Conserving Gas By Buying A Third Car

With nationwide gas prices averaging $3.22 per gallon, the market for small cars is booming due to commuters seeking to save gas money on their daily trips.

"But hundreds of thousands of consumers aren't giving up anything to downsize. Instead, they are simply adding pint-size transportation to their driveways, parked alongside their S.U.V. or pickup.

In households that own a small car, the family fleet is close to an average of three vehicles, according to CNW Marketing Research, which tracks industry trends (the national average is just over two cars per household; America was a one-car-per-family nation a generation ago).

For three small cars - the Toyota Prius and Corolla and the Honda Civic - more than 500,000 were sold last year as second or third cars in a household, CNW data shows."

"To be sure, many owners are downsizing from bigger vehicles, and rising gas prices are the primary reason. But others are adding vehicles, also to save on gas (if not the cost of the additional car)."

"Americans have spent $20 billion more on gasoline so far this year compared with 2006, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. That works out to about $146 a person, a fraction of what a new car costs."

"From a dollars-and-cents point of view, it doesn't make sense," said Jesse Toprak, director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice. "There's no way you're going to drive it enough to justify the purchase, so it's more of a psychological decision."

Thanks to Mathews Hollinshead