By Terry Date
tdate@eagletribune.com
November 12, 2008 02:33 am Plummeting gas prices have motorists smiling, but some say the savings won't change their driving habits. Rich Clivio of Derry pumped gas into his 1994 Lincoln Town Car on Monday at Waterhouse Country Store in Windham, where regular was selling for $2.29 a gallon. "It's almost like a Christmas present," he said of the price break at the pumps. Still, Clivio said he will drive the same distances as usual, taking his three children where they need to go and driving himself to his roofing jobs. The same goes for Rick Kibildis. The retired Derry firefighter said he will do the same amount of driving, regardless of price, mostly around town for things like food shopping. "You got to do what you got to do," he said. Kibildis had just pumped $20 of gas into his Ford F-150 at the Hess gas station in Derry, where regular unleaded was $2.11 a gallon. A few pump islands away at Hess, Brian Gagne, an auto parts salesman in Derry, said he expects gas prices to eventually return to their lofty $4-plus heights. "It's only a tease," he said. "Oh, yeah, the other shoe is going to drop." Pat Moody of AAA Northern New England said the national average for regular gasoline is expected to drop to about $2 a gallon in the next two months - if crude oil stays at about $60 a barrel, wholesale gas stays at $1.40 a gallon, and demand remains the same. Right now, the average price of regular is about $2.31 a gallon in the Granite State. The cheapest average price in the nation? That's $1.93 in Missouri. The most expensive average price? That's $3.32, in Alaska, Moody said. Meanwhile, those who study consumer behavior think lower gas prices are less likely to alter driving habits in the current dire economic climate. Gas savings are coinciding with rising unemployment, higher food prices and worries about the economy. Larry Compeau, who teaches consumer studies at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., said many consumers are pressed, overall, even if they have money in their pockets from gas savings. "They also have concern about gas prices going up quickly," he said. Nicolas Boyon of Ipsos Public Affairs, a national market opinion research firm in New York City, surveyed people when gas prices were high and they said they were more likely to cut down on driving to save money. While he hasn't surveyed people since prices have dropped, his opinion is that, ordinarily, the opposite would hold true - lower gas prices would equal more driving. But the bleak economic landscape changes things. Moody said he doesn't know what the drop in prices will do to driving habits. The dramatic swings in price are unprecedented. "We haven't been at this point where we have seen such a dramatic increase and decrease in a short period of time," Moody said. Mark Lamkin of Windham doesn't foresee his habits changing - he'll continue his high mileage ways. But he is all for the lower prices. On the job, he logs 100,000 miles a year building propane gas plants. Lamkin took advantage of the reduced prices while at the pumps Monday in Derry. "It felt awfully good," he said.
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.