SunriseGuide in the news
06/09/09
In the market for a new vehicle? Consider the payback.
As published in the Maine Switch, June, 2009
By Heather Chandler
A friend of mine was in the market to buy a new vehicle recently for his business. He’s a tour operator, so he’s commonly transporting any combination of luggage, guests and bicycles on a pretty much daily basis along the coast of Maine from June – October, with less frequent trips the rest of the year. His company owns two fifteen passenger vans and rents additional vehicles as needed. He needed a third vehicle, a mid-sized SUV, for smaller trips and also to help with luggage transfers.
He’s been catching on slowly to greener ways of doing his business, driven both by the encouragement of his tour guides and the growing demand from consumers. He’s always donated a portion of his proceeds to local land trusts, and last year he switched his guest t-shirts to organic cotton. These are great first steps, but miniscule in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of his operations. To really get serious, he needed to focus on his transportation impacts.
Fortunately, doing the right thing for the environment when it comes to transportation choices is usually directly and immediately rewarded with a reduction in expense, something all of us are looking for these days.
My friend initially looked at new hybrid SUVs. But at an upfront cost of nearly $10,000 more than gas-powered models, he had a hard time justifying the expense. Resigned that he would not be able to afford a hybrid, he set about to research fuel efficiency and dependability and settled on 3 models (two of which were Toyota’s and one a Honda). With a mpg range of 10 to 23 in the gas-powered SUV class, there are definitely some better choices even if you cannot go hybrid.
In the end, he lucked out and found a used Toyota Highlander Hybrid for about $2000 more than its gas-powered counterpart. It gets an average mpg of about 27 (combined city and highway driving) which is approximately 30% more mpg than the non-hybrid Highlander and it has an EPA air pollution score of 8 out of a possible 10 for its class. Not bad. If he drives it 25,000 miles each year, he can realize more than $1000 savings each year in the cost of gas alone – meaning it will take less than two years to pay back the added expense for purchasing a hybrid. After that, its $1000/year savings off his bottom line.
In the market for a new car this year? A few things to know:
Tax credits – there are still some tax credits available for the purchase of new hybrid vehicles for personal use. Find out more at www.fueleconomy.gov. In addition, the 2009 stimulus bill included an incentive for car buying that allows you to deduct the amount of your sales tax on vehicles purchased in 2009 from your taxable income.
Greener, cleaner cars – check out www.greenercars.org and www.fueleconomy.gov to compare new and used vehicles.
He’s been catching on slowly to greener ways of doing his business, driven both by the encouragement of his tour guides and the growing demand from consumers. He’s always donated a portion of his proceeds to local land trusts, and last year he switched his guest t-shirts to organic cotton. These are great first steps, but miniscule in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of his operations. To really get serious, he needed to focus on his transportation impacts.
Fortunately, doing the right thing for the environment when it comes to transportation choices is usually directly and immediately rewarded with a reduction in expense, something all of us are looking for these days.
My friend initially looked at new hybrid SUVs. But at an upfront cost of nearly $10,000 more than gas-powered models, he had a hard time justifying the expense. Resigned that he would not be able to afford a hybrid, he set about to research fuel efficiency and dependability and settled on 3 models (two of which were Toyota’s and one a Honda). With a mpg range of 10 to 23 in the gas-powered SUV class, there are definitely some better choices even if you cannot go hybrid.
In the end, he lucked out and found a used Toyota Highlander Hybrid for about $2000 more than its gas-powered counterpart. It gets an average mpg of about 27 (combined city and highway driving) which is approximately 30% more mpg than the non-hybrid Highlander and it has an EPA air pollution score of 8 out of a possible 10 for its class. Not bad. If he drives it 25,000 miles each year, he can realize more than $1000 savings each year in the cost of gas alone – meaning it will take less than two years to pay back the added expense for purchasing a hybrid. After that, its $1000/year savings off his bottom line.
In the market for a new car this year? A few things to know:
Tax credits – there are still some tax credits available for the purchase of new hybrid vehicles for personal use. Find out more at www.fueleconomy.gov. In addition, the 2009 stimulus bill included an incentive for car buying that allows you to deduct the amount of your sales tax on vehicles purchased in 2009 from your taxable income.
Greener, cleaner cars – check out www.greenercars.org and www.fueleconomy.gov to compare new and used vehicles.