Back in the 70's and 80's, if you had a family you needed a station wagon. Then came the rise of the SUV, a truck body on a car chassis. The SUV was a necessity for every household, even eclipsing the popularity of the minivan as the family vehicle of the 90's. The craze didn't stop there though; larger and larger SUV’s were developed finally arriving at the mega-size SUV that could almost hold an entire soccer team. The parents super sized their vehicles paying $1:50-1.75 per gallon. These super sized SUV's and even the regular SUV’s were getting on average 9-12 miles per gallon, but compensated for the low gas mileage by increasing the size of the gas tank to 14 – 16 gallons. Shortly after the millennium shift, gas began rising at a steady pace. Every time we went to the pump the price went up a few more cents. Everyone complained, but they kept buying the SUV's for the "size and comfort", but as soon as the prices hit $2:50/gal. and higher, SUV consumers began to doubt their vehicles worth. Even with the extra room for all of the kid's stuff, that they probably didn't need, and the ability to pack all the groceries and home improvement items inside of the vehicle rather than hanging outside, the amount they were dumping into the tank was daunting. Now with the national average of gasoline at $4.24/gal, the cost to fill those 14 gallon tanks is a hard to swallow price of at least $60.

With the realization of paying close to $100 to fill up a gas tank being felt in the wallets of the entire nation, the popularity of the SUV has dipped drastically. The practicality of owning a car that is literally taking food out of the mouths of the owner's children is also hitting the American public hard. With these opinions and realizations taking hold, an investment in an SUV in today’s market is considered a waste of money if not a ridiculous notion. To add to that, the federal government is saying that the price of gas will likely rise even more. In response to these rising prices, the car companies are developing Hybrids and flex-fuel engines that get over 30 mpg for the same size of vehicle. The only good news for current SUV owners is that these new vehicles still have a hefty price tag. Therefore, now is the time to get out of under that bank account draining SUV? The higher the gas prices, the less popular, and the unhappy the general public and media grow toward the SUV's the more the value will go down. If those SUV owners don't act now, they will end up having a vehicle whose value is based merely on the scrap metal that can be salvaged and recycled from its parts.