http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/05/06/frustrated_owners_try_to_unload_their_guzzlers/?page=1
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After paying $75 to fill his black Dodge Ram pickup truck for the
third time in a week, Douglas Chrystall couldn't take it anymore.
Feeling pinched at the pump, and guilty as well, Chrystall, a
39-year-old father from Wellesley, is putting ads online to sell
the truck, and the family's other gas-guzzler, a Jeep Grand
Cherokee. He knows it will be tough to unload them because he is
one of a growing number of consumers downsizing to smaller, more
fuel-efficient cars.
Americans are turning away from the boxy, four-wheel-drive vehicles
that have for years dominated the nation's highways. Sport utility
vehicles and pickup trucks - symbols of Americans' obsession with
horsepower, size, and status - are falling out of favor as
consumers rich and poor encounter sticker shock at the pump, paying
upward of $80 to fill gas tanks.
The sale of new SUVs and pickup trucks has dropped precipitously in
recent months amid soaring gas prices and a weakening economy: SUV
sales for the month of April alone fell 32.3 percent from a year
earlier and small car sales rose 18.6 percent. This fundamental
shift comes against a backdrop of relentless gas increases, and
growing concerns over the environment and US oil consumption,
according to auto analysts and car dealers.
"The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting," said George
Hoffer, an economics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University
whose research focuses on the automotive industry. "It's an
irrational vehicle. It'll never come back."
With stocks of unwanted new SUVs and pickups piling up at
dealerships across the country, automakers are offering
unprecedented promotions. Incentives for large SUVs, including cash
rebates, topped $4,000 in March, or more than double those offered
in March 2002, according to Edmunds.com, which monitors the motor
industry.
At the same time, consumers like Chrystall are flooding the market
with used SUVs, trying to trade in hulking Hummers for compact
Corollas, and getting thousands of dollars less than they would
have just a few months ago. In April, the average used SUV took
more than 66 days to sell, at a 20 percent discount from vehicle
valuation books, such as Kelley Blue Book, compared to 48 days and
a 7.8 percent discount a year earlier, reported CNW Marketing
Research, an automotive marketing research company.
Some desperate car dealers and consumers, are willing to lose
thousands of dollars just to get rid of their SUVs. Last July,
20-year-old Sannan Nizami, of Lowell, bought a 2007 Toyota 4Runner
SUV for $32,000 when it cost about $65 to fill the tank. Six months
later, as a gallon of gas soared to $3.50 and more, and tank
refills climbed over $80, Nizami put the vehicle up for sale. He
posted it online for $27,000 but received no responses for
months.Continued...
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