… we can be sure of this: if economics and government interventions were taken out of the equation, you’d find plenty of teens in love with cars; millennials in their twenties and thirties, too.
But affordability? Big issue. However, endless reams of stories bemoaning the demise of the love affair between cars and youth are – thank you Mark Twain – greatly exaggerated. The problem for young people: the price is wrong. …
“Millennials haven’t seen the same benefits in the labour, housing and stock markets that baby boomers and others have enjoyed over the last year,” said Edmunds chief economist Lacey Plache. “As a result, younger Americans across all income levels have had trouble pulling together the financial motivation to buy a new car.”
And these kids are living at home longer for both economic and social reasons, further putting off vehicle ownership.
“Young adults living at home with parents or with roommates typically have less need for their own cars because they can share them with other members of their households,” Plache said. “But young adults living on their own are more likely to need their own cars – and they’re more likely to be able to afford them.” …
The barriers are being overcome, however. Millennials see cars as more than a means to get around. Even with the economic issues, millennials “buy luxury cars to a similar extent or more as older buyers with the same income,” says an Edmunds report, adding “Millennial buying choices suggest an interest in cars that will translate into more purchases when economic conditions allow.”
Talk about grasping at straws.
Car-sharing (with roommates, parents) when required, but own when living alone? Depends where, surely.
Rich people buy luxury cars: mkay. Also: horses.
I hope Plache isn’t paid well by clients to make forecasts.
I just had this conversation with my 24 yr. old nephew who lives in San Francisco and makes an obscene salary working for a tech. start-up. Nephew tells me that millennials are turning their backs on car ownership because the urban dwellers amongst them just don’t see the need and the money spent on cars is better spent elsewhere. I asked if there wasn’t also a cultural shift at work in which car ownership may no longer be the requisite rite of passage for hetero-masculinity. He agreed with that too. Interesting bunch, these millennials…
Neil21, as much as I hate to burst your car-hating bubble, but the studies show the main reason Gen Y hasn’t been buying cars has been economic (ever heard of the Great Recession?).
Thanks Bob. I guess we’ll see the real test if/when any recovery happens. Do your studies look at what % of take-how pay Gen Y pays in rent, compared to say their car-buying equivalents in the 70s?
I love cars, Bob. Just not in cities.
take-how -> take-home
Why does the article say “government interventions?” Reading the Globe as I do every day, I find they throw out a lot of anti-government language which is never backed up further evidence. As we know from Price Tags the government related parts of car ownership, like road usage is pretty well subsidized.
I also love the idea that you can hypothetically “take economics out of the equation”. If you could take physics out of the equation, young people would buy a lot more flying carpets.
I’m on the edge of being a Millenial — depending on your year definitions and etcetera. I cannot afford a new car. If I could, I might get one, but only if it was particularly desireable, and mostly because I try to spend some significant time outside of the city, to see more rural places.
I do presently own a car. It is a well-used British-made sports car and before anyone thinks this means money, it was purchased for $2k in 2008 — not a luxury car. I now live in the Bay Area for school, and when I moved I left the car in Oregon with my parents, because I did not want the extra trouble of caring for it, parking it, etcetera.
Even before the move, however, I did not drive it much. You want reasons? It’s not even cost. It’s enjoyment, or lack thereof. There is *no* joy — none at all — in being stuck in traffic jams. There is no joy in commuting. There is no joy even in a weekend drive when you must wade through thousands of slow and obnoxious drivers to get anywhere even remotely fun to drive. So much as I love my car, and much as I love driving, I can’t even justify using my own old beater that much. A new car? Sure, I drool over beautifully designed vehicles. I’d love a Subaru WRX, or a new Jaguar, or any number of other cars. But even if I had the money, why would I bother? Where could I drive it? How would I enjoy it?
It’s not 2008 that makes cars cost too much for younger generations. It’s the lack of benefit to weigh against the costs. I can have more fun with a transit pass and BART / MUNI / TriMet MAX / Central Link / SkyTrain what have you, and not have to go into debt for it, and not feel stupidly stressed at the end of it. And I never have to park a train, or insure it, or maintain it, or worry about what happens to it when it gets hit by a stupid driver.