Why Drive an SUV in Los Angeles (Pasadena, Brea: insurance, mortgages)

[James T]

I cannot believe there are still people purchasing brand new SUV's in Los Angeles, despite all the negative publicity these vehicles have received lately. Is unnecessary air pollution, extra wear on the roads, obfuscating the view of people driving more environmentally responsible vehicles, etc., really worth whatever function SUV's have in Los Angeles that smaller vehicles do not? Do people still invest in these things because there's a slight chance of a freak snow storm in Los Angeles that could cause somebody to miss going to work a day, or perhaps people are concerned the La Brea Tarpits will bubble over onto Wilshire and render passenger automobiles impractical for travel in L.A.?

[Sorcerer68]

I agree with you. They're gross. I had a long conversation with a career paramedic. He said in the 90's when large SUV's became popular, the number of trauma cases skyrocketed. Even a Volvo hit by the hulk and bumper height of an Expedition or something similar. A little over 4 years ago I had to commute from Pasadena to Hollywood, something that made me vow to never commute again. The number of SUV's on the road here was at an all time high. 2 or 3 times a week I'd see one flipped over on it's roof during rush hour. After being gone for 4 years, the number of them is noticibly less. The car with the most panache in L.A. right now is the Prius, Leo Dicaprio his ilk are driving them. In some circles, owning one is as fashionable as wearing fur.

[cynwldkat]

I think those families that have 6+ kids find them to work well for them? It makes them look "good" too. I agree, they are a pain in the a$$!!

[OutOfSoCal]

theres a few reasons.
1.Most people drive like idiots so the larger heavy car gives you protection from the other idiots.
2. Its trendy and that all alot of people care about in So Cal, everyons has to keep up with the Jones
3 If its a Hummer, its a tax deduction for your business. This is why most who own them do. Why not its a 100% write off because of the weight of the vehickle.

none of those are good reason, but you didn't ask for good reasons, just reasons

[DontH8Me]

Image. That is the reason I see for the most part. I personally think that hummers, especially the bright yellow ones, evoke a "short bus" image, but I'm sure the person driving it doesn't see it that way. Plus it matches the 4000 sq ft. McMansion that they are usually parked in front of.

Fortunately, when the mortgages on the houses they used as cash machines adjust to their "reality" rate, many will lose most if not all of what they have, since they never could afford the illusion to begin with. Some hard lessons coming up in 2008 and 2009.

[fastfilm]

I am tempted to deem all of you knee-jerk, uninformed haters. There are many of us in L.A. who have purchased SUVs for work requirements and sheer cartage. Longbed pickup trucks are not practical in a dense city, let alone facing the problem of parking.

I could care less about panache (much less afford same. I can't afford non-used vehicles anyway.) What I need to do is cart large photographic studio equipment around while retaining great visibility to defensively navigate our roads, while not needing to acquire a teamster's expertise to guess about traffic from, say, a van or panel truck. Also, the police at the scene of the accident where I was hit by a foreign national speeding around a blind turn told me, as I was ambulanced away, that if I hadn't been driving my SUV, I would have been killed outright. For the apologists here, the foreign national was fine: his truck was bigger than my SUV and merely launched mine airborne splat into a brick wall. He turned out to be the first of 3 foreign nationals to total my SUVs in the space of 6 years. Relocators should be aware of how many drivers there are in L.A. wholly unfamiliar with American driving laws.

[gnubler]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

He turned out to be the first of 3 foreign nationals to total my SUVs in the space of 6 years. Relocators should be aware of how many drivers there are in L.A. wholly unfamiliar with American driving laws.

You've had three vehicles totaled within 6 years, and by "foreign nationals"? I find that awfully hard to believe. Maybe you shouldn't be buying so many SUVs? Doosh.

[Rickers]

Calling all suvs gas hogs is silly these days. There are lots of big pick ups and large sedans that are worse than many suv type of vehicles. And why is L.A. any different than anywhere else for that matter. Driving is driving, if you don't like folks polluting and wasting fuel, you should be criticising the size and weight of a vehicle not the style. There are many efficient smaller suvs now and this type of vehicle is a very useful tool any place. Why not ban car racing, needless cruising and Sunday drives ! Just because you see a big suv with one person going to the store, it's easy to criticize, but this person may load that rig up with lots of gear for events or camping or some other proper use for a big suv. I just don't like the idea of having basic freedoms restricted so much. Next will come laws requireing people to live within five miles from their workplace ! Government should be putting more money into helping getting hydrogen fueled vehicles on the road as well as renewable bio-fuel cars and trucks, and yes sport utility vehicles ! Traffic and driving in southern California is one of the things that prompted me to move to Montana several years back. Driving here can be scary too but for different reasons such as deer and drunks ! In L.A. the drunks get caught quick but here there's not much law enforcement
and they seem to get away with it more.

