Small metropolitan area accepting vehicle shortage (8)
I believe the answer is:
scarcity
'shortage' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'small metropolitan area accepting vehicle' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'metropolitan area' becomes 'city' (a metropolis is a large city).
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are accepted).
'vehicle' becomes 'car' (car is a kind of vehicle).
's'+'city'='scity'
'scity' going around 'car' is 'SCARCITY'.
(Other definitions for scarcity that I've seen before include "Lack - dearth" , "Poverty" , "Shortness of supply" , "Want" , "Inadequate supply" .)