Generation Y Doesn't Drive

[Noah Harbinger]

Generation Y Giving Cars a Pass

The generation gap is a growing, long-term headache for automakers.By Jim Ostroff

Selling cars to young adults under 30 is proving to be a real challenge for automakers. Unlike their elders, Generation Yers own fewer cars and don’t drive much. They’re likely to see autos as a source of pollution, not as a sex or status symbol.Motorists aged 21 to 30 now account for 14% of miles driven, down from 21% in 1995.

 

 

Read rest of article....

 

[Devodev]

The car makers are salivating at this generation due to numbers and also because they generally can't delay gratification and love credit. It'll be interesting to see how the tactics change for attracting this buyer.

 

Then again, maybe Google or Apple will enter the car biz and integrate every aspect of our lives...oh what a scary thought...

[akirby]

When I was a teenager we couldn't wait to drive because we couldn't wait to get out of the house because there was nothing to do. With today's TV options, smartphones, video games, etc. there is no need to leave the house and therefore no need to drive.

[xr7g428]

No citation for his one almost fact:

Motorists aged 21 to 30 now account for 14% of miles driven, down from 21% in 1995.

So we don't know who did the research or how they collected the data. Did they do a phone survey and ask them how far they thought they drove each week? The politically correct thing would be to underestimate this number as much as possible. And even if this is true, it really doesn't support the conclusion of the author. It the population of each group changes, the percentage of miles driven would change right along with it. And then there is the simple fact that It's getting harder, and more expensive, for young people to use a car. Have you tried to find parking on a college campus lately?

 

The idea that mass transit or Zip cars are making a dent just illustrates what happens when you have a writer that grows up in New York city, attends an Ivy League school and then pursues a career in DC. Everything between the coasts is just fly over country. I really wish these people would get out more.

[Critic]

No citation for his one almost fact: So we don't know who did the research or how they collected the data. Did they do a phone survey and ask them how far they thought they drove each week? The politically correct thing would be to underestimate this number as much as possible. And even if this is true, it really doesn't support the conclusion of the author. It the population of each group changes, the percentage of miles driven would change right along with it. And then there is the simple fact that It's getting harder, and more expensive, for young people to use a car. Have you tried to find parking on a college campus lately?

 

The idea that mass transit or Zip cars are making a dent just illustrates what happens when you have a writer that grows up in New York city, attends an Ivy League school and then pursues a career in DC. Everything between the coasts is just fly over country. I really wish these people would get out more.

 

You seem to have noticed the same thing I did. But writers like this only sit where there is a Metro/subway and can't figure out why the rest of the country isn't crammed with 4.5 million people in a 3 block square.

 

However he is correct on other points. the new digital age. PONG! and cell phones and diminished job futures, brings getting them out of their parents homes more of a problem. Their friends all drive look-alike used Japanese boring -mobiles. BUT a new iPad Touch or iPhone to text to MaryJo is greater than saying, Hey! I just got a new Capri or Miata or Mustang, what to cruise? Or in my case.. Lets roll in the mobile penthouse to the next town over, you drive, I'll mix drinks and don't bother us if we are using the back, and put in the Stones tape.

[Ford Jellymoulds]

With the British Government looking to bump up fuel duty, gasoline prices could rise as high as $10.50 a gallon as a way of raising cash to help pay for bankrupt pubic services, it won't be just generation Y's that will be giving up on cars in the UK.

 

Not many of generation Y, most are in low paid jobs in the UK, they & many others will not be able to afford to fill up a car soon let alone buy one. Most generation Y's are more into clubbing, drinking, smart phones, i-pad etc & all things green. My daughter is 30 she has absolutely no interest in cars at all, nor do any of her friends drive. l can't see any of them ever wanting a car sad to say, l think all of our state schools have green-washed their brains back in the 90's the majority don't have enough disposable income to buy & run cars.

 

Bring back something like the Mk1 Capri, Escorts, & T-Bird from a period of time when folk used to love their cars, & put the fun & pleasure back into motoring again.

 

Austere times ahead next month in October when the axe is likely to cull 1.4 million public sector/private sector jobs linked to the public sector jobs, as the British Government looks to cut the huge public sector deficit of which another record breaking 16 billion of debt was added the British public sector debt mountain last month.

 

British Government wants to add more fuel taxes to gasoline/diesel which could mean we will be paying $10.50 a gallon soon to help pay for public services, they say gas guzzlers will become extinct .

LINK

 

 

Edited September 22, 2010 by Ford Jellymoulds

[OAC_Sparky]

27 years ago when I was 16 I got my license, you could buy a car and get it on the road for less than $1500 and that was paying exhorbitant young single male insurance rates,

 

Now in Canada, you have a graduated licensing system, where you have restrictions of when and where you can drive your car, zero tolerance 0% BAC level, who you can carry in it; the process takes until you're nearly 20. Now there is also a 0%BAC restriction until you reach 21 even though the legal drinking age is 19. Insurance for a single white male on just about any car is upwards of $4000 a year even with a driver's ed discount.

