How is the gas pump affecting your plans....

[perry]

Today when gassing my car a young man approached me and asked how much milage I got with my car.

First I told him that I have a full sized van at home, and then told him that the car got 30-40 MPG depending on city/country driving and winter/summer weather - and that currently I was averaging close to 40 MPG.

I commented on his pickup to the effect that it should get better than my fullsized van that gets about 13.

He winced as he commented that he had a V-10 in the pickup and that he got - at best - 10 MPG. Gas was obviously having a huge effect on him, and I doubt that his truck was much more than a year old (he''s still paying for it).

I wonder how this will affect people''s buying habits. How much is life cut back to pay for gas. It may not matter much to me if I don''t eat out as often; but it will matter to the resturants and wait staff (not that I eat out much anyway). How much does it affect travel related recreational business...

I''ve got to wonder. At 30-40 MPG for the car - gas prices really do not affect me much. The van is only normally used for trips that you need something of that size (it stays parked a lot) - thus the cost of the gas is not really relevent. I see a lot of "multi-car" families where both vehicles are large enough not to get good gas milage; and only a few others that have done like I have with a low cost & hight milage commute/travel car from myself; and a lager nicer vehicle for when it is needed.

Perry

 

[cnspotts]

DH and I have been talking about this like so many others. The higher cost is not really affecting me very much but I certainly don''t like it.

Recently DH started using our little ''89 honda civic again, put new tires on it and gave it a good tune up. He drives a great deal between 3 cities each 3 hours apart and says it''s getting 37-40 mpg which is much better than his other car. I can''t imagine having car payments and a low gas mileage car right now, thankfully I don''t have to. When he was having the tires installed the guy said it''s amazing right now how many small old cars like ours are being used again.

Our insurance agent asked if it has any theft prevention features, DH laughed and said "ony it''s visual appearance."

She chuckled a bit at that.

 

[perry]

You are right about how many older things are coming back to life... I have a neihbor who is fixing up his moped, that hasn''t been used in a decade. He told me that he got the last set of plates in stock at the DMV. The DMV telling him that they can''t keep up with all the registrations of old mopeds.

I have always used my small car. I only got the Van last fall (bought it used for $2500 and then spent $10,000 really fixing it up - new engine, transmission, breaks, and other basic mechanical work: essentially, it''s mechanically new now). And no payments...

I like you line about the antitheft features.... My car is over a decade old and was totaled almost 4 years ago (a deer hit me). As the car was otherwise in good mechanical shape I bought it back for $200 and did some minor sheet metal work and replaced the corner lights - but it is obviously banged up. I don''t think anyone would be interested in it either...

Perry

 

[cnspotts]

Yep, I was going to mention that I''m seeing more mopeds around here too! Has anyone else noticed the number of larger SUV''s for sale in the paper too? I''ve been noticing this trend for several months now.

 

[tawn]

I think there will definitely be an impact on the rest of the economy. My girlfriends and I were talking about how we''ve quit running small errands, impulse shopping trips, going to the movies, going for coffee or out to eat. We''re sticking really close to home, and only going out when we really need to. And...no day trips either! Restaurants and retailers, and even grocery stores must be feeling it!

We were planning 6 Flags, a camping/fishing trip, and a trip to LA. We cancelled all of them, because we could buy plane tickets with the amount of gas we''ll use!

Thank goodness we just bought a motorcycle! We''ve been using that a lot! Oh, and we joined Netflix so we don''t have to drive to the video store!