gas prices down - commuter car values?
 

I'm wondering, because I consider myself ALWAYS in the market to buy another car, new, used, or salvage.... now that gas prices have fallen substantially, if they flatten out and stay relatively cheap, lets say, below $3/gal, if commuter car prices will sudden fall back to their standard values.

I really want to find myself a cheap little SC1 or SL1 saturn, or better yet, a Protege, Civic, ZX2, or even a Prizm/Corolla, or Metro.

Right now however, prices of these cars went from easily available and $2k-$3k or less, to VERY hard to find and $3,500 or more.

I'm for sure sticking w/ hypermiling, afterall, I've just gotten my feet wet and see no reason not to try to improve mileage to save money... but I still want to purchase a different car to do so in.

I'm also in the market to buy my first house, and not knowing how far my commute to/from work will end up being, I want to get the most efficient vehicle I can NOW before I make the move.

Can we try to talk about commuter car values and predictions w/o getting into a big opinion debate over what gas prices will be doing a year from now?

-John

yea i doubt much will change any time soon.... americans are not seeing prices go down, they have seen instability. the prices will have to stay bellow $2 a gallon for a few years for it to effect the car market.

im hopeing the commuter cars would drop. in 2004 i was at a dealership, selling a 94 vx with under 100k for 2500, and people wernt buying it.

i can't speculate about any car prices except to that say right now there's a buyer's market.

if and when the economy rebounds, negotiable pricing may very well be less flexible than right now.

i too am looking for another car, for my wife. we would like to find something w/ 4 cyl in the mid size variety. accords and camrys may not be good for hypermiling, but they're still not cheap!

another angle of this is if the auto makers come out with even more efficient vehicles, the prices of the older cars will go down further.

the chevy cruze claiming to get 45+ mpg and several of the diesels from various manufacturers that were supposed to come out around 2010.

if all that happens and the average mileage of newer cars goes up, then the older fuel efficient cars should come down in price. this is all assumption but it does make sense.

but with the recent decline in gas prices, auto makers may scrap their new ideas for more fuel efficient vehicles. hopefully that won't happen

wait a month or two, if no wars or no hurricanes arrived, gas prices will continu to go down, and the price of commuter car will probably go down... so wait and buy, cause they will be back up next summer, now its just the action of your stupid recession acting, but thats tendency, it will pass.

I am amazed that my favorate gas station has just dropped a dime in price since Monday when it had already dropped a dime since last week. Makes me want to go for a drive and burn the 35 cents a gallon more gas I have in my tank from last month.

New member here.

I bought a '95 VX with 194,000 miles from a local Honda dealer for $1,300 in February of this year. The kicker: The timing belt, water pump, engine belts, and one CV joint had just been changed at 191,700 miles. You can still find deals. I wasn't looking for one. I just went in to get an oil filter for my '05 Si.

good find! that is really how most best deals are found: totally at random.

I'm not sure you can separate the two, if gas stays low, commuter car prices will eventually drop, if it goes up, so will the car prices. As someone else pointed out, there are other variables involved, but IMO, this will be the major determining factor. I'd wait as long as possible until prices start to rise again and then buy, keeping your eyes open for deals like Fetch's.