WITNESS: My SUV-selling hell

Tom Hals is a financial editor based in New York. He joined Reuters in London in 2001 and has worked as a financial journalist in Tokyo, New Orleans and Philadelphia. In the following story, he tells of becoming an accidental owner of a sport utility vehicle and the troubles of selling a gas-guzzler as energy prices soar.

By Tom Hals

NEW YORK (Reuters) - This is a cautionary tale about selling an SUV at a time of soaring gas prices, and letting a principled stand on car ownership be undone by great acceleration.

My wife Corey and I are accidental SUV owners. Until last year, when we inherited a sport utility vehicle, we smugly chuckled at the overt testosterone of the Explorer, Yukon and Trailblazer and their 5,000-pound (2,250 kg) promise of smashing towering snowdrifts or roaring across icy rivers on the way to the local cub scout meeting.

Our boxy Scion xB, bearing one of Corey's provocative political bumper stickers, endowed us with a bit of suburban panache as we zipped about New Jersey, guiding our Mini Cooper-sized minnow past lumbering Expeditions.

Then early last year, my wife inherited her father's 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe with a mere 317 miles. Our first instinct was to return it and try to recoup the $23,000 price tag.

The maiden SUV voyage changed that.

Its zip meant we could safely merge into the galloping herds on congested interstates. By comparison our Scion combined the thrust of a lawn mower with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator. Now we could blissfully glide over potholes without clattering teeth or sloshing coffee.

With gas prices around $2.90 a gallon, it seemed an affordable luxury.

Corey affixed an unusually tame bumper sticker that reflected her more mature status and we quietly settled down as SUV-owners.

"We'll only use it for camping and long trips," she said. "Besides, we can always sell it."

TOO SMALL?

Keith Bradsher observes in his book "High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV" that adverts for sport utility vehicles never show children because their makers seek to promote the idea of emancipation from mortgage payments and parent-teacher conferences.

Or it could be that the typical mid-sized SUV, like our Santa Fe, doesn't actually accommodate three children easily. The arrival of a newborn forced us to a car dealer in April for a quick sale.

A wheezing, barrel-chested appraiser greeted my offer to sell with: "Why do you want to lose $10,000?" A bit shaken, I rejected his price of $15,000.

Relying on Internet car pricing sites such as Kelley Blue Book and dealer listings, and ignoring news about $3.50-a-gallon gasoline and fears of a recession, I lulled myself into thinking I would sell the Santa Fe for $18,500.