Trapped in a Ford Excursion!
Across America, people are finding themselves trapped in their gargantuan Ford Excursions as well as other over-sized SUVs. When gas was under $2 a gallon they seemed like a good idea if you had absolutely no regard for the environment, had places to go and wanted to feel like the captain of a large ship (the Exxon Valdez, for instance) getting there. However, as the price of fuel has gone up, owners are now finding themselves in the predicament of not being able to drive them anywhere because of the expense and not wanting to sell them and take a $20,000 beating on a more efficient trade-in.
Such is the situation Derek Hunter of Lima, Ohio has found himself in. To make matters worse, the other vehicle owned by this two-vehicle family of 7 is the massive Ford Expedition. As he explained to Steve Inskeep on NPR, his Excursion gets 8 to 10 miles a gallon in town if he doesn't turn on the air conditioning and, although his initial investment in the vehicle was in the neighborhood of $50,000, the best offer he's gotten for it is $11,500. Ouch. We'd feel a bit more sorry for him if he wasn't so dismissive of the obvious option of buying a used mini-van that can carry his entire family and get over double the gas mileage. Click the "Read" link below for his tale of woe.
[Source: NPR]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mrbell321 2:35PM (6/18/2008)
Yep, I feel absolutely no sympathy for this person or people like him. You should have to deal w/ the consequences of your actions, and if you are short sighted, selfish, and just all around make bad decisions(have 7 kids, buy an excursion, more than likely lives in an oversized house in the suburbs) it's your own fault.
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GH 5:11AM (11/09/2008)
I wonder if you feel the same way about people that bought more house than they could afford....was it them or "predatory lenders"?
mrbell321 3:04PM (11/09/2008)
Them. If you're buying a house, you should be awareof what you're doing. If you don't read, then it's you're own fault.
steven 3:03PM (6/18/2008)
Some folks are just bad at math. The cost to run a typical used minivan (MY2003 - 2007) is about $3000 per year for 15,000 miles and this hulk costs about $4700 per year to run. That comes to $33 PER WEEK!!!! Let see you get a used minivan for that price!
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steven 3:06PM (6/18/2008)
Sorry... That is not a "typical" used mininvan annual gas consumption, that is the average for the most fuel efficient minivan available in the U.S. for each of the model years 2003-2007.
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GoodCheer 3:17PM (6/18/2008)
steven: How did you get to $4700?
15,000 miles / 10 mpg = 1500 gal.
1500 gal x $4/gal = $6000.
So you're spending $3000 more per year on a vehicle that cost $20,000 more to begin with. Some folks really are bad at math.
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Mark 3:21PM (6/18/2008)
According to SUVOA, about 80 million Americans rely on an SUV - there's going to be a lot more people in this 'boat' (pun). Derek can make it if he (1) cuts his mileage in half and (2) gets a paying customer for every trip. Judging him accomplishes little.
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MemphisNET 3:40PM (6/18/2008)
There is a use and place for these giants, but to say ''I needed it because I have a large family'' has always been a flimsy excuse at best.
Shame... nice vehicle, but completely out of wack for the times.
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Tim 3:53PM (6/18/2008)
It's not just the SUV and Light Trucks, but it is also those expensive gas guzzling sports cars.
The wave of change happens. Look up, see it coming and prepare to ride it or ignore it and be drowned by it.
Derek Hunter did NOT choose wisely. Dipwad!
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rj 3:58PM (6/18/2008)
If he has 7 kids and a wife and him that is 9
Unless he gets a 15 passenger van, a sprinter van or a short bus I do not know of many other vehicles that have seating for 9. I do not know of any others that have seating for 9 and 4wd.
Were all the kids single births? He could have 1, kid, 1 kid, then bam quints. Sometimes you get more than you barged for.
I don't have 7 kids so its not like I've looked.
So even if he sold the ford and bought 2 cars that got 20 mpg each what would that get him? That still works out to 10 mpg and depending on the age of the kids if the cars do not have an "off" switch for the air bag they still might not be able to move all those people.
People blame other for living in the suburbs as though they are greedy for doing so. In the Baltimore area it is not uncommon for our civil servants (teachers, firefighters, police) to live in PA not because they want to dive an hr+ to work each day but because that is the only way that they could find a home cheap enough that they could afford on their pay.
People seem very quick to attack and very slow to offer solutions.
I don't think people understand the lack of options.
It is easy to insult and offer dumb solutions when you do not understand the problem.
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Domenick Yoney 4:11PM (6/18/2008)
@#1:
There are 5 kids and 2 adults in this family of 7.
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Ignatius 4:42PM (6/18/2008)
Well, here's the solution. Quit having so many damn kids!
I bet each one of them cost more than his Ford Excursion did, but I bet he's not whining about those.
