Some two-car households in Canberra are walking away from their second car and buying $5000 motor scooters to escape rising fuel prices.
Sales are up 20per cent at Motorini in Phillip, where principal Nico Wright is about to double the size of his lease and employ extra staff because he believes high petrol prices are here to stay.
Prices for large second-hand vehicles have dropped by up to $5000 and new car figures are down by 1.8per cent for the year.
While rocketing fuel prices are a boon for the retailers of small vehicles, they're a nightmare for heavy transport operators like Ron Finemore Transport, which operates 130 linehaul vehicles from regional Victoria and NSW.
Finemore's fuel bill has soared from $275,000 a week in July last year to $425,000 in July this year.
The 55per cent increase, on top of a driver shortage, is making business difficult for all transport operators.
A Finemore's spokesman said, ''We have no option but to pass these increases on to our customers, who must in turn pass on to the end consumer.''
A scarcity of parking in the city is also driving the sales of scooters, which are except from parking fees.
In his best week Mr Wright sold six motor scooters. Costing $182 to register, a scooter ran for 100km on three litres of petrol, compared with 10 litres for the same journey in a four-cylinder car, tempting some people to abandon their second car.
''They walk away from the car. They're not worth anything if you have a $1000 service plus registration.''
ACT Motor Traders Association used car division spokesman Paul McGuinness said an over-supply of large cars had seen prices drop.
Second-hand four-wheel drives were at their cheapest prices for years and some bigger cars had come back in price by $4000 to $5000.
While some motorists expected to be paying $2 a litre in future, sales would settle down after an initial shock period, as they did in the mid-1980s, when enthusiasts temporarily abandoned the V8 market.
The association's new car division spokesman, John McGrath, said the overall economy had more influence on new car sales than petrol prices.
Sports utility vehicle sales in the ACT were up 12.8per cent for the year.
Industry figures showed Holden sales down 21.7per cent, Ford up 0.7per cent, Mazda 4.4per cent and Toyota 11.8per cent. John Thistleton