Residents drive less to save on gas
Some San Benito County residents have adjusted to skyrocketing
gas prices by changing their buying habits.
Although car sales at Hollister Motorsports are down, motorcycle
and motor scooter sales are steady, said Chris Carson, vice
president of Hollister Motorsports.
Residents drive less to save on gas
Some San Benito County residents have adjusted to skyrocketing gas prices by changing their buying habits.
Although car sales at Hollister Motorsports are down, motorcycle and motor scooter sales are steady, said Chris Carson, vice president of Hollister Motorsports.
“The car part of the business is really, really slow, but motorcycles are maintaining their own,” Carson said. “They’re doing pretty well.”
A small motorcycle can get 60 or 70 miles per gallon, Carson said.
“I’ve heard of scooters getting upwards of 100 miles per gallon,” Carson said.
On the West Coast, gas prices will peak in November at an average of $4.50 per gallon and gradually fall to $4.08 per gallon by Dec 2009, according to a Web site from Energy Information Administration, a federal agency.
High gas prices are affecting Californians’ summer travel plans, said Cynthia Harris, spokesperson for the American Automobile Association of Northern California.
AAA Northern California staff predicted nearly a one percent decrease in Memorial Day and Fourth of July travel, Harris said.
“Californians are traveling less, staying closer to home, and the stated reason is gas prices,” Harris said.
One Hollister family has followed suit. Kenneth Elliot used to visit family in Arizona at least once every couple of months.
“We want to go see family and all that, but it’s impossible,” Elliot said. “We can’t afford it.”
Other residents are driving less for everyday chores. Robert Hamen drives his van less often because it costs $115 to fill.
“I leave my van at home and I take my wheelchair to the grocery store,” Hamen said. “I buy over $50 worth of groceries [at Safeway] and it gives me 10 cents off gas.”
His electric wheelchair is more cost efficient than this van.
“Twenty miles to a charge compared to 10.8 miles to the gallon,” Hamen said.
Statewide, gas sales were down 3.2 percent in March, compared to a year earlier, according to a press release from the California State Board of Equalization.
San Benito County has followed a similar trend.
In April, gasoline sales at Dassel’s Petroleum, Inc. were down 3 percent.
Sales have fallen further, said Graham Mackie, vice president of Dassel’s.
“I think it’s probably 5 or 6 percent,” Mackie said, though he said unemployment may be to blame.
More than 80 percent of gasoline sales in the United States are used for commuting, according to a major refinery in California, Mackie said.
Gas sales fell during California’s economic slowdown eight or nine years ago, Mackie said.
Californians bought 12.4 percent less diesel in March than a year earlier.
Diesel sales at Dassel’s, however, have remained steady, Mackie said.
“I don’t think that diesel sales are really down that much, because diesel sales are used mostly commercially,” he said.
Truckers have to keep on trucking and farmers have to keep plowing fields, Mackie said.
For personal use, some residents are opting for cars instead of trucks.
Buying patterns at Tiffany Ford in Hollister have shifted dramatically, said Bob Tiffany, owner of Tiffany Ford in Hollister.
“The business on full-sized trucks and the smaller SUVs has dropped off significantly,” Tiffany said. “In the meantime, we’re having a hard time keeping [the Ford] Focus on the lot, or [the Ford] Fusion.
Some dealerships are not accepting large SUVs and trucks as trade-ins, according to industry reports, Mackie said.
“We do,” Tiffany said. “You have to stay in the business.”
It is hard to put a value on used trucks and SUVs because their value has dropped significantly, Tiffany said.
“On the other hand, they can buy a new vehicle, for really in many cases, dramatically less than what they may have been able to just a few months ago,” Tiffany said.
To encourage sales, dealers and factories are offering huge incentives on new trucks and SUVs, Tiffany said.
“Right now, people are in a semi-state of shock about prices,” Tiffany said. “Prices will probably come down a bit. People will readjust to what is so-called normal pricing.”
Whether truck and SUV sales will return to former sales is unclear, Tiffany said.
“The people that were buying trucks just to commute to San Jose, maybe some of those people are not going to be truck buyers in the future,” Tiffany said.
But, San Benito County is a truck town, Tiffany said.
“The people who are pulling their big boats over to Tahoe, they are not going to be able to tow them with a Ford Focus,” Tiffany said.
