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08/26/2007'A little work vehicle'When downsizing is an option — or not
Ted Forcier drives a 1984 Volkswagen to save money on gas while working. TRAVERSE CITY — Like many people in northern Michigan, Ted Forcier has an SUV. His wife has a pickup. But when Forcier started a small business selling reflective address signs throughout the five-county Grand Traverse region, he knew he needed something different. "I needed a little work vehicle,” said Forcier, who recently bought a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit for $1,000. "I bought it used; something I could afford, something I knew would get better gas mileage than I was getting.” The Maple City man is one of millions of Americans who rely on their vehicles for work — and not just to get back and forth to their jobs. They were among those particularly hard hit when the price of gas climbed to $3 and stayed there. Besides using the Rabbit for his business, Mailboxmen.com, Forcier drives the small car to his day job in Traverse City about 16 miles away. He can go 180 miles farther per tank on about $22 less than with his SUV, he said. "That's 10 trips or one full week of going to work for free,” he added. Over 12 months, he estimates he'll save $1,123 in gas — more than he spent on the car and its maintenance. "Over the year I've paid for the car, oil and everything else,” he said. While those who use their vehicles for business may be able to deduct their expenses on their tax returns at the rate of 48.5 cents per mile this year, many employees are reimbursed by their companies by way of a mileage allowance that may or may not be equal to the Standard Mileage Rate set by the IRS. That's forced some to change their driving habits. Besides buying a more fuel-efficent car, Forcier, 45, combines errands, maps out his trips and does something those living closer to town might consider unthinkable. "I just stay home more often,” he said. Raymond Zinn is owner of Northern Michigan Drywall, which sells and installs drywall all over northwest lower Michigan. He has two Chevy Silverado pickups, which he fills with diesel fuel daily — at a cost of about $70 each. Because he needs vehicles powerful enough to pull trailers with heavy loads, he just grins and bears it. "We're forced into these vehicles,” he said. "If gas went to $10 a gallon, it would not alter my driving habits. I have to do it.” Instead of passing the cost of the increase on to his customers, Zinn, 40, said he's found another way to deal with it. "As our costs increase, I increase my volume,” he said. "I don't know how people on a set income do it. I guess when you go downtown on Friday, you ride your bike.” Parrott's Tours, which will operate about a dozen tours for the Traverse City Senior Center this year, set its prices at the end of 2006, when gas was in the $2 a gallon range, said office manager Barb Parrott. As a result, the business is taking a hit. "It does, but we have never, ever gone back on a bus and said we need $5 more a person because the price has gone up,” Parrott said. "That's been the key to our business for 33 years.” But she said the company may not be able to absorb the increases if gas rates continue to soar. "I'm sure when it gets to a certain point we may have to (pass the increase on),” she said. "Where that point is, I don't know.”
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