Willem replied:

Nissan are already giving away Free On Road Costs and $1000 Free Fuel with new vehicle purchases.

When I was over in WA a couple of months ago a Dealer in Karratha was selling 3lt Nissan Patrols at $11,000 below Retail !

This is a similar fuel price hike as in the mid 1970's. Hopefully the world will get over it and prices will drop again. If they continue to rise to $2.00 per litre and beyond then inflation will go up and up and the government will have to do something about it.

Am seriously considering buying a bicycle for short town trips....lol

Exploder replied:

I don’t think it will have a big impact on price’s at the yards, I think selling them will be a lot harder and some dealers may stop taking them as trade-ins perhaps dealers still need to make a profit.

What people have to do is stop worrying about something that has not happened yet, just because some yahoo say’s petrol is going to hit $2 a litre does not mean it will happen they are talking almost an 80c per litre increase, now that is bleep ing huge jump up for that to happen crude oil would need to go over $100 a barrel by my estimation. The average price of fuel from shell in Perth currently is $1.19.

Member - mikeyandmary (NSW) replied:

My wife and I just decided to get a couple of 150cc scooters for commuting and short trips when we don't need to carry much. 2-3 litres/100km is much better than 9-11 litres/100km. We did think of replacing the hilux with a small car but thankfully that thought was laughed off very quickly!!!

Rock Crawler replied:

In 2000 Greece was selling fuel at $1.55 and Italy was around $2.50 and $3.00 a litre. No one complained because they were use to it .

I can easily see petrol between $1:50 and $1:80 by the end of the year.

Well this is what happens when Saddam isnt around to discount oil into Europe under the Euro...

Hmmmm

Kaz & Dale replied:

Saw figures on the news the other day that said new 4 wheel drive sales have fallen 20% in the last month. If this continues I will expect to see a lot more of "inducements" from dealers to get you into the yards.
Have had my eye on a new diesel Terracan for a few months now and after being told by the dealer that they wont be doing freebies with diesel only the petrol they are now doing free auto and free $2500 accessories - a $4500 saving!
It might pay to wait a bit at the moment if considering a new fourby.

Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses replied:

had an email from a distant relo a couple of weeks back to say when he returns to Australia in a couple of weeks his Pajero will go on the market. Assuming he isn't the only one who will do that I imagine the price will drop in the market.

Assuming that the market will over correct as is usually the first case I guess some cheaper second hand 4bys coming onto the market. Good if you want to buy one, not so if you have one to sell. It may be good then if you factor in tha marginal increase in the cost of fuel when you are buying.

Not so good for a new 4by in the market, I for one won't be looking to a new ML Merc.

Paul - OzRoamer Camper Trailer replied:

We have recently received a heap of enquiries about our lighter Wedge Explorer camper trailer from pepole who are considering changing from their Patrols and L/cruisers down to a vehicle like the Forester or XTrail.

They all stated that fuel costs were the reason.

Seems like quite a few are considering which makes me wonder what a shift like this would do to the value of the used larger models. Would'nt the values drop in value??

ev700 replied:

The hip pocket should dictate a move to more economical vehicles. After all, in countries where fuel is dear the size and engine capacity of vehicles are smaller.

I suspect that people will want to use their vehicles as much as they presently use them. I notice that fuel price rises do not ease peak hour traffic snarls and nor do people share vehicles for commuting.

I reckon that new larger vehicles will 'stick'more in showrooms and dealers will offer incentives until they can adjust their oders to suit.