I find it weird how some people clamor on about wishing that gas prices would be higher so that people with Hummers would start abandoning them out on the road..but the reality is that if gas prices were to say suddenly double or triple, that everyone, regardless of who you are will pay double or triple in gas (assuming the same number of miles are driven).
However people who own Escalades, H2's, and Range Rovers are the ones who can afford $50-$60k+ cars, so I don't see how this would hurt them very much at all, given that their income reflects the cars they drive..whereas a Civic owner is less likely to have the income of those drivers, so if gas prices were to increase dramatically for them, it would make their situation much worse.
As a simple example then, take someone who makes $100k and owns an H2..with yearly gas expenses being $3k or so. Then take someone making $40k a year driving a Civic with yearly gas expenses at $1k. If gas prices triple, the increase of expenses for the H2 driver would be increased by $6k, not much for someone with a 6-digit income..where as it'd be increased by $2k a year for the Civic owner, a very noticeable difference for someone in that income range.
Of course income, driving factors are all major variables, but the correlation between owners of compact cars vs. luxury expensive gas guzzlers and income are pretty high one would imagine.
However people who own Escalades, H2's, and Range Rovers are the ones who can afford $50-$60k+ cars, so I don't see how this would hurt them very much at all, given that their income reflects the cars they drive..whereas a Civic owner is less likely to have the income of those drivers, so if gas prices were to increase dramatically for them, it would make their situation much worse.
As a simple example then, take someone who makes $100k and owns an H2..with yearly gas expenses being $3k or so. Then take someone making $40k a year driving a Civic with yearly gas expenses at $1k. If gas prices triple, the increase of expenses for the H2 driver would be increased by $6k, not much for someone with a 6-digit income..where as it'd be increased by $2k a year for the Civic owner, a very noticeable difference for someone in that income range.
Of course income, driving factors are all major variables, but the correlation between owners of compact cars vs. luxury expensive gas guzzlers and income are pretty high one would imagine.
