Consumers and Fuel Economy

1/25/21

Interview no. _____

Interview protocol

Consent

Do the participants have questions?

Complete consent forms

1. Household description

1.1 Household members

	Relation to household head(s)	Age	Sex	Licensed Driver? (yes/no)	Occupation
First Driver
Second Driver
Third Driver
Fourth Driver
Non-driver
Non-driver
Non-driver

1.1 Which of these best describes your household 's present "car buying state?" (Could be more than one)

• We recently purchased a car,

• We are actively shopping for a car

• We are thinking of buying a car but we haven’t started shopping yet

• We’re not thinking of buying a car right now

1.3 Your household tends to…

• Buy only new cars

• Buy only used cars

• Buy both new and used cars

1.4. How many cars does your household use at present? These can be vehicles you own, lease, rent, borrow—any vehicles your household uses on a regular basis. __________

1.5 Do any of your vehicles use a fuel other than gasoline?.

diesel_____ propane______ electricity (from plug)_____ natural gas______ other______

2. Steps of most recent car purchase (prompts)

• When did you first starting looking at the most recently vehicle purchase?

  • Initial reasons for thinking about any vehicle?

  • Choice set formation

  • First steps in making a decision?

• Finance issues

  • Parameters, especially 0% financing and term (no. of months)

• Information sources

  • Past experience

  • Saw on road,

  • Friends and family

  • Press, advertisements, internet sites, product reviews

• First vehicles you were attracted to?

  • Steps taken to find the vehicle?

  • Drive tests? Lot visits? Friends?

  • Was the vehicle you acquired the best expression of your initial desires/intents?

    • If not, what vehicle would have been?

    • Did you have to compromise your desires/intents, or did they change in the course of buying a vehicle?

  • How did it fit into the household fleet

• Threshold sensitivities

  • Passengers

  • Cargo

  • Towing

  • Prices

  • Size

  • Power

  • Fuel economy

  • Vehicle types

  • Safety

  • Uses

  • Other

• Post purchase

  • Who has control over allocation of the vehicle?

    • Is this different than planned?

  • What were their main needs

3. History

• Repeat #2 for other vehicles in household history.

4. Designing a household vehicle: Priority evaluator table

• Record notes on the scenario too—what vehicle are they choosing and why?

• Record order of choices as well as values.

4. Priority Evaluator table

Exercise applied to the acquisition of: __________________________________________ in _________

(Vehicle year, make, model) (Year)

Feature		Vehicle Attributes		My (our) choice (1, 2 or 3)
				Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 3
Seats	4 seats = 1	6 seats = 2	8 seats = 3
Cargo space	A little: 1 Suitcase + 1 briefcase = 1	3 Suitcases = 2	5 Suitcases + surfboard = 3
Fuel consumption	20 mpg = 1	30 mpg = 2	40 mpg = 3
Options	Basic trim level: Vinyl seats, radio and CD, A/C = 1	Six-speaker CD changer system, cloth seats = 2	DVD package, GPS navigation system, leather seats = 3
Performance	Nothing special = 1	Peppy = 2	Fast = 3
Safety	Meets federal standards,  rating= 1	Meets federal standards,  rating = 2	Meets federal standards,  rating = 3
Pollution	Basic new vehicle pollution standard = 1	Lower pollution than many new vehicles = 2	Among the lowest polluting new vehicles = 3
Some other feature? (describe at right)	= 1	= 2	= 3
			Total = Maximum of	13

Notes:

5. Buying a more efficient vehicle

Think about the vehicle you just bought and how much you paid for it. (Alternatively, think about the vehicle for which you are now shopping, and the price range you are thinking about). Now, imagine that the same manufacturer had a different version that is identical in all ways (looks, power, size, acceleration) except that it gets XX% better mileage.

XX% = _____, because:

• How much more would you pay for B?

• How did you arrive at this answer?

• Is there a period of time you expect to be “paid back”?

  • What is it?

  • How did you (or would you) decide?

5.1. How much?

Respondent	Proposed payment

Explanation

5.2 How long?

Respondent	Proposed payment

Explanation

6. Mobility Package game

“Rather than sell you just one car at a time, manufacturers may begin to sell access to a variety of vehicles—a package. You’d make a monthly payment, and have access to a few types of vehicles that you pre-select.”

• What do you think of this idea? [May have to provide more practical details about how program would work.]

• To which two (three) vehicles would you want access?

  • Why?

  • When would you use each type of vehicle?

    • Implied question is, does fuel economy/efficiency matter?

Notes: What was offered? How did they respond?

7.1 Images of economy and efficiency

What is “fuel economy?” Is it the same as “fuel efficiency?”

How would you measure fuel economy? Fuel efficiency?

[Probe for whether it is strictly a cost issue, or efficiency issue.]

Is fuel economy an environmental issue? How so? Is fuel efficiency?

Fuel Economy

Fuel Efficiency

What is a vehicle with “good fuel economy”?

What does it look like? (Name examples.) How does it perform?

Is it the same as a vehicle that is “fuel efficient”?

Fuel Economy

Fuel Efficiency

7.2 Do you know how far you drive your vehicles?

Who answers?	Which vehicle	Miles week/month/year	Total miles	If used, total miles by your household

Do they know, or are the guessing? How do they figure it out?

7.3 Do you know the fuel efficiency of your vehicles? (If you can’t remember or don’t know say so)

Who answers?	Which vehicle	Miles Per Gallon on the highway	MPG in town	Fuel capacity of you tank?

Do they know, or are they guessing? How do they figure it out?

7.3.1 Do you know the fuel economy ratings (MPG) for other vehicles on the road?
If yes, examples? How do you know this?

Who knows, and what vehicle	City MPG est.	Highway MPG est.	Combined MPG est.	How do they know?

Do they know, or are they guessing? How do they figure it out?

7.4 How much do you think you spend on fuel per year/month/week? You don’t have to fill in all three. Pick either year, month or week-which ever makes sense (if you can’t remember say so)

Who answers?	Which vehicle	Per year	Per month	Per week
	Total for all

Do they know, or are they guessing? How do they figure it out?

7.4.1 Fuel cost accounting. Is gasoline a household budget item? Do you pay cash, credit, oil company card? Mix household and business expense?

7.5 Vehicle refueling in the last month (if you can’t remember say so)

Which vehicle	Who	Date	Number of gallons?	How much did it cost?

Do they know, or are they guessing? How do they figure it out?

7.6 Fuel Use Instrumentation

What fuel instrumentation do you have? Have you ever wanted an easier way to keep track of how much gasoline you use and how much you spend? What would you do with better information? [Revisit answers to the three questions above. Also, go back to household history to look for changes in fuel instrumentation.]

7.7 What do they do when gas prices go up?

Do you remember seeing reporters talking to people while putting gas in their vehicle? The reporter usually asks something like “how do you feel about gas prices going up?”

Have you ever imagined what you would say to that reporter?

• Why do gas prices go up?

• What do they do?

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