The price of a barrel of crude oil fell 32% last month, the largest
monthly drop since oil futures began trading 25 years ago.
"expected to result in staggering annual savings for American
households -- well in excess of $100 billion."
Oil notches record monthly drop on US downturn: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

1.89 in raytown , mo.

car lots have used ones at $21-29k still.
one place gave me a offer on tuesday when i was there to buy a 08 aura xr.
(i chose not to trade it in before i bought the car)

they offered me $22k :rockon: i could have made money.

To get back on subject and avoid making this thread a "what price did you pay ? thread" my belief is similar to yours Rybold. There is a more heightened awareness about alternatives to gas fuelled vehicles and even our local "Top Gear" magazine now has a Green section (Jeremy Clarkson must be moaning in his porridge now).....

I think there will be a move back to more fuel inefficient cars by those who think that the technology premium is now too high to justify a hydrid or other such-like on economics alone, bit in my opinion, it's their loss, because as sure as eggs is eggs, one day in the future (probably well after my time) no cars will use gas for propulsion.

Accepting this earlier rather than later is my viewpoint and I am not alone. As far as hydrid sales go, the die is cast and their future is rosy, so I see no downside compared to other types of vehicles (absolute number may reduce in the short term because of recession fears etc, but their share of sales will not).

That's my 2c. Happy to be a Prius driver but would be happier in a PHEV Prius in the mid term and will definitely NEVER buy a "normal" car again...

FAST TO GO UP.............VERY SLOWWWWWWWWW TO GO DOWN.

gas here in the hollywood area today is about 2.95. however, i remember back when the barrel was +/- $60, gas was approx. 1.95-2.20. what took so long for the price to go down at the pumps? another................does the middle man pocket the profits?

Hello,
So it won’t be long before OPEC turns the valve a few turns closed to reduce the flow and get the price back up there. (This will happen some time right after next Tuesday, of course.) When is OPEC’s next meeting?
I also believe that in a few decades gas will be the exception to electric for fuel for personal transportation. Many folks now understand that global warming IS an issue that can’t be ignored; the recent high cost of gas really helped drive that point home. With the price dropping will people tend to forget? Some, no doubt, but many others have already changed the way they do things to a cheaper, less fuel intensive style. Prius being one of them.

I've noticed that too. Prices go up at even the hint of bad conditions and yet, in the very presence of favorable conditions, prices only fall back like pouring molasses on a day in mid January.

I think these low gas prices are just temporary, they'll be back up before we know it.

But already, the Gas-Guzzlers are breathing a sigh of relief, and charging down the interstate again, thinking everything is A-OK. So few people see the big picture.....but here it is.

The bad news is that OPEC isn't happy with prices this low, so they will continue to cut production until prices recover a bit.

The good news is that the people who ran up the price can't borrow the money to do so right now, or they've gone belly up.

But I get the impression that Americans may have figured out that next year's price for gasoline may still be $5 a gallon. Yep, we'll enjoy it while it's here, but I'm not budgeting for $2.50 a gallon gas in 2009. There just isn't any guarantee.

OPEC has already cut once, to no effect. They will cut again but they can't cut too much. Once the world wide economy recovers demand will take off again, and prices will too.
Hybrids won't sell as well for both reasons (low fuel prices and bad economy). And their will be a surge of hybrid buying as gas passes $3.50 again. Could be in the spring, could be in 12 or 18 months.

the price of oil dropped BECAUSE

1) our use of oil has dropped for the first time in decades (previous high prices DID NOT slow our roll, this time it did)

2) we can not afford to pay more for gas than its worth. foreclosures, bankruptcy, business failures, onset of winter, etc. means there is no extra money to pay for the gas and the oil industry knows it. that is why they have reduced the price hoping not too many people will find:

A) a significantly more efficient method of transportation (hybrids, EV's small cars, etc)

B) alternative forms of transportation (bus, carpool, bike etc.)

iow, the previous price of oil was completely uncalled for. it was simple greed. but they pushed the envelope too far, and people took action. this drop in prices is simply the oil industry over-correcting in an attempt to get people back to fat, happy, and DEPENDENT.

its my hope that we as a nation now see more clearly what options we have and will act on it.