[Rats]

Come on... does anyone actually NEED a Hummer? Won't a Landcruiser or Pathfinder do just fine?

[JerZ]

You know why people buy SUVs? To defend themselves against other people in SUVs. I kid you not. (Okay, not all people, but many.) What's that marketing term for creating a need and all that...?

Right now I have an SUV for the first time in my life and I HATE IT but I was suckered/begged into it by my in-laws, who claimed they could not longer claim the upkeep on the car on their taxes at the end of the year for their business, so somebody had to be driving it. Uhhhhhhhh...yeah. Long story, involving about six months worth of manipulation. I wish I could dump this horrormobile, it is against so much of what I stand for. I have two children, two, in my car; do I really need a freakin' bus? We're not The Dugger Family.

(ETA: Why didn't one of my in-laws just drive it then, you might ask? Well, because each of them already has his/her own SUV. I said EACH. Meaning, ONE drives each of them at a time. One body in a freaking bus-sized mindlessmobile. Yes. They both "needed" one. Not for lumber hauling, I can tell you that. My mother-in-law once called my father-in-law from the garage to tell him to bring her her car keys from the kitchen table. The kitchen and garage are connected. My father-in-law had to come back inside the house from the back yard to get the keys from the table and take them to this woman in the garage. Erm, nope, not a lot of hauling of anything goin' on over there.)

Before that I always had small cars, but I did notice something. When you're in a compact or a sedan, you can't see over/past SUVs. When they're in making a left facing you and you're making the left facing them, you crane and crane and crane your neck but you can't see who's shooooooooshing behind their SUV to come kill you as soon as you try to make your left. Same thing when you're coming out of a parking lot and you're next to one, making the left while they're making the right and vice versa.

So you as a non-enormous-sized-car owner you can either:

1. Take the chance, and get killed...or not! Wooo hooo, another day above ground! or
2. Wait for that one to go so you can see...which makes everyone behind you furious and start honking...and anyway, once that one pulls out, you're immediately face with another one.
3. Revert to Number 1 above.

About seven years ago I was with my oldest son in my Sunbird (I loved that car), taking him to school. I was at a stop behind a minivan or what have you (still can't tell the difference between them and SUVs...because I don't want to) who was making a left, slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwly, because she was in a f * cking bus so why should she have to move or anything like that? I mean who was gonna make her get out of the way? So we were sitting and sitting. And lo and behold, up behind us comes another car, with a driver who didn't feel like slowing down.

My Sunbird was totaled. My son had a concussion. We went to the hospital. He was only 13 years old. His back was damaged and he went to the chiropractor for six months, before the insurance ran out; now, at the age of 21, he simply has continuous pain and just lives with it. I too had a damaged back (but not neck...he also got a misaligned neck) and I, too, live continuously with the pain, but I'm a grown-up so I mentioned my son first, because at least I got to be old first before I faced the future full of pain. My son didn't get that.

We went to a lawyer. Our case was dropped. Why?

Too many other people in accidents with these freaking bus-sized deathmobiles, and the state cracking down on cases.

Oh, but you know, there IS good news. The suburban mommie long-fingernailed phone-yapping driver of the SUV was fine! Isn't that good news? Her bumper did need to be replaced, though. So THAT'S not good. Right?

Now that we do have my stupidmobile my husband doesn't want to get rid of it. He's too afraid of what would happen to our two little ones if some idiot on the cell phone slammed into us when we were in a compact or a sedan and though I hate to admit it, based on the above, and from what I've seen and heard, he's right. We'd all be killed. (Yes, BTW, my eldest and I were wearing seatbelts, and obviously I have the little ones in car seats. Seatbelts will keep children from dying, sometimes, in accidents. But they can't stop the damage if you're hit hard enough, and you're in something little, and they're in something big.)

I do not see how anyone could POSSIBLY need anything that big unless you ARE a lumber-hauler as somebody said above. But today, take a trip out to the supermarket, or simply go to work. Look around. Count the SUVs.

Give your best estimate on how many of them could possibly be lumber-haulers.

Look inside, at the driver's side.

And tell me if the tease-haired skinny chick with long fingernails yapping non-stop on her phone behind the wheel is a lumber hauler.