Or, as I pointed out in post #63 and provided a link as well, a self employed person qualifies as well. Where I live, this means ponying up a nominal sum for a business license and voila, a very huge tax credit for the purchase of a vehicle over 6000 lb GVWR–which most large SUVs exceed quite handily. Here’s a link to a list of vehicles which qualify based on GVWR.
The real issue is CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards which exempt large SUVs from counting toward the automaker’s score, because they’ve been arbitrarily classified as trucks. They are NOT trucks, they are NOT “work” vehicles, they are purely passenger vehicles. Their cargo capacity is ludicrously small compared to their overall size–any mini pickup will kick an Excursion’s ass when it comes to hauling stuff, especially leaky messy stuff that might fuck up the carpet and upholstery. However, since the automakers can get away with not improving the gas mileage of these vehicles they’ve marketed them very aggressively, especially since the profit margin on a big SUV is so much greater than a smaller, economical sedan. Automakers made the corporate decision to mothball many projects targeted at improving fuel economy and have reduced production of smaller cars in favor of building bigger and more luxurious SUVs in order to improve their profits, and have effectively reduced the available pool of choices consumers have to decide amongst. Don’t believe me? Go drive past any new car lot and compare how many huge SUVs and trucks are available for sale versus smaller, more economical vehicles. When you, as a consumer, go to buy a new vehicle you are damned near forced to get a honkin’ great truck in order to get the “good deal,” the “best incentive,” and eventually perhaps the “gigantic tax break.”
I have two vehicles, one small V6 sedan and a full size cargo van with front to back spray in bedliner that I bought eight years ago when I was an owner/operator courier. Everyone in my family and immediate group of friends is welcome to borrow the van when they need to haul a big load or move house, so essentially about six households have access to it. Yet it spends about 95% of its time sitting in the driveway because realistically hardly anybody ever needs a vehicle that size and capacity–dump runs, pulling a trailer full of yard debris to the recycling yard, picking up a new couch, etc. I respectfully submit that SUV owners are mostly full of it when they insist they “need” the capacity of their vehicles–mostly they just like being up high and driving a big old tank around. Hey, I understand the impulse, I love driving my van too, but at least mine’s an alternative fuel (LPG) vehicle which pollutes a lot less than the average V8.
I have no problem with SUV owners per se, but I do take exception to the loopholes which allow the automakers to shirk their duty to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. CAFE standards need to include EVERY vehicle an automaker produces, not just some of them, and a passenger vehicle is any one which can seat more than three people, end of story. If the automakers have no further incentive to artificially create a demand for big, gas guzzling monsters with high profit margins they’ll perhaps be a bit more open to producing more fuel efficient vehicles and pursuing some of the interesting avenues to get there, such as the 42V electric systems that can aid in making even bigass SUVs competitive in the fuel economy arena. While we’re at it, where in hell are the incredibly efficient passenger diesels the Europeans drive? 50-60MPG for a luxury sedan sounds like a pretty good deal to me, and diesels can be made economical even for a big truck–go look up the mileage ratings of the Chevy Silverado one ton with the Duramax diesel in it if you don’t believe me.
I hit a sore spot I guess.