This will probably seem like a really stupid question, but I need professional advice. I own a year-old Jeep in perfect condition, which I purchased for my job. I was laid off from said job, and now I own a gas-guzzling, really nice-looking Jeep Grand Cherokee that's too big and too expensive for me to drive, especially since I no longer have a job. My question is: Should I trade it in for a smaller, more fuel-efficient car? I have no payments, and being unemployed limits what I could purchase. With gas prices continuing to climb, I don't really know what I should do, since I own the vehicle outright. Care to advise an idiot?
– Micci
RAY: I guess this is what you might call “idiot to idiot” communication.
TOM: Or, more accurately, “idiot-AND-idiot-to-idiot communication.” So consider yourself warned, Micci.
RAY: Actually, you're hardly alone. SUVs and pickup trucks were, for many people, a fashion trend during the past 10 years. And like many fashion trends, they were, at heart, exceedingly impractical.
TOM: Tell me about it. Try wearing a miniskirt like I did during the entire winter of '68!
RAY: People who didn't need pickups and SUVs bought them anyway because they were seen as cool, despite the fact that they handled like crud, tended to flip over more than other vehicles, ripped countless inseams during ingress and egress and drank gas like it was a dark-chocolate-caramel-mocha freddo from Peet's Coffee.
TOM: So now, here we are, with a lot of people stuck with SUVs that get 15 miles per gallon while gas is $4 a gallon. What to do?
RAY: I'd say dump it, Micci. You're going to take a bath on it, no question. Anytime you sell a car that's a year old, you take a huge hit from initial depreciation. Add to that the fact that you're selling a vehicle that not many people want nowadays, for the same reasons you don't want it. But there's always a price at which someone will take it.
TOM: If you don't want to sell it yourself, you can try CarMax, if there's one in your area. They buy late-model cars at the wholesale price.
RAY: And since you own it outright, you can take the cash you get, buy a cheaper two-, three-or four-year-old, fuel-efficient car, and then put aside a few grand to get you through this period of unemployment.
TOM: If you had an income and weren't in desperate straits, you could hang on to it a little longer, to see if gas prices level off and come down a bit – which they might. That might make your Jeep a little more valuable on the used-car market. But if you can't afford the gas to go out looking for a job, you need to do something now. Plus, I don't see gas prices coming down a lot.
RAY: Me neither. Combine the instability and war in the Middle East with increased demand from growing economies in China and India and the decreasing supply of oil in the Earth, and the long-term trend for oil prices is up, rather than down.
TOM: That's why I'd say dump the Grand Cherokee now, while there are still a few other idiots out there who haven't caught on yet. Good luck, Micci!
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