Rising Fuel Prices - Are You Driving Less?

[JCasper]

I am not driving any less although I wish I were when I get the fuel bill.



We are heading to the Grand Canyon at the first of May towing the trailer. It's going to cost some $$$$ that's for sure

 

[DShore]

High diesel fuel and gasoline prices are here to stay. The U. S. used to be the big user, now China and India will buy whatever the U. S. does not. Everything plastic also comes from oil. When gasoline was a $1. 00/gal oil was $10/barrel; now oil is $108/barrel... does that mean gasoline (using the same formula) should be $10. 80/gal? I don't think you will be able to go to your SMARTCAR dealer and buy one off the showroom floor any time soon. I have had one on order for 11+ months, and just got word it is in Riverside, CA . It will take them about 2 wks to get it to Chandler, AZ where I can pick it up. We're about 200 mi from Phoenix area , only down side I can see with a SMART FOR TWO is no cruise control and no spare tire. Will have to make the SMARTCAR my primary go-fer vehicle and do whatever it takes to survive in the present situation.

 

[donnier]

With the way the fuel prices are, Iv found that we have been taking the wifes car more than we used to and using the truck when we have to haul something that wont fit into the trunk on the car.

I used to love to pull into a station and hand the attendant a $100 dollar bill and tell them Ill be back for the change.

Now I do the same thing and wait for the pump to click off.

Iv also found that I dont wait until the tank is near 1/4 to fill up like I used to.



Also, being retired, we dont need to go out as much as we did in the past.

 

[mberry]

:{:{ :I,m really watching my trips, and will be driving the Nissan (31 MPG) a lot more. #@$%! Love my CTD, but the 100+ every two weeks is getting old.

For me that's per week. I'm seriously considering getting a motorcycle to commute with.

 

[DBentley]

just today 3. 99 here for diesel and 2. 03 for gas.

The good thing is my payments seem cheap now compared to the fuel bill.

 

[Edgemann55]

Only put 10,000 miles in the last year on my rig. I have a Yamaha Road King which gets 40+ mpg so from spring to fall that gets rode a lot,plus it's fun. Nice thing is my truck will be paid off soon and it will be with me for many years. Remember that Hamburger Helper tastes just fine without hamburger-Go fill that truck!

 

[HBrannon]

My rig = daily driver. ~50 mi/day round trip. so yeah, it's expensive, but it's also expensive to replace. and replace with what? anything "cheap" is just that... cheap. running the numbers makes about as much sense as me driving a 1 ton 4x4 back and forth to work! i just have to pay to "play. " the wife has the jetta tdi. great little car and i'd drive it back and forth if the wife "could" drive the truck. as someone else mentioned, i'm at about the point where home-brewing makes some sense.

 

[MWinters]

options to consider

I'm curious if anyone has considered "home brew" fuel as an option ? As soon as I get my current street rod project done, I will be investigating options here. We have a few high school trainees that work part time for us & they are running filtered vegetable oil in their diesels during summer months w/no problems to report.



Keep the faith !! Just when things seem the darkest, American ingenuity will prevail !!



Mike.

 

[SilverSage]

My 05 gets 10-11 MPG towing a 4000# travel trailer. I had planned on taking a 3000 mile trip and a 4000 mile trip this year but both are CNX. I just can’t afford nearly, $3000. 00 (or more by summer) for fuel. I don’t plan on leaving the city limits this year. I hope most other Americans refuse to travel and spend tourism dollars, until prices come down. I personally will not do anything other than ride my bike and paddle my kayak. No new purchases or other entertainment dollars will be spent. I refuse to contribute any more to the economy than necessary to survive because just surviving is all I can afford. I wish most other Americans would boycott all unnecessary expenditures until things change. Yea I know, one person cannot change anything but I am just a stubborn old coot.

 

[EGroeneveld]

My 05 gets 10-11 MPG towing a 4000# travel trailer. I had planned on taking a 3000 mile trip and a 4000 mile trip this year but both are CNX. I just can’t afford nearly, $3000. 00 (or more by summer) for fuel. I don’t plan on leaving the city limits this year. I hope most other Americans refuse to travel and spend tourism dollars, until prices come down. I personally will not do anything other than ride my bike and paddle my kayak. No new purchases or other entertainment dollars will be spent. I refuse to contribute any more to the economy than necessary to survive because just surviving is all I can afford. I wish most other Americans would boycott all unnecessary expenditures until things change. Yea I know, one person cannot change anything but I am just a stubborn old coot.

I found it funny you cann't afford some diesel or anything else, but I was wondering how you afforded all your upgrades on your truck then, and your truck itself.



I think for many people they have had good incomes but they have stretched themselves into a house they could not afford, they bought vehicles they could not afford and now that they cannot refi again and the credit card are maxing out that is what is crashing down on Americans. They spent more then they made and now the s@$% is hitting the fan.



As an CPA (accountant) I see many people making 80-150K a year with interest only loans on their McMansion, upside down on their cars, and credit card debt and I just want to say are you stupid?!!



