About three years ago, as the price of gasoline began creeping up, hybrid cars started becoming more and more popular. While this makes perfect sense, I always kind of felt that people were buying these hybrids – in particular, the Toyota Prius – in an attempt to own the “in” car.
My theory shifted dramatically when things really hit the fan earlier this year, and many of us were paying in excess of $4 per gallon to fill up our cars. At that point, owning a hybrid went from simply being the cool thing to do to the financially and environmentally smart way to get around town. After all, reducing your gasoline consumption can save both money and the environment.
So, owning a hybrid should be a win/win situation, right? Not necessarily.
While there’s no doubt that hybrid cars get great gas mileage, it’s not as if this increase fuel efficiency comes for free; you’re going to pay a premium to own that hybrid.