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I suspect you are kidding, but during the oil crisis I was scratching my head at all the people dumping their SUVs for pennies on the dollar and buying fuel efficient cars.

I ran the numbers and found that for most SUV buyers, the step up in mileage to a miser was worth $5,000 to $7000 over 100,000 mile service life. The total cost of gas is much higher, but the premium paid to drive the SUV over the miser was some $6,000 on average. Yet most of these people were trading or selling SUVs for as much as $10,000 below former street value.

Except for those with say 2 hour commutes, all those fools lost their asses by selling low. And all the while I knew oil prices were unsustainable, so while they were down $2,000 or $3,000 selling the SUV at $4/gallon gas, it would be even worse after a return to $3/gallon gas. Fools.

I can understand replacing a 10 year old SUV with a miser, or promising to buy a fuel miser in the future, but very foolish to sell a paid for, comfy, safe big SUV for a loss when for most, the loss is higher than the premium paid for bad mileage over the remaining service life of the SUVs.

And just yesterday I wrote on another post that most people, despite knowing to buy low and sell high, generally do the opposite because greed, fear and other emotions push out logic. The SUV owners who dumped their SUVs for $10,000 below value to save $6,000 over the remaining life of their nearly new SUVs bought high and sold low. Not very bright...

I don’t like SUVs. I tend to like smaller, sporty cars that handle better. I hate the handling of trucks and SUVs and their ride is often inferior to cars as well. But if I did love SUVs I would have LEAPT at the bargains being offered during the oil crisis. They were selling SUVs for $12,000 and $15,000 below MSRP on the bigger loaded models. What a bargain. Get $12,000 off regular price and the gas hit is only $8,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle compared to a gas miser at $4/gallon. Instant saving of $4,000 to drive a safer, more comfortable vehicle. When gas drops back to $3/gallon the savings will be more like $7,000.

For a while there I REALLY wished I was the SUV type. Oh well...