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yasmine 7:29PM (11/17/2008)
how dare you ..and how dare all of you... Children are a blessing and those that do not look at it that way have over-indulged children who are spoiled by their wishy- washy parents. we are LOOKING for an excursion, so there. We have a small farm and 5 kids and we might have more. Try fitting 5 kids in a car with 5 bags of feed and shavings and oh yeah, their homeschooled too. YEP, and I pay everyone's school taxes too. I m donating to everyone else's education. I dont get payback.. WHatever, you guys just like to point the finger. you think your so wonderful, cause you recycle. Its gonna take a whole lot more to save this earth. But keep goin do what you can. Just dont point the finger, with OBAMA , we'll all be in the dog house soon....
Mick 5:22PM (1/08/2009)
Kids are great I agree (If you can afford to support them). I give you credit for homeschooling your children but understand you made that choice, and part of that choice was paying taxes for an educational system you were not going to use. Unfortunately some people spend more money than they should and when something doesn't go as planned are immediately in trouble, it sounds like Derek just didnt plan for gas to go up. The reality is he's s*** out of luck and deserves nothing but to sell his expensive car for dirt.
mrbell321 4:47PM (6/18/2008)
"People seem very quick to attack and very slow to offer solutions."
The solutions are obvious and easy, if you spend 10 minutes to think about the impact of your decisions. Don't have 5 kids. It's way easier than the alternative.
Don't drive a vehicle that is impractical. Again, obvious and easy.
If you can't afford to live where you work or work where you live, find a new job and MOVE. Easy, obvious, and often it's just a good idea. If you're too stubborn to give up what you've always done even tho it's encouraging bad habits, then it's your fault and you deserve the consequences.
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brn 4:48PM (6/18/2008)
"15,000 miles / 10 mpg = 1500 gal."
That's pretty bad MPG. My 10 year old, V8 powered, AWD (full time), SUV averages 17mpg.
15,000 miles / 17 mpg = 882 gal or $3530.
For those of you that want to hate me, I don't drive the SUV on a daily basis and certaily don't put 15K a year on it. My daily driver is much smaller.
"Some folks really are bad at math"
No, they just have different assumptions about the seed numbers.
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BHendrix 5:09PM (6/18/2008)
Listen to the report. Five kids + parents = seven people, not nine. There are plenty of families with five kids in the back of minivans. Perhaps some people will have to sacrifice a bit of room and image, yes. This is what's called a compromise. Life is full of them.
What's more, this man is a home inspector, so he drives all day long. And his two vehicles are as follows: Ford Excursion, and Ford Expedition. Surely this is foolishness no matter how you try to justify it.
Many people bought vehicles like the Excursion with no expectation that they would suffer consequences from this kind of fuel consumption. This is precisely the point of the report. The problem is not one of need, but of foresight.
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solicitor bulgaria 1:33AM (6/19/2008)
My Fit finally reached 30mpg on my last tank. :) *rubs it in*
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BlackbirdHighway 5:23PM (6/18/2008)
The Toyota Highlander Hybrid seats 7, gets about 26 mpg. So, that would have room for the kids, prices start at $34,200. In four years, it will probably be worth a lot more than $11,500.
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Sean 5:53PM (6/18/2008)
He really is in a tough situation. Earlier decisions aside (and considering he made them 3-4 years ago,) this is really being stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand is the colossal cost of operating these things which is obvious. But on the other is the lost value of these vehicles and the high initial outlay for replacements relative to current operating costs. As the line goes, $15K "...can buy a lot of gas."
So if I were in his shoes, my analysis would go something like this: 1) Make a guess for the gas price floor or average for the next few years. 2) For each vehicle, figure average yearly miles driven, divide that by the average mileage, and multiply by the price/gal from #1. This gives average annual fuel costs. 3) Figure this same thing on a replacement vehicle candidate whose primary criteria (for this exercise) is lowest operating cost. 4) Subtract one from the other and divide by the number of years. This is the average annual savings. 5) Divide the purchase price of the replacement by the avg savings. This gives the number of years required for the new vehicle to pay for itself in fuel savings alone. 6) If this is at least a year less than the time you think gas will remain above the estimated floor price, or better, significantly less than the time you intend to keep the replacement, you should seriously consider mothballing the current vehicle (remove insurance & registration if possible, cover it up, park it in the back yard if you need the garage space) and purchase the replacement. 7) If you feel resale value for the current vehicle will not increase within your figured time period, you should probably consider selling it now, taking the hit. This way you at least gain some liquidity instead of hanging on to a depreciating asset.
This math works out best if you can swallow your pride and pick the most efficient vehicle possible no matter how it looks (so long as its safe.) In his case, I assume he drives alone to home inspections, so as long as a 60 mile range isn't an issue, a Meyers Motors LiIon NmG may be ideal. (Plus he can top off at the homes he inspects.)
If your pride is too big to swallow, then ask yourself just how many dollars is your pride worth?
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