Depending on how old you are, you may remember the good old days, when you pulled into a gas station and someone came outside to help you. There you sat, comfortably behind the wheel, while the gas attendant filled your car with gas, (requested by gallons and not dollars), checked your oil, cleaned your windshield and thanked you for your patronage. You never worried about what type of weather it was, because you didn’t have to get out of the car to pump your gas. The attendant did it for you, so your clothes would stay as fresh as they were when you left the house. You could fill up your tank, hand over a ten dollar bill and actually get change back.

Unfortunately for everyone, those days are over. Now you sit in line behind other harried customers at the gas station and have to get out of the car, go inside to pay for the gas if you don’t want to use your credit card, then come back out and pump the gas yourself. Now people no longer say they want ten gallons of gas. That’s been changed to ten dollars worth of gas, if you please, and you clean your own windshields and check your own oil. Hopefully you won’t drip gas on your clothes or stain your hands when checking the oil level in your car.

When SUVs came on the market, it seemed like everyone just had to have one. Thanks to the cool commercials showing drivers zipping through Arctic weather or driving over treacherous terrain, they seemed just too cool to pass up. It became a status symbol to drive one, even though many of those who bought them lived in the suburbs where there was no danger of rough terrains and unpaved roads.

Now that the cost of gas has skyrocketed, many of those same people that drove their SUVs home from the dealership with a huge grin on their face, are now sobbing when its time to go to the gas station. These gas guzzlers now put a huge dent in their paychecks and no longer seem as attractive as they once did.

SUV and truck manufacturers recognized the need to produce vehicles that did not consume so much of the owner’s salary just to fuel it. They have come out with a line of Hybrid SUVs and trucks that are just as attractive as the other models but much more fuel efficient. Ford has presented the Escape Hybrid, Lexus is competing with its RX400 and Toyota has come out with its Highlander Models.

If you still want to drive an SUV, but not worry about the potential of filing for bankruptcy due to expensive fueling, then consider one of the Hybrid SUVs and trucks on the market. Your wallet will thank you.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as