around 18k for a Civic EX.

Now take into account a comparable equipped Accord would have cost us around 22k (rims, Sunroof, XM etc). Also, take into account that the gas mileage on an Accord is 19/27 vs. Civic 30/34ish. So you figure we saved 4k on the initial purchase, then we are saving about 10ish dollars a fillup. Combine that with my change in driving habits, we are "Saving" (but in quotes because we obviously are increasing our spend since gas prices rise) $2400 give or take a couple of hundred.

I currently only drive the Pilot for work, transporting our dogs, or when I have to use it for transporting large goods. Pretty much all you can do really, besides public transportation is change your driving habits, and make good informed car purchases (we really didnt need an Accord, Civic has suited us just fine). All the rest of the email quick fixes are scams.

[Vinen]

Yeah, I've lolling at stupid people with high gas prices.

I personally just said screw it and found a more stable, higher paying job which is less then 10 miles away from me. Will be within walking distance when I move into my new apartment in a few months... effective 10k raise... hell yeah (new job pays ~60 previous paid 56... previous was in MA... bye bye MA taxes and buying gas!)