I've seen an amazing amount of BRAND NEW Hummers and other gas guzzling SUV's on the roads since the gas prices fell; what I am curious to find out is; how many people, if any, canceled their place on a waiting list for a Prius or Civic Hybrid and went out and bought a Suburban, thinking the gas prices were going to stay low for a long time.

some people are easily lured thinking they will save money when buying a $50,000 vehicle for 20 grand.

I bought my first Prius to save money. I will buy my PHEV to achieve energy independence. I hope this is a common thought.

Overall, I believe hybrid sales will decrease. Demand will decrease (harder to qualify for a loan, harder to get a home equity loan to get a car, lower stock prices, thus can't liquidate at a profit to get a car, lower oil prices will lessen desire to unload low mpg vehicle) and Supply will increase (more hybrid vehicles coming out (sheer numbers as well as different makes and models, more energy efficient vehicles coming out). Lower demand and higher supply will lower prices on high mpg vehicles. But I think with these troubled times, people will not make the switch.

1) I think that a percentage of people (unfortunately, I think this is a smallish number) got a "wake up" call with oil prices last spring and summer, reevaluated their modes of transportation and will jump out of a low mpg type vehicle and move towards a higher mpg type vehicle.

2) I think a number of people recognized that they could help their cause at the fuel pump by slowing down (especially on the highway) and improving mpg. However, if these folks don't actually monitor their mpgs, likely they will slide back to the mean driving speed, which will increase in speed. A small percentage will keep their speeds down and conserve.

3) A lot of people got on a waiting list for a Prius. With the economic downturn, a goodly percentage of those people may put off this purchase until they have the confidence to "pull the trigger" on a new car purchase. Prius waiting lists will shorten quickly, this is borne out on several threads on this site.

4) I'm hopeful that many that did make the switch, were driving gas guzzling vehicles and now have, at least, halved their gas consumption if not cut it down more.

5) Mass transit ridership will decrease due to the "convenience" of driving one's car. Now that gas is cheaper, people will rationalize it is OK to forgo mass transit for individual driving. Some small percentage will continue to vanpool, carpool, take mass transit, but the crush will pass.

Overall, I'm hopeful that some people will look at this spike as a foreshadowing of what is to come (again). With the drop in oil prices, it really gives them an opportunity to reevaluate their situations while not being in "panic mode". Lower oil prices will give them an opportunity to sell their SUV or other low mpg vehicle for a better price. Lower oil prices will lessen demand on fuel efficient vehicles, and the credit crunch will lower interest rates for well qualified borrowers. This can give people a decent chance at buying a more fuel efficient car without overpaying.

People now have hindsight. Hopefully they will take this "break in the weather" to unload their inefficient vehicles and get a more efficient vehicle. Hopefully they will keep their speeds down and their tire pressures up. Hopefully, they will carpool and do other things to limit their driving.

Unfortunately, I don't have that much faith in people. A depressingly small percentage will take advantage of this. Most will just breathe a sigh of relief and go back to their previous ways. It is easiest for them to do that. Change is difficult and energy draining, thus we seemed destined to repeat this scenario of increasing oil consumption and greenhouse gas impact.

As much as it was a financial hardship to have $140/barrel oil, it really opened people up to the idea of conservation and that is a good thing. But I don't think that this lesson will stick, and that is a depressing reality in this world.

In the past, the price of a barrel of oil has never been this volatile. We set historic records for volatility this year. In the past, station owners could slowly lower the prices, while pocketing the margin, and not end up stuck with no buyers. HOWEVER, I saw a station owner try this a few weeks ago - at El Toro Road and Moulton - he still had a price of $3.80, when everyone else in the city was down to $3.29. No one would buy gasoline from him. Eventually he had to take the loss to get back into the market. So, historically, when prices went down slowly, station owners would pocket the margin, but with prices falling as fast as they did last month, owners were all about VOLUME. They battled to have the lowest price.

