Weep, weep for the yuppies - they cannot sell their SUVs! Seattle PI

Before Brian Bird listed his wife's 2002 Suburban, he did some checking. Average seller's price in the classifieds was about $33,500. Reasonable enough. So that's the price he set on the loaded, low-mileage 4x4. That was 3 1/2 months ago -- before filling up the Suburban hit almost $60 a pop, before dealers started listing equivalent cars below $30,000, and before some car buyers began wondering if the oversized sport utility vehicle might be going the way of the supersized meal.

Today -- national "Stick It to Them Day," according to online organizers of a one-day gas-buying boycott -- the Birds' 2002 Suburban is selling at $30,500/or best offer. Bird has received one call. No call-back. "As gas prices go up, it's like being out in the desert," the Whidbey Islander developer said.

It's a silence familiar to other sellers of large SUVs, as the price of gasoline rolls past $2 a gallon and private parties pull prices on the autos far below Blue Book values. Then wait and wait. With the average price of gas swelling to $2.25 a gallon in the Seattle area, SUV owners are increasingly doing double-takes on daintier gas-sippers, such as compacts, and hybrids -- even mini sport-utility vehicles.

"I'm looking for a smaller Japanese engine, something more fuel-efficient," says Michael Miller, a salesman who regularly travels from his Redmond home to Bellingham. He's had his beloved 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee -- loaded, always garaged -- listed in the classifieds for more than a month. Asking price: $18,500. He's had two calls. No offers. "If it comes down to it," he says, "I'll definitely trade it in, but I want the most value for the car."

EDIT

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=communique&newsid=5735

Smack 'em all upside the head.

I predicted this several years ago.

This makes my heart smile.

when I could afford an SUV, gas was $1.10/gal, and I needed something that I could put things into if necessary. (This was 1999).

I sit and laugh at the SUV hogs these days.

My life has been a lot of good decisions at the right time. Plus, I have a wife who doesn't spend tons of money either. Oh, and that 62 inch digital TV I really like? Still at the local electronics store, not a dime on it. If my TV dies, then I will get it.

Oh, and I am a very irregular church goer, hadn't been very religious for quite a long time, so I can't really credit my faith in God for giving me all this. Not that God didn't have anything to do with it, but I did manage to do a lot of stuff without praying for guidance first.

And I've never been in jail, I haven't killed anybody, etc.

I'm half expecting the demand for vehicles like mine -- what I've come to call a 'sport cute' that has a 4x4, a 4-cylinder engine and gets at least 20-25 mpg -- to suddenly become a certifiable craze. There already were plenty of them on the road around here -- Trackers, CR-Vs, RAV4s, whatever Suzuki calls its mini-ute -- before the gas price went through the roof. It's what many (not all, I know some people actually need a big vehicle for work) who bought those monsters actually needed, not what they bought.

I don't drive mine a lot, though. See, we bought our house in a place that was convenient to everything we have to do regularly -- work, stores, government offices -- instead of buying a pile out in McMansionland. The 'Mr.' and I never drive more than ten miles one way on any given regular errand. The 'sport cute' 4x4 is really just a glorified station wagon, and though I don't have kids, I have five pets who are considerably easier to haul around in it, when I have to. I live in SW Ohio, where it's at least moderately easy to make a case for having a 4x4, and besides that we're both getting older ... so the small, low-slung econoboxes we both like were beginning to give our knees all manner of hell.

It may get to the point where Charlie in his extended-cab hemi duallie that gets 10 mpg may start eyeballing my little jobber at the gas pumps, and I may need some protection to get away. I already smile at them real big when I face them down across the pumps. Real big.

Oh, and I bought it used for well under list (needed engine work, which still didn't bring it up to list price), because I knew what I needed, not what I wanted. I didn't need 'big' and I didn't need 'new,' and most of them didn't, either. If these folks who bought these monstrosities had paid any damned attention to the difference between needs and wants, they wouldn't be whining about having to sell the rolling livingroom either.

So many people who could use public transportation at least part of the time for work commute don't. I loved it when I could use a bus, less stress, more time for just thinking, planning, reading...

