Spend more to save more?

Here’s a story from the NY Times.

People concerned about the high price of gasoline are keeping their big cars and SUVs and adding a third small car like a Prius or a Yaris or a Civic so that they can save money on gasoline.

Pierre Tremblay, 67, of Howell, Mich., bought a Toyota Prius this month because driving his Dodge Ram pickup 40 miles round-trip to work was costing so much. So far the Prius is getting 55 miles per gallon, compared with 13 for the truck.

“I can go to work now, back and forth, on less than a gallon,” said Mr. Tremblay, a maintenance manager for a cement company. “Before it was at least three.”

With regular unleaded gas averaging $3.53 a gallon in Michigan this week, according to AAA, that is a savings of over $8 every workday.

But Mr. Tremblay was not ready to get rid of his pickup, which he uses to haul a camping trailer.

Americans have spent $20 billion more on gasoline so far this year compared with 2006, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. That works out to about $146 a person, a fraction of what a new car costs.