Consumer Groups Say New Car Buyers to Benefit From Fuel Efficiency

The Consumer’s Union and the Consumer Federation of America say new car buyers will see a significant savings with President Obama’s proposed new fuel economy standards. Obama wants to raise fuel efficiency to 54.5 miles a gallon by 2025. Hearings on the standards, proposed for years 2017 through 2025, will take place in Philadelphia next week. The Administration says those standards would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide by 6 billion metric tons.
But the Consumer Federation of America’s analysis doesn’t focus on the environmental benefits. The group wanted to see how much money car buyers would save over the long run. Greater fuel efficiency would increase the cost of a new vehicle. The Consumer Federation of America’s report says drivers would more than make up for that extra cost with savings at the pump.

“And by far the single largest benefit of ‘54.5 by 2025’ is the reduction of consumer expenditures on gasoline,” said Mark Cooper, the Consumer Federation of America’s director of research. ‘The consumer pocketbook savings for the typical consumer with a 5 year auto loan will be immediate and substantial.”

The report says consumers will save an “estimated average of $800 dollars” by the end of a new car loan.
Rising costs of gasoline have recently made fuel costs higher than the actual cost of owning a car.

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