June was a dismal month for auto sales nationwide, hurt by a sluggish economy and poor sales of trucks and SUVs.

Many of Hawaii's auto dealers are also coping with double digit declines compared to a year ago.

Last month was the worst June in 17 years for the U.S. auto industry.

Analysts say expect more dismal months ahead.

As gas prices continue to go up...

"Every day the gas is going higher and higher and higher," said SERVCO customer Barry Wong.

...auto sales continue to go down.

Nationwide last month, GM sales dropped 18%, Toyota's U.S. sales fell 21%, Ford sales tumbled nearly 28%, and Chrysler took a huge hit, with sales down nearly 40% compared to June 2007.

Here in Hawaii, SERVCO officials say they've also noticed a double digit decrease in sales compared to a year ago.

Meanwhile, at Windward Auto Sales, where trucks used to be their top sellers --

"Nowadays it's the opposite people are trading out of the trucks because they can't afford the gas prices," said Clifton Reed, Windward Auto Sales New Car Sales Manager.

Because of that, now is actually a good time to buy a truck.

"On the Rams, quad cabs, you can get up to $6000 in rebates," said Reed.

One vehicle has seen a sales spike at this dealership--the electric powered GEM.

"In contrast to when we initiated this part of our dealership in 2000 we were doing 1-2 sales a month lucky if even had one but the inquiries have been outpouring recently and starting to generate about 6-8 vehicles per month," said Ryan Abregano, Windward Auto Sales Fleet Manager.

High gas prices are also forcing people out of their cars and onto either public transportation, bicycles, or mopeds.

"Mostly we're doing a lot of repairs people who had bikes and stopped riding for one reason or another, now they want to ride because of better gas mileage. We got some people who claim they get about 80 plus miles to the gallon," said Steve Van Treese, VT Cycles Owner.

Back to SERVCO, where Barry Wong is shopping for a car for his grandfather.

After looking around, he settled on a Corolla.

"It's a good safe car, it's actually a nice car and looking for good gas mileage too," said Wong.

According to AAA, the average price for regular unleaded gas in Hawaii is $4.42 a gallon, up $0.02 from yesterday, and up $1.08 from a year ago.