Clock Is Ticking on Last of Hybrid Car Tax Breaks

Published: 07-Nov-2008

The clock is ticking. Car buyers have until the end of the year to get a tax credit for buying a Honda Civic hybrid, one of the more popular fuel-saving vehicles on the market.

The dying tax credit is the latest in a series of changes chipping away at the financial incentives to buy a hybrid. Tax breaks tied to Toyota Motor Corp.'s strong-selling Prius, which gets about 46 miles a gallon, and its other hybrid models ended about a year ago. Now, the federal government is phasing out the same incentives on Honda Motor Co.'s Civic hybrid, which gets 42 miles a gallon.

Combine that with the fact that fuel prices have fallen from their historic highs above $4 a gallon this summer, and it's getting a lot more expensive to be an environmentally conscious driver.

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