When Gas Prices Go UP, Consumers Lease More…Cars

While gas prices more than doubled in the last two years, car sales increased by 25%, nearly more than any other retail category.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The latest analysis from the Money Anxiety Index (moneyanxiety.com) shows that higher gas prices do not deter consumers from buying more cars, or from increasing spending in other retail categories. In the last two years, December 2009 to December of 2011, gas prices more than doubled – from a national average of $1.59 to $3.21 per gallon – an increase of 102% according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. During the same time period, auto sales increased by 25.3%, from $52 billion to $65 billion per month according to seasonally adjusted data from U.S. Census Bureau.

But auto sales are not the only major retail category that experienced large increases in sales despite the doubling of the gas prices. The other top retail categories that experienced large increases in sales were: non-store retails, such as online and mail order stores increased their monthly sales by 26.4% in the last two years; building material stores up 18.6%; jewelry stores up 14.1%; restaurants and bars up 12.6%; closing stores up 12.0% and. Of curse, gas stations up 21.1 according to the same data from U.S. Census Bureau.

“Thus far there is no evidence the increase in gasoline prices in the last two years has adversely impacted any major retail category,” said Dan Geller, Ph.D. Chief Research Officer at Money Anxiety Index, “However, this does not mean that at some price point, gasoline price will not have a negative impact on retail sales. What is this price point? Time will tell.”