GAs Prices, Wake up folks !!

[Moosie]

OK, I'm not one to complain about much... And by this topic you might thing I'm going to complain about Gas Prices. Guess again. I think People need to rethink this. In the last year I've heard people taling about not being able to Drive to work because of Fuel costs. People talking about Comuter-rides, People talking about buying a Car that is Cheaper in gas. But lets look at some Facts.

1. Comuter Rides are not Practical. You're set on their schedule and have to ride next to people you might not like. Personally I have errands to run and sometimes like to leave early, sometimes work late. It doesn't matter how much Fuel goes Up I'm driving to work. I have yet to talk to someone that Bitches about fuel prices to use this service. If you don't have a Job that Pays for your gas then Get another job or move closer to ride a bike

2. Gas just went up .35 . So ? I had a Friend that was Going on a 4 day weekend trip this weekend that said he should cancel it. GAS prices jsut went up .35/Gal !!!!! So I said, How much have you spent on getting ready for this weekend ? With 4-wheeler registration, food, special Items, Etc... OHHH Probably around $500 let's say. Now to drive over and Back it's 3 tanks of gas at 15 Gal a tank @ .35 more per Gallon thats a Whopping $15.75 extra in gas for the Weekend. (Of course not counting the 4-wheeler gas $16 ? Who fuggin cares ? Perspective PEOPLE !!! Thats not counting your Cabin and all the Fancy crap thats in it. Most people that bitch about gas prices have 20k in Credit cards paying $500/ Month jsut in Intrest on crap they've bought that they didn't need and still by the Latest and greatest Clap on Clapper when it comes up on TV for 5 Easy payments of $19.95. Quit spending Frivilous money and Buck up !! The same people Buy $5 LAte' every morning with Designer Jeans and eat out every day Bitch about the Gas prices and How much it is at the pumps.

3. I've heard "I'm gonig to Buy a Comuter Car to save gas and ALOT of money !!". WTF ? Lets run a Senario folks !!! Gas is $2.50 / Gal. It jsut went up to 3.50 (Just doing easy math here folks.) I have a 24 gallon tank and fill up once a week. I pay $60/week in gas, about $240 Per month. Now I go out and Buy a car for 8 Grand... HEll, Let's say 4k... over 5 years thats ... OHhh just under $100/Month. That car get's "2 TIMES" the MPG then your Current rig. 2 TIMES !!!!! Alright, Well so you're paying 1/2 the amount in gas. Insurance is only like $45 / month full coverage.

So, you have a $100 car payment, Still putting in 1/2 the gas ($120/month) with Insurance at $45/month. Can anyone help me with the math here ?

Let's say You paid Cash for the car (4k) and all else being equal with the Additional Insurance at ony $25/month because you don't need full coverage. How long to break even ? you save $120 / month right !!!

$120 into 4k is 33 months.. but the Insurance adds another 10 months. And on top of that why own the First car if you can't drive it ?!?!?!

Look, I have a Comuter car that I drive now and then to save wear and tear on the Ol' truck, It's handy to Lend out to Friends when they need it and It's a Change up too but if you think buying a Comuter car will save you money ? In the long run you're wrong. Do your own math. And use Real Numbers, I'm guessing I was low on some. I talked to one guy looking to buy a 12k new car and wouldn't even double the Gas milage. Do the math with a 12k folks !!!

......MAybe because it's 4:30 I feel like Bitching about people bitchin'. I don't like spending etra at the pumps either, but it's here and we need to Adjust for it. I just think sometimes peoples way of thinking is a Little screwed up

 

[noharleyyet]

That's a lot of math for this early but it makes sense to me. There will still probably be a lot of good used suv's on the market soon.

 

[Moosie]

I hope so ....

Seriously though, Selling an SUV and Buying a Comuter car is another thing. Then the Numbers work. You're $500-$800/month payment goes down, Your Gas Price goes down, Insurance goes down..... It's a Viable way to obtain savings.

I have another friend that Sold his Expedition and Bought a Diesle Excusion for a little better gass milage. Uhhhhhh, ..... WHAT ? Nothing like selling a 25k car and Buying a 50k rig to Save a Buck-o-gallon in GAS !!!! Nothing against the Excursion now...... But come on .

And I thought I've pulled a few over the Wifes eyes before !!

 

[Elkhunter]

Go back to bed Moosie. You just gave me way too much to think about at 5 in the morning.

 

[wilecoyote76]

And to think I was going to sell my Suburban for a Ford F-650!!!! I guess I'll stick with driving the old Honda Accord for now!

 

[Whiskers]

The same follks spend $5 for a pack of cigarettes, that they buy at the gas station. I drive 23 miles one way to work. It cost me about $45 a week in fuel before the storm. Nothing I can do about it but complain!

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

It is just natural to think short term, that it's always going to be this way from here on out. Back in the late 70s what were Mortgages going for, around 14-16%!!!! I had to buy my first home with a bond money Mortgage of 9% and was thrilled to get that. These prices are being driven by Wall Street, oil companies find and produce the product and put it on the market and wall street sets the price, not Bush, not Exxon, ect, ect. Right now we are seeing gangs of wall street traders looting our pockets, just like the gangs that you see in New Orleans.
The most economical vehicle I own gets around 20 MPG, my truck and jeep don't get bad mileage, so gas prices are a little high right now, I would rather pay for higher gas than to not have the product to do the things that define who I am! Moosie, your numbers are good, but try this one on for size. Next year we (my hunting buddies and their wives) are going to hunt Colorado again while staying at his Timeshare. Now we will take 3 couples in my Diesel motorhome while towing my Jeep, I get 8-9 MPG in this coach, take a roundtrip of 2250 miles by 8.5 MPG = 264.71 Gallons @ $3.50 (high) = $926.49. That is for THREE couples, maybe more! Everything I was doing at $1.79 a gallon is still possible at $3.50! History has always ever since I have worked in the O & G Industry show these ups and downs in price, remember $8.00 a barrell Oil? I do and You will see these prices go back down, not where you may want them, but how long did you expect to pay below what the product was worth? John

 

[Washington Hunter]

I bought a car a couple of years ago for commuting to work. It was $1900. I get around 32 mpg with the car, my truck gets 16. I've put 30,000 miles on it so far, divided by 32 is 937.5 gallons of gas I have used. If the average price of gas was $2 a gallon, I have spent $2,109 on gas. Since my truck gets exactly half of the mpg the car gets, that means I have saved $2,109 by driving the car instead of my truck. Plus, that's 30,000 miles that isn't on my truck, which makes my truck worth more if I were to decide to trade it in. So, the savings in gas has paid for the car. And with the higher gas prices it would take even less time to break even. Sure my insurance did go up $10/month. But that's not enough to matter. So Moosie according to my math it is a good idea. But I do understand what you're saying. To buy a $20,000 car to save money on gas does not make sense.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Yeah, my buddy just traded in his paid-for F-250 V-10 for a new diesel F-250. He was t-boned in NM a couple years ago and his truck just ain't been right since. So I understand where he is coming from, plus he's got the bucks to pay the difference in cash.

But he was telling me I should trade in my F-350 V-10 for a new diesel one, since it gets better mileage...

Wait a minute - trade in a 2002 F-350 with 24,000 miles on it, that is paid off, to get a vehicle that gets an extra 3-8 mpg and uses fuel that costs more than regular gas???? And start payments again? (I bought my '02 under the zero interest program - use their money for free!)

Driving to Colorado for deer and elk is what, 2000 miles round trip (using Moosie's easy math)? At 10 mpg and $3 a gallon, it would cost me $600. At 15 mpg and $3.10 a gallon for diesel, it would cost me $413.3333.... Is $187 savings in gas worth more truck payments?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Cali, you don't need the V-10...

