Alternative Power

The last time I visited the gas pump to fill my SUV, my total bill got much closer to the $100 mark than I am comfortable with. Unfortunately, my choice in vehicle dictates that I will consistently pay a higher price to fill up and will have to do so more often than my more fuel economic-minded friends. And, like the rest of the American population, as my gas bill goes up, that cuts into my spending in other places.

 

Consumers are changing their driving behavior as a result of record high gas prices. They are also reducing their spending on luxury items and regular items, such as groceries according to a survey of 1,000 consumers commissioned by PriceRunner.com. As much as we complain about the excessive rise in fuel prices, there is at least one area of industry that is benefiting.

 

Online retailers may be one of the few areas that are realizing a benefit from higher gas prices. In fact, 22 percent of the survey respondents indicated that they are making more online purchases to save on the cost of driving to the store.

 

Considering the recent increases in gas prices, many of the 1,000 consumers reported definite changes to their behavior during the past year. The biggest changes in spending that consumers made included: reducing general driving when possible (55 percent); reducing spending on luxury items (39 percent); changing their vacation plans (28 percent); and reducing spending on regular items including groceries (22 percent).

 

Another 10 percent of respondents reported that they had cancelled all or part of their vacation plans as a result of higher gas prices. Closer vacation destinations were chosen by 12.8 percent and 5.3 percent of respondents said they had decided to fly instead of drive to their vacation destination.

 

Martin Andersen, General Manager of PriceRunner US, said in a Monday statement, “Consumers can visit PriceRunner.com to find information on the lowest gas prices in their local areas. This is a valuable resource for consumers at a time when gasoline prices have such an impact on everyday spending and travel plans.”

 

This study was conducted by Amplitude Research on behalf of PriceRunner.com, over a four-day period among a nationwide Web panel. There were 1,000 survey respondents, resulting in a +/- 3.1% maximum sampling margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.

 

Visit http://www.pricerunner.com/gaspricessurvey.html for survey results, and http://www.pricerunner.com/f/662/Gas to search gas prices.

 

 

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