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DEL.ICIO.USPain at the pump altering our habits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gas prices had just surpassed the $4 a gallon mark.
Roy K. Hendee III of Norcross didn’t foresee any respite in regards to petro prices anytime soon. So Hendee, 43, single with no kids, made a decision.
He put his 2004 Lincoln Navigator - his “rolling cream puff” - on the market. He sent out an e-mail to people who could use a large vehicle, friends and colleagues with families. I got the e-mail. I know Hendee from my college days. We lived on the same floor one year in UGA’s Milledge Hall.
“Never had so much as a hiccup out of [the SUV] except at the gas pump,” he quipped in his e-mail.
There’s one good thing about spiraling gas prices. They’ve become motivators, tipping scales. They are getting more of us to follow the example of Hendee - who’s in the commercial real estate business - to think differently about what we drive and how we drive as it relates to work or pleasure.
Gwinnettians are commuting and car pooling more. A June 12 AJC Gwinnett News story stated the number of people who’ve asked to join the Clean Air Campaign’s alternative commute incentives program has more than doubled compared with the same period in 2007.
Since the 2008 year began, 424 people who work or live here asked to join the program. Compare that with the first five months of 2007, when only 207 inquired. That same Gwinnett News story stated that about 50,000 Gwinnett residents car pooled or took mass transit in 2006, the highest number of any metro Atlanta county. Of course, that’s just a drop in the bucket, since a U.S. Census report showed 80 percent of working Gwinnettians - or 265,000 people - drove solo to work that same year.
But it’s a start, a reflection of a metrowide trend. This region’s drivers are adapting to alternative sources of commuting at one of the fastest rates in the nation, according to a May survey by the IBM Institute for Electronic Government.
At the state Capitol, Gov. Sonny Perdue has experienced an about-face on transportation issues. Last week he held a news conference to announce his full support for a proposed commuter rail line that links Atlanta with Lovejoy. He also wants to act aggressively on transportation alternatives.
In a matter of days, Hendee was able to unload his Navigator for $18,000 or so. His experience may have been gruesome at a car dealership. Drastically so.
Jeff Burg, a car salesman for Ed Voyles Acura, told me about a customer who wanted to trade in a 2007 Nissan Titan that contained all the fancy bells and whistles.
“Just loaded out,” said Burg, recalling the $42,000 truck.
The used-car sales manager checked with wholesalers to ascertain the truck’s value. Burg relayed the bad news. The value came in at $20,000, but even at that price, no wholesalers, who represent used car dealerships, wanted it.
“I’ve never seen that happen in all my years in the industry,” Burg told me. “Gas prices are so high that trucks and V-8s aren’t wanted on car lots. It has everything to do with gas prices.”
After his Navigator sold, Hendee bought a 2007 Infiniti M-45. It lists a fuel economy of 19 miles per gallon in the city and 23 mpg on the highway.
“This is the first vehicle purchase that I’d ever made in which miles per gallon factored into the purchase decision,” he told me. “I am getting significantly better gas mileage. The 4.5 liter, V-8 isn’t exactly a hybrid, but it’s a step in the right direction. I just couldn’t justify 11 miles per gallon any longer.”
Who can?
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By Jeff
June 17, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
Rick:
Most of y’all aint got NOTHING on me!
I drive 100 miles ONE WAY to work right now. Even though I drive a 2006 Altima that gets roughly 30mpg, I STILL use roughly $600/month right now in gas just to get back and forth to work!
If you want it, I developed a spreadsheet based on my driving vs what I could be driving if I worked in Albany rather than Macon. It shows the difference in gas price between driving 1K miles a week vs 200 miles a week by both month and year for prices between $3.50 and $8.50. I’ve found it pretty dang informative, you and/or your readers might as well.
