THE Gasoline Price Thread (merged)

one_more_day · Tar Sands Joined: Aug 27, 2006 Posts: 75

I will still drive my SUV even at $10/gallon. I will just drive it a whole lot less. I have already figured out that I can get all my essentials done on four gallons per week

Ferretlover

mos6507

BW3 · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 43

Around here 4 or 5 person car pools are popular. A large SUV is more comfortable with 4 or 5 persons. And economical even at $10/gallon gas.

ColossalContrarian · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jun 20, 2006 Posts: 578

Most people are hearing about the great deals for purchasing SUV’s going on at the moment. Nice little perks like $.99 gasoline for one year. Some people can’t see past the one year mark (or their just stupid…yep) and think that gasoline prices will go down, or that this run up is temporary. I’ve seen many new cars on the road, mostly SUV’s, no doubt because of the great incentives. Too bad these people put their ego before reality, trying to look flashy in their new SUV. Give’em a year so and they’ll be slapped back to reality. Owned by debt and a hunk of steel sucking their savings (or lack there of) dry.

nocar · Intermediate Crude Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Posts: 666

I want to go back to the original post. Why is the assumption that the vehicle is driven 20.000 miles/year? That corresponds to 20.000x1.6 km=32.200 km.

Is 20.000 miles/yr a common or average distance driven in the USA? In Sweden the assumption in cost estimates is 15.000km/year, which is the average, and just half of the distance in the example made here.

I really would like to know how far the average US car or SUV is driven per year.

nocar

pup55 · Expert Joined: May 26, 2004 Posts: 3597

FSENX is Fidelity Select Energy mutual fund. Any schmoe can invest in this fund with as little as $2500.

If you had done this in March of 2005, when nationwide retail price of gas was $2.00 for the last time, and the price of this fund was $39, you would have made $1771 in price appreciation (the price is now about $6 Cool

, plus collected some dividends along the way, or about $450 per year. At a more reasonable 10,000 miles per year, and 20+ miles per gallon (500 gallons per year) you would have roughly offset the value of the extra gas up until last November, when the price was last $3.

To offset the additional 70 cents or so, you would have to have made a bigger investment, of course. At $5000, you would have more than offset any price increase in that length of time.

If you were driving the Dodge Ram at the time, at 10 mpg, you could have offset the price of energy by an $11,000 investment. Since last November, this guy is only up about 2% or so, so you might have been better off in FSESX or FSNGX, both of which have done fine since then, despite the market gyrations, but that is beside the point.

But what I am saying is that if you had been really smart, back in March of 05, after having read PO.com for a year, seeing the crap that was about to happen, you would have sold your SUV, bought an econobox, and invested the difference into one of these energy-derived mutual funds, and basically offset the increased cost of fuel for this whole time.

If you were really smart, you would not have been driving the Dodge Ram in the first place, but some economical, paid for car that gets 28 mpg, is cheap to insure, and you can do 90% of the work on yourself, and you would have made the same investment, thus allowing you to fatten up.

This also points out that the fatcats that had $11K in their pockets in 2005 are not nearly as affected by all of this as the guy we were reading about in Alabama the other day trying to work for $7 an hour and paying $280 per month in gas. This should not be a surprise to the populists among us.

Warning: This post is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be construed as investment advice. Never take investment advice from anyone with a job. Do not take investment advice from some guy on the internet without fully investigating it and understanding the risks. I do not work for Fidelity or any other mutual fund company.

Also, anything that happens in the future is subject to the "new rules", whatever they may be, and may not resemble anything that happened in the past.
But, you have to think about this a little bit strategically. The frequent viewers of PO.com have a really valuable view into the future on all of this, if they will see it for what it is.

misterno

I wonder what one should do, if he really believes that gas will hit $10/gl one day?

Buy energy stocks
Sell the SUV
Buy the smallest car possible
Buy a small apartment very close to where you work
Start traveling the world as much as you can NOW
Do not keep investments in USD

So what else?

nocar · Intermediate Crude Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Posts: 666

misterno , what else to do?

Buy a biycle, use it and save money while building strength and bicycling experience. Get one with a holder for your bagage.

Create an internet site for ride sharing in your town.

nocar

Caine · Tar Sands Joined: May 14, 2008 Posts: 21

pup55 · Expert Joined: May 26, 2004 Posts: 3597

aahala2 · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 25, 2008 Posts: 67

MarkJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 25, 2008 Posts: 156

Many suburban and rural households in my area that own trucks and SUVs also own second or third vehicles which keeps the mileage per vehicle per year lower.

Many renters and homeowners in the cities don't have the enough off-street parking, driveway, lot or garage space to accommodate, service or repair multiple vehicles.

Many people in my area also drive from the cities to the suburbs, rural areas or to other cities to work. My homes and land in in the suburbs and rural areas are closer to some of the major employers and shopping than my rental properties in some cities.