Lol. OPEC met last week. They announced a production decrease of 1.5 million barrels. But the news around the world of decreased demand outweighed OPEC's decision. OPEC's "tool" to influence prices was ignored. If they want to influence the market, the are going to have to do a lot more than what they are used to. Even then, OPEC has had a hard time over the past year getting member countries to only pump to their quota. With greed, most OPEC members have been pumping much more than their quota and just not reporting it to OPEC.

Nice graph. From 1984 to Y2K, it's flat. Sixteen years. Nice trend.
I have seen a few [brazen] SUV drivers "charging" down the interstate, but I have seen just as many still driving slowly. You have to remember, even at $2/gallon, if you drive fast, those things GUZZLE money!

You're absolutely right. Those that ran the stock up, either no longer exist or are out of the market. Bearn Stearns was a HUGE oil futures trader. They were the first bank to close the doors. They no longer exist. Numerous other banks that traded HUGE in oil futures have fled the market at record speeds. The "big guys" who drove that market are no longer in the game. So, oil futures are back to former volatility. Over the past week and a half, oil has stabilized in the $60s.
On the gasoline price rebound, I don't see it happening any time soon. Unless OPEC does something absolutely DRASTIC, oil prices are going to remain at current levels until the economy and demand recovers. Based on forecasts right now, that is not likely to happen until the second half of 2009. (note: it's already November). There ARE reasons why OPEC would not want to increase prices ... they have a lot invested in the global economy and they are very much effected by the current [almost recession] (a recession takes two months of negative GDP. October was month#1), and they want to see the global economy recover just as much as we do. So the last thing they want is a RAPID increase in gas prices that would sour an economic recovery. Russia, on the other hand, depends a lot more on oil.

Interesting note: With oil prices down from $140 to $20, the incomes of OPEC nations are down by more than HALF, and Russia's income is down about a third (Russia depends heavily on oil, but they still have many other exports). As a result, Iran's ability to fund a war has been severely harmed - and Russia's "power trip" has just had it's balls cut off. When gasoline prices were high, Russia made billions of dollars in loans to Iran, assuming it would be no problem to pay off. Looks like the tides have turned. This is why a decrease in gasoline prices is good news for America in more than just one way.

Bingo. They want SUV drivers to remain "addicted" to OPEC's drug. If they raise prices, people will trade in their SUVs for EVs. OPEC knows this ... but is their intelligence bigger than their greed? The smartest thing OPEC could do for themselves is get gasoline down to $1.49 so that people begin not caring about mpg any more.

I definitely agree with you that the drop is an over-correction. The problem for those who are saying "it will correct back up a little" is that the market seems to be stabilizing at the bottom; in the $60s.

Wow. You guys have it cheap. It didn't get below $3/gal here in Nor Cal until very recently.

I was up in WA state earlier in the week and was amazed by $2.579/gal gas.

I agree with Ron. If one bases his buying decisions on the price of gasoline today, that is very shortsighted thinking. My goal has always been the best economy, I have owned Peugeots, VW, Hondas and Toyotas. An :cheer2:Auto is basically transportation, just like the horse and buggy. I currently have two Apteras on order and I hope that idea pans out, we shall see. Oil is getting scarce, 3rd world countries will put an incredible demand on oil AND natural gas. The prices of these commodities will continue to rise out of sight. The fact that we are contributing to cleaner air is a nice selfsatifying plus, but rest assured, a meteoric rise in the price of gasoline is inevitable, the question is when??? It has been refreshing to see that supply and demand do work, but only within reason. AND what is the relationship between High gasoline prices, increased unemployment and the increased mortgage bankrupcies. Some experts think they are intertwined. Do you?

just got gas this afternoon at $2.31 in Wa...