Stuck with suv's

[greenteadrinker]

The value has gone down, you can't sell it because
you owe more on it than what you can sell it for.
You can't trade it in on a higher mileage car/truck
for the same reason.
Same thing as the housing crunch, the mortgage
balance is more that what the house is worth.

[jcoffman]

Yep, I have a friend in the exact situation. She wants to get rid of her Dodge Durango, and they offered her NOTHING. I think a lot of people are going to be in this situation.

[mikebeavis]

Times, they are a'changin'

Remember 97 cent gas - those things were selling like hotcakes and Detroit couldn't make enough of them.

My my, things have changed a lot in 10 years.

[purplepeopledesign]

They are not totally worthless. My local recycler will take vehicles for $200 per ton.

:)ensen.

[Mark Ontkush]

There are about 80 million Americans who rely on SUVs, trucks, and vans; with little trade-in value and maybe car payments, its may be tough to swap out right now. Frankly, I see this as a pretty serious issue.

Let me suggest this - you can do it! If you either (a) cut your mileage in half or (b) get a paying customer for each and every trip, you can make your SUV purchase work for you. It may seen like you have only lemons, but you can still make lemonade.

mjo

[mikebeavis]

That's a great point Mark (and welcome!). An SUV with 4 passengers has just become 4 times more efficient as a people-mover. In this way of comparing things (mpg per person transported) an SUV can actually be better than a Prius with a single driver.

The point of transportation is moving people or goods. SUVs are only inefficient at doing this if they are moving only one person, because that job can be more efficiently done by a compact sedan or a motorcycle.

[mollyh]

I have a couple of co-workers who've had some success finding passengers using the Rideshare list on craigslist.