Living closer to work when possible very good. In large metro areas, that is not really plausible, but for many in smaller communities, the 3-16 block drive to work is just silly. Hey, save $$ on that health club membership and just WALK some! It is another great stress reliever.

We have had the new car for almost 2 years and most people in town (population 350) don't even know we have one. The guys at the car dealership tease us when we go for oil changes. They look at the mileage and laugh "Jeeze, you guys are NEVER home are you?" We just don't see the point in firing up the car to go three blocks and back. We also do not have to constantly recharge or replace batteries due to starting the car but never driving long enough to charge the battery like all the other kids around here.

I see neighbors driving around in circles (most with huge vehicles) here in Tiny Town, and I estimate the price of fuel must not be nearly high enough or they would all find a different form of entertainment. Have long suspected the philosophy is 'I make lots of noise with my engine, therefore, I am.' Very sad to be so emotionally invested in a chunk of metal and plastic.

but better than many. We also do things like combine trips -- we almost never get in the car just to go to the store -- and other than driving to work, it's almost never just one of us in the vehicle.

Mass transit really isn't an option where we live and work. I wish we had light rail or a decent bus system, but we don't, for any number of reasons. Most of our vacations are to places where we can utilize mass transit, though. Even though we drive to the place, like to Toronto or Chicago, we park the car in the garage once we've unloaded and don't drive again until we leave.

Mr. Nownow is drooling over the prospect of buying a new car. He wants a 5-door Prius to use for our little 'road trips,' since we never go out of town in bad weather. The only thing I don't like about the idea is buying a car with an automatic transmission (CVT -- I know, I know, it makes it even more efficient) -- but he says the Prius gets better reviews overall than the Hondas. He's done the research, and since he drives farther than I do every day, he'd be the one in the new car, so I can't really complain.

He's one of those guys who, once you get him rolling on something, sees such things as a personal challenge. For instance, he grumbled about recycling until he realized it was kind of fun to take all that garbage to the recycling center, and challenging to do things like look at grocery packaging and try only to buy things that could be recycled.

No mercy for "bigger is better" idiots who really don't need that sort of engine. I live in an area with damned few paved roads and terrible winter storms. Get by quite nicely with my small station wagon that gets 30+ MPG loaded to the brim with cargo and air conditioner running in summer heat.

When I lived in a city, was amazed at all the people with monster vehicles that never left the pavement, rarely had more than the driver on-board and never filled with cargo. Why all the car?

Has anybody ever figured that cars and gas prices tend to have cycles? Lots of people (who don't really need them) buy huge status cars then fuel goes through the roof. Most everybody goes back to smaller, more efficient cars and fuel bottoms out in price again.... 'Oh, my, with low cost gas like this, let's get the new Behemoth model; the neighbors will be SOOOOO envious...' Do ya think maybe the oil companies and the car companies might be ruled by people with a lot of stock in both?

Until Americans wise up and stop being led around by the nose by marketing techniques and the myth that they can buy happiness, cool, and/or class, they will continue to be victimized by expensive fads.

Live simply so that others may simply live is more than a slogan.

yards in my area..they`ve been sitting for months..i just laugh as i drive by in my 40+ geo metro...

More like a moped, without the "ped." It goes about 25 on a flat surface, range is about 20 miles, and with panniers, I can use it for all my short trips and light hauls. It costs about half a cent a mile.

My truck gets used when I have to haul a lot of stuff, or when I have to go more than the scooter range. I haven't put gas in it since the first of February.

I will be very grateful when all the momvans, monster SUVs and oversized king cab pickup trucks on oversized tires go away. I hate being on the road with these behemoths, even when I'm in my small pickup. I've noticed that H2s are selling very poorly, even with the 100% tax writeoff for them, and I'm grateful they're not showing up with all the other penis extenders out there.

High gas prices aint all bad. The people I do feel sorry for are the ones who moved far outside the city so they could have a back yard for the kiddies to play in. They're the people who will be screwed, no matter what they're driving.

:nopity: