Published: May 20, 2007 12:20 am            

Paying the price

Gas prices drive car dealerships to market miles per gallon

Local car dealership owner Gene Tolbert believes today’s high gas prices are keeping people from purchasing new cars because they have less money each month to spend on a car payment.

“Of course there are some people who still want to buy the big sport utility vehicles and they are going to buy them anyway,” Tolbert said. “But I believe the high gas prices are keeping people from jumping into the market.”

Tolbert, owner of Tolbert Chevrolet Buick Pontiac in Meridian, said General Motors has plans to release a hybrid car sometime next year, but as long as record high gas prices are eating into people’s budgets, they just aren’t buying as many cars.

With the average national price of unleaded regular gasoline now above $3.18 per gallon, AAA reports that is the highest average it has recorded.

That average shattered the previous national benchmark of $3.06 per gallon set on September 5, 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to AAA.

“This is the worst possible news at the worst possible time,” said AAA spokesman John Townsend in a release on the Web site About 40 MPG.org.

Many car dealerships, recognizing the public’s disgust and need for cars that get better gas mileage, are marketing their cars according to how many miles per gallon cars get on the highway. Advertisements now boast cars that get 30 miles or more per gallon, hoping that will continue to lure buyers to the sales floor.

Douglas Davis, new car sales manager at Rick Justice Honda in Meridian, said his company is now marketing miles per gallon more than it normally would. But, he said, Honda’s are known for their good gas mileage and that has helped boost his business.

“We are getting a lot of trade-ins of people wanting to trade their SUVs for Hondas,” Davis said. “Even our Honda sport utility vehicles don’t get as good gas mileage as the smaller cars but when compared to similar vehicles, they are much better.”

Davis said customers are showing an interest in the new Honda Civic Hybrid, and his lot has sold four of the five they have had in stock already this year. He said when it comes to Hondas, customers don’t have to give up power in exchange for fuel efficiency.

The Exxon at 22nd Avenue Heights on Friday had the cheapest gas prices in Meridian at $2.99 per gallon. The Conoco and Chevron on Roebuck Drive, the Chevron on Highway 39 North, the Shell and Chevron on North Hills Street and the Texaco on Highway 493 also had gas for $2.99 per gallon on Friday.

By Saturday morning the Chevron on Roebuck Drive had regular gas for $3.05 per gallon. The Conoco on Roebuck Drive had regular gas at $3.09 per gallon and so did the Exxon on 22nd Avenue Heights. These were the lowest prices according to gasbuddy.com.

Gas consumption has gone up every year since 2000, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. During the first week of May, when prices jumped to $3.05 a gallon, demand for gasoline dipped only slightly — by about two-hundredths of a percent, the energy administration reported.

        

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