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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday September 13 2016, @11:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the too-damn-expensive dept.

Auto manufacturers today are scratching their heads, trying to figure out why the millennial generation has little-to-no interest in owning a car. What car makers are failing to see is that this generation's interests and priorities have been redefined in the last two decades, pushing cars to the side while must-have personal technology products take up the fast lane.

It's no secret the percentage of new vehicles sold to 18- to 34-year-olds has significantly dropped over the past few years. Many argue this is the result of a weak economy, that the idea of making a large car investment and getting into more debt on top of college loans is too daunting for them. But that's not the "driving" factor, especially considering that owning a smartphone or other mobile device, with its monthly fees of network access, data plan, insurance, and app services, is almost comparable to the monthly payments required when leasing a Honda Civic.
...
With recent studies showing a huge decline in auto sales among the millennial marketplace, it's no wonder auto manufacturers are in a mild state of panic, realizing they're missing out on a generation that wields $200 billion in purchasing power. Numbers don't lie, and over the last few years statistics have shown a significant drop in young people who own cars, as well as those with driver's licenses—and that decline continues among the youngest millennials, meaning this is not a trend that's going away anytime soon. From 2007 to 2011, the number of cars purchased by people aged 18 to 34, fell almost 30%, and according to a study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, only 44% of teens obtain a driver's license within the first year of becoming eligible and just half, 54% are licensed before turning 18. This is a major break with the past, considering how most teens of the two previous generations would race to the DMV for their license or permit on the day of their 16th birthday.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by j-beda on Wednesday September 14 2016, @04:15AM

    by j-beda (6342) on Wednesday September 14 2016, @04:15AM (#401638) Homepage

    Think about it. I own a car, need to buy gas for it, need to maintain it. I hire an uber driver. They own a car, need to buy gas, maintain it, plus make money. Which do you think will pencil out in the end?

    It all depends on how much you drive: One trip per week and it is a lot cheaper to pay the driver and not have to pay the overhead of owning a car that only gets used a few times per month. One hundred trips per week and it is a lot cheaper to not be paying for the driver's wage. Where the cross over point between one and one hundred is left to the reader as an exercise.

    Yes, hiring a driver means you need to pay for the car costs plus the driver profit, but you only pay for a fraction of the total car costs. Owning a car means you do not have that "driver cost" expense, but then you pay for all of the car costs.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @10:54AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @10:54AM (#401733)
    In some places the parking costs are quite high too. So if you only make about two trips a day it's cheaper to use the VC subsidized services like Uber, at least till the "investor" money runs out.

    Plus you can still play Pokemon Go reasonably safely while someone else drives ;).