Skip to main contentWith gas prices at record highs and the ozone layer melting away like a stick of butter on a radiator, now seems to be the logical time to go out and perform your green civic duty of buying a hybrid car, right?
Good luck.
At Broadway Toyota in Portland, customers who come in hoping to drive a new Prius off the lot have to put their names on an eight- to 10-month waiting list and hand over a $500 deposit. Other Toyota dealers in Portland and elsewhere have similar requirements.
Prospective Honda buyers have a better shot at catching a hybrid Insight or Civic without a wait, however, thanks to a recent shipment.
Beaver State denizens have been snapping up hybrids at breakneck speed as of late. According to Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles data, the number of hybrids registered has risen from 2,000 in January 2003 to 2,800 today--a 40 percent increase in just over a year.
There is good news for those hybrid drivers: The double registration fee DMV charged for hybrids to make up for lost gas tax was phased out Jan. 1. (See "The Hybrid Penalty," WW, Jan. 29, 2003.)
But there's bad news as well, aside from the wait. While SUV owners continue to qualify for the huge federal business tax write-off for vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds (a break of up to $100,000), the comparatively tiny federal tax write-off for hybrids ($1,500) will be phased out after 2006 unless Congress votes to extend it.
Whether eco-justice will be served remains to be seen. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Portland Democrat, is a sponsor of House Bill 727, which would close the SUV tax loophole and treat the metal behemoths the same as passenger cars for tax purposes.
As for the doomed hybrid tax perk, a federal energy bill that is currently awaiting approval in the Senate contains a provision to extend the credit. Unfortunately, that bill is so laden with pork--including subsidies to the oil and gas industry--that it is not likely to garner enough votes to pass.
WWeek 2015