Lower gas prices helping used truck and SUV sales

Like most people, Eva Sorrentino picked her SUV for good mileage, but driving to Rigby from Pocatello nearly every weekend to visit her parents can quickly bring her wallet to empty.

However, with Idaho’s gas prices as low as they’ve been, Sorrentino said, “(the prices) have been able to let me go down more often than I would have if the gas prices were a little higher.”

The state’s low gas prices have been helping used car dealers get more cars rolling off their lots, especially trucks and SUVs.

Gregg Kemp, One Stop Auto’s Sales Manager, said they’ve been selling these cars more than years past because of the current gas prices.

Kemp said One Stop Auto’s sales of trucks have nearly doubled. With trucks being 10 to 12 percent of their sales in 2014, while in 2015 trucks were 20 to 22 percent of their sales.

After being in the business for nearly five years, Kemp said this is a sign of consumer confidence, which means the area’s car business could be seeing good things for the time being.

“They can afford a little larger car payment than they could in the past when gas was pushing $3.50 or $4.50 a gallon,” he said. “It frees a little bit more money in their pocket book.”

Kemp also said this season’s snowfall helped in getting more SUVs and trucks sold. Sales for smaller cars haven’t had a noticeable increase or decrease, at least in One Stop Auto’s numbers.

Several dealers we spoke to say it also helps we’re in the middle of tax season, where a lot of people use their tax refund as a down payment for a car.