Doesn't Greenhorn have a picture of one of his 380+ bulls stuffed into an old Toyota Tercel or something that was supposed to have got 40mpg????

 

[BuzzH]

If the roads are dry during antelope season the subaru outback is the "go to" vehicle around here...

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Jose - I need the V-10 to haul the single-wide as I follow the crop harvest from state to state...

 

[Nut]

I just think sometimes peoples way of thinking is a Little screwed up

Maybe it is the other way around?

 

[JB Florida]

Yup,its ALL about the angle you look at!

 

[Steiny]

Getting ready to drive to Wyoming hunting in about a month. Figure we'll travel about 3000 miles. At 12 mpg in a heavily loaded 4xd pick up and $350 per gallon, that's about $437 apiece for for two of us. With other expenses, meals, motels enroute, groceries, non res license, etc., we can still pull the whole trip off comfortably for about $1200 door to door. A pretty dang cheap hunting trip, vacation, in my opinion.

People are just going to have to change their lifestyles a bit to deal with the added expense. Switch to cheap beer, don't eat out every day at work, stay home more, etc. No big deal, we'll deal with it.

The guys really getting stung, are those that need to drive 50-70 miles to work every day.

 

[JLG]

I am going to buy a commuter car for two reasons. First, I am moving another 20 miles from work & my drive will be about 90 miles round trip a day. The car I will get new is under 10K. I will pay cash. It will do 21 MPG's better than my F250 Diesel. The second reason is I love my F250 and I don't want to load up the miles on it driving back & forth to work. Right now I am doing about 24,000 miles a year on it. I want to drop that to about 10K and save it for trips, towing or fun stuff. I have 43K on it now and it's an 04. I figure if I can drop it to 10K a year I have a truck that with proper maintance will last me 10 or 15 years. If I take it a step farther, I have a third vehicle that is my knock around close to home hunting vehicle, it's 1990 Bronco II. It is my 3 to 4 K a year truck that I can hit a bush, scratch the truck by a bush & don't care vehicle, it gets me out there and doesn't destroy my new truck.
I guess a small fleet of niche vehicles if you will, all with a specific purpose. The commuter vehicle is the drive 5 years & throw it away car. The other two I want to hold onto for a while & therefore want to take steps to preserve them, JLG.

 

[Gunner46]

America can't see past the next TV ad.

Bitch all you want to about the $ of gas. It spiked this week. Good reason, A Freakin' HUGE Hurricane just wiped out 400,000 sq miles of southern Gulf coast!!!! It takes a few weeks to get things going after a little setback like that! |oo

IF you have gas, then shut up. All throughout the SE, we are having a hard time. It's not so much that the supply isn't there, but companies aren't buying any. The cost is $.30-50 above the market selling price. (and that's above $3.00/gl) They're just not going to loose that kind of money.

Anybody remember the '74 embargo ? Hell, gas went to $0.45 a gallon!!! I was making $311 base pay, a month. Seriously cut into my beer drinkin money. Cost me over $4.00 to fill up the Bug!!

If it effects you so bad, try this. Tell the Kiddies no soccer, in the MiniVan across town. Go play stick ball in the street, we did. Walk a mile, or three to school. It'll do 'em good, I did. That 500 mile Vacation can just as easily be a Backyard Vacation. Spend $50 on some decorations, turn off the phone, and get the family envolved. You'll be amazed what you can come up with.

 

[FLIPPER]

Being as the market closed at 2.07 per gallon wholesale Friday...there is NO excuse for the gas to be 3 bucks and over anywhere!

Here it is anywhere from 2.58 to 2.79. Some have been on the news at 3.09, but I'd say they aren't selling much.

 

[Moosie]

Maybe it is the other way around?

DAM.. the truth hurts

 

[ZAMBONIMAN]

The price for gas here in western Minnesota is $3.06 for regular unleaded. Diesel is $2.83, the first time in about two years that diesel has been lower than unleaded. That E-85 stuff is $2.10 a gallon, but my 02 GMC will not burn that I have been told....