Increasing gas prices has many local drivers changing their driving habits.

Some people in the Valley say they're already canceling weekend trips and staying close to home this weekend.

Scott Elyard, the general manager for Harrisonburg Hyundai, says with gas prices going up, that's the biggest thing on the consumer's mind.

He says, "We see a lot of people come in and one of the first questions that comes out is them saying, 'What's the car get in gas mileage?'"

Michael Benton, the general manager for Steven Toyota,says customers were talking about gas prices this weekend, and more people are asking about hybrid or fuel-efficient cars.

"So I'd say it's in the top three. You know price is always very important. Features are starting to take a back seat to fuel economy, and I think we'll probably see that over the next 60 to 90 days," says Benton.

Dealers say, while people aren't immediately buying such cars at the first sign of higher gas prices, they've seen in the past that sales trend upward during these times.

"They're not knocking down the doors, but what you're seeing is the consumers are a lot more educated now with the Internet, they're doing a lot more homework, a lot of manufacturers are building wonderful cars," says Benton.

He says he thinks we're going to start to see more fuel-efficient cars on the market.

"People buying a pickup truck just to have a third vehicle, we're not seeing that like we did in the past 12 to 18 months. I think you're going to see more of you're subcompact and compact cars, and your mid-size cars because the fuel efficiency is going up," says Benton.

The Hyundai dealership is getting its first hybrid car within the next week or so.

Elyard say they're getting about five or six calls a day about the car.

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