By Melissa
June 17, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
Last year when my husband worked in Norcross, just 17 miles from our house, his commute was an hour one-way! The mileage of the commute wasn’t the killer…sitting in stop and go traffic was. At the same time, I worked in Lawrenceville, 15 miles from home with a 45 minute one-way commute. Now we are fortunate enough to work from home. We fuel our vehicles every 2-3 weeks, shop locally rather than running all over the place, and plan ahead to combine trips. We have an SUV (Nissan Xterra) and a small car (VW Jetta) and tend to use the car for local travel and the SUV for long road trips.
By Jeff
June 17, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
To the coward that posted at 10:05:
Funny thing is, you surf this place MORE than I do. Matter of fact, the fact that you seem to find me where ever I post on here begins to lend credence to a stalking and/ or harassment charge…
Gee, I wonder what YOUR boss thinks…
By RandolphCountySchoolAtty.
June 17, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
“…begins to lend credence to a stalking and/ or harassment charge…”
Jeff you are officially served with a cease and desist. Remember me from Randolph County. I was the person who escorted you out of the school while you were boo hooing:)
By Jeff
June 17, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
Rick:
I do apologize, sir, that my presence here has brought the cowardly troll to your board. This person insists on attacking me without reason - and even worse, without facts - and has been doing so on virtually any board I’ve appeared on here on ajc.com over the last few months.
I urge all to simply ignore him (or possibly her), and I will continue to persue all legal options as far as getting him arrested and charged with harassment.
By Badie
June 17, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this
Jeff: No need to apologize. Sorry to see that you have a nut on your tail. Believe me. I know what that’s like. Be safe. PEACE!
By Bruce Wilcox
June 17, 2008 12:56 PM | Link to this
My poor truck only get’s out every few weeks for a short trip to BJ’s and Lowes, otherwise it sits remembering it’s glory days. The only reason we take it out then is to keep the fluids moving and charge up the battery. I’ll never get rid of the truck, it is handy and I like to do projects that require the space to transport materials.
We have a compact that’s great on gas, that is the main transport now. The only problem is there isn’t a lot of room to carry items.
Can you imagine if we listened to Al Gore back in the early 90’s when he wanted to add a dollar to the gasoline tax just for research. We may have kicked the oil habit by now, too bad.
By jc
June 17, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this
It cost me more now to mow my lawn, then it did 10 years ago to drive my care a week
By gas
June 17, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this
That’s nothing, jc, it costs me more to huff gasoline fumes for ten minutes, than it did to drive from Detroit to San Fransisco in 1972. Even if you adjust for 2008 dollars, man.
I used to keep a gallon of gas in my trunk in case of emergencies, and I’m so glad, cause now, I’ve got my own gas station, well, it’s just my old gallon container and a card table with an umbrella, but business has been brisk. Here comes a sucker now…..gotta go.
By Charles
June 17, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
Badie: “They are getting more of us to follow the example of Hendee - to think differently about what we drive and how we drive as it relates to work or pleasure.”
So…what happened to thinking BEFORE purchasing? You could’ve done : Option A) Get a sufficient car, knowing that you’ll need it for a few years, or B) Get a car with so many bells and whistles that you don’t really need then sell it later, reducing the value of the car’s resale.
I think we shouldn’t follow his example at all. We should’ve thought about it the FIRST TIME!!
Good grief - what happened to smart shopping?
By Nemesis
June 18, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this
Jeff: Maybe you are getting harassed because you are an arrogant racist with delusions of grandeur. Ever thought of that?
By Katie
June 18, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this
I’ve kept driving the way I always have. I know that my government will always send me a welfare check if I get into trouble with my finances. They will keep sending checks because I am middle class and they need to keep the economy going. They want me to spend and spend until I can’t get out of debt. They will always be there to bail me out.
This is not what I believe, but this is what many people I talk to and work with believe. this is the mentality of many people and a major problem with this country today. The goverment needs to stop bailing people out and allow them to hit rock bottom—just like a drug user. The government needs to allow people to lose their homes and to learn what responsibility is.