For most Americans it really is not what you make, but what you spend! And we Americans are very good at spending what we don't have.

 

[24V-DSL]

I'll eat Alpo before I'll park my truck... .

 

[AMcCormick]

So diesel is 4. 09 in Key West. This is the only vechicle for the two of us and luckily we dont really need to drive too much. The bikes get ridden everyday, we can do this because we live on a small island. I'm curious what diesel is costing across europe these days? Remember that we have been paying for fuel at dollars per gallon and europe has paid the same if not more except per liter. Now that the dollar is dropped huge and the euro is very strong what would it cost us to fill our trucks in France?

 

[SilverSage]

I purchased the truck used with upgrades in place when diesel was less than $2. 00 a gallon. I am not in debt because I have NEVER spent more than I made. Because I was caught up in BRAC closure, for the last 8 years I have had less than a . 9% pay raise each year. As a CPA you know that the cost of living has gone up MUCH more than . 9% a year so you know where I stand. I cannot afford to travel in the truck at current prices. I did pay it off in 2 years by not buying other "nice to have" stuff and tripling payments. I worked hard to pay off everything I own so I could retire but now I can’t afford to do the traveling I had hoped to do. I wanted to be a tourist and spend money in many states before I die but I just don’t see travel much out of the city limits possible unless I get a 40% raise in retirement pay or FUEL PRICES COME DOWN. By early summer I expect Diesel to be over $5. 00 a gallon, bread $6. 00 a loaf, potatoes $6. 00 a pound. As I have stated I will not spend ANY MONEY on things other than what is needed to survive. No dining out, going to movies or symphonies. No purchase of services like cable or dish network. I might even cnx my internet and use the library for that. If things get better I will spend money on nice to have stuff like travel and entertainment, until then I will do stuff that is nearly free like riding my bicycle and paddling my kayak. Maybe I will make a kayak trailer for my bike so I can peddle it to the lake! Everything you have or will ever have is affected by the price of diesel. Every item in your home and business came to you by semi tractor, train, boat or jet all of which require diesel to operate. The point of this thread is, what effect does the price of diesel have on peoples driving. That price has affected every aspect of my life, I will drive less and spend less, always less less that I make

 

[ceastmen]

American Dream?

Silver Sage I understand what your saying, I'm 5 years older than you and still working for another 2 years.

My wife and I had hopes of traveling in retirement too, the reason I bought my CTD. The reality is we are not going to be able to unless I work part time to pay for travel expenses, who knows in 2 years???

These are tough times, we all feel it, is the American Dream gone???

Chuck E.

 

[jray]

I never thought the cost of fuel would ever stop me from going out and driving. But now that diesel has reached $4. 00 a gallon I can honestly say it is causing me to re-think my trips to town. I really feel sorry for my teen age son who just got his learners permit. He will never know what it was like to use cheap gas.

 

[CBarr]

CBarr

Driving a lot less-now drive a businss auto. (FREE RIDE). Driving about 500 mile per month.



Still one wonders of the wisdom of keeping my 04. 5 3/4 ton. Its likely to find a new home fairly soon.



2004. 5 2500 single cab, 6sp, 4x4, 3. 73 rear, trailer pkg, fifth wheel/goose neck hitch, air intake mods

 

[MJReynolds]

I got my truck for occasional use and trips towing our travel trailer. I've been slowing down with my Accord and trying to eek out a few more mpgs. So far I've gone from 24 to 28 mpg which isn't bad. Going slower though I've noticed that almost no one is slowing down. I've concluded that most people really don't care about the price of gas because they're not doing the really easy things that could have a big impact. I still see nearly everyone on the freeway to work going 75 to 85 like I used to. I dropped down to 65 and got a 16% mileage improvement. If a lot of people made a modest reduction in fuel usage then the overall reduction in demand would quickly drop the price. I just don't think most people make the connection between their driving habits and amount of fuel they buy.

 

[RDietze]

I'm riding my bicycle over half of the time to get to where I need to be (work, bank... ) -- it keeps me from getting even fatter. I'm sure there are a metric-arse ton of TDR readers who ride there bicycles as an alternate means of transport?

These days I pray really-really hard for driving rain storms -- then I get to drive the Cummins, CD player OFF, twins ON.



life is good!

 

[ray1933]

Fuel cost

Well we hit 4. 03 here in NE Oregon today #@$%!



Our 98 Nova gets about 40 miles per gal gallon if I let the wife drive so guess what our 30 mile round trips to town will be in.



I took last years fuel cost divided by the miles we drove last year, the average cost of fuel last year and what we think we will be paying for fuel this year and that will add $1500. 00 to our fuel cost for 08. We were planning on a few extra trips this year and have been rat holing money for them.

What were we thinking last year when we traded our PU Camper off on the

5th wheel



We plan to camp next to good lakes so we can eat fish, baked beans and fried potatoes from our garden.

 

[Matt400]

I sold mine and bought a mega cab with a hemi and 4. 56 gears.

For real? I can't imagine the cost per mile in that rig compared to my CTD