Auto sales also hit by gas prices
College students' car purchases drop, salesman says
Andrew Riggs / The Collegian
College students, like English graduate student Nigel Melhurst, are driving less and turning to other forms of tranportation. |
By Doug Sulenta
The Collegian
The skyrocketing price of gas is affecting not only gas purchases, but auto sales as well, a Fresno car salesman said Monday.
Ramiro Amezcua, a salesman for Future Kia/Ford, said gas prices are affecting the cars people buy. He also said it’s affecting the number of college-age people coming into his dealership.
“People such as farmers and carpenters still have to buy trucks, but younger families are leaning toward buying more economical, inexpensive cars in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.”
He said college-age buyers are simply buying fewer cars.
“We’re not seeing many of them lately. It’s like they dropped off the map. It used to be that about every one in 10 shoppers were college-aged, but lately it’s more like one in 20.”
Amezcua said he’s been selling cars for more than six years and thinks there definitely is a correlation between the cost of fuel and college students’ buying tendencies.
Students said increasing gas prices have influenced their spending habits.
Kylie Bryhni, a senior nursing student, said the gas prices have made her spend more time on campus than usual.
“I drive less around town,” she said. “Normally I go home during my breaks, but now I just stay on campus. I drive an SUV and gas is ridiculous.”
Kathleen Von Oehsen said gas prices have affected her spending in other areas.
“I used to buy the most expensive gas but now I buy the cheapest. Plus, it is affecting other things I buy such as school supplies and food.”
Ryan Rocha, a kinesiology student, said it hasn’t affected him much.
“I don’t drive that much. I’ll usually have a friend drive and we’ll carpool a little.”
A manager at a local Savemart supermarket, John Aiello, said the store is doing what it can to keep the rising cost of fuel from affecting the price of groceries.
“Price increases haven’t gone into effect yet,” he said. “We don’t want to arbitrarily take this, hopefully, temporary price increase in gas and reflect that to the customers.”
Aiello said tactics the company is using to maintain its prices include reducing the number of shipments the store receives and becoming more proficient in using their delivery trucks.
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