 

If the same restrictions were on me when I was 16 I'd probably put off driving too.

 

Add to the fact that we as parents coddle our children and drive them everywhere anyways (wtf ever happened to riding a bike?) what incentive do you have to get a license?

[Noah Harbinger]

27 years ago when I was 16 I got my license, you could buy a car and get it on the road for less than $1500 and that was paying exhorbitant young single male insurance rates,

 

Now in Canada, you have a graduated licensing system, where you have restrictions of when and where you can drive your car, zero tolerance 0% BAC level, who you can carry in it; the process takes until you're nearly 20. Now there is also a 0%BAC restriction until you reach 21 even though the legal drinking age is 19. Insurance for a single white male on just about any car is upwards of $4000 a year even with a driver's ed discount.

 

If the same restrictions were on me when I was 16 I'd probably put off driving too.

 

Add to the fact that we as parents coddle our children and drive them everywhere anyways (wtf ever happened to riding a bike?) what incentive do you have to get a license?

 

Sex offender registries. Now that everyone thinks anyone who got caught pissing in public is going to rape their children, they don't dare let their snowflakes out of their sight.

 

Hello, parents! Most molestation comes from people in your family! You're safer letting your snowflake walk home than taking them to your family's Chrismas Dinner.

[akirby]

Sex offender registries. Now that everyone thinks anyone who got caught pissing in public is going to rape their children, they don't dare let their snowflakes out of their sight.

 

Hello, parents! Most molestation comes from people in your family! You're safer letting your snowflake walk home than taking them to your family's Chrismas Dinner.

 

Are you a parent? Doesn't sound like it. There are a lot of predators out there looking for children to kidnap, molest and/or kill. Happens all the time. I live in an upscale, mostly crime free subdivision out in the suburbs but we don't let younger kids walk around the neighborhood at night by themselves. How much risk is acceptable when your child's life is at stake? Could you live with yourself if your child was killed because you allowed them to be in a dangerous situation unsupervised? I couldn't.

[OAC_Sparky]

I live in an upscale, mostly crime free subdivision out in the suburbs but we don't let younger kids walk around the neighborhood at night by themselves.

Not really talking about at night. There are people here that drive their kids the 3 blocks to school. I have a buddy that drives his 16 year old kid 6 blocks to the skateboard park and picks him up 3 hours later. I look at it this way, if you can skateboard for 3 hours, save some energy for the 1/2 hour walk.

 

There's a line between "protecting your kids" and coddling them, And it's not that fine of a line. That's part of the reason you have 30 year olds still living in their parent's basement. No better incentive to be somebody when the only one that is buying what you need is you. If you never force a bird out of the nest, you can't expect them to fly. My 18 year old daughter laments about the $50/month cell bill she pays, until I showed her the $300 electric bill. Shut her up pretty quick.

[akirby]

Not really talking about at night. There are people here that drive their kids the 3 blocks to school. I have a buddy that drives his 16 year old kid 6 blocks to the skateboard park and picks him up 3 hours later. I look at it this way, if you can skateboard for 3 hours, save some energy for the 1/2 hour walk.

 

There's a line between "protecting your kids" and coddling them, And it's not that fine of a line. That's part of the reason you have 30 year olds still living in their parent's basement. No better incentive to be somebody when the only one that is buying what you need is you. If you never force a bird out of the nest, you can't expect them to fly. My 18 year old daughter laments about the $50/month cell bill she pays, until I showed her the $300 electric bill. Shut her up pretty quick.

 

I'm all for that but you have to consider the environment. That might be ok in small town USA where there is very little crime but I don't think you'd send a 10 year old on a 6 block journey in the inner city with gangs, drug dealers, homeless people, etc. lurking around. If you would then you should be locked up for child endangerment.

 

Are parents today overcautious? Of course. Why? Because we know more about the world thanks to television and the internet than our parents did.

 

Today you send your kid out and all you can think about is the kid in some far away state or other country that left home that way and was kidnapped or killed. As a parent it's hard to ignore.

[OAC_Sparky]

I'm all for that but you have to consider the environment. That might be ok in small town USA where there is very little crime but I don't think you'd send a 10 year old on a 6 block journey in the inner city with gangs, drug dealers, homeless people, etc. lurking around. If you would then you should be locked up for child endangerment.

 

Are parents today overcautious? Of course. Why? Because we know more about the world thanks to television and the internet than our parents did.

 

Today you send your kid out and all you can think about is the kid in some far away state or other country that left home that way and was kidnapped or killed. As a parent it's hard to ignore.

The funny thing is, inner city kids are more likely to hoof it than suburban kids where it is supposed to be "safer".

[silvrsvt]

Are parents today overcautious? Of course. Why? Because we know more about the world thanks to television and the internet than our parents did.

 

 

So thats an excuse? Thats a pretty lame one at that...things do happen, but if they happen its not like they happen day in day out...

[akirby]

So thats an excuse? Thats a pretty lame one at that...things do happen, but if they happen its not like they happen day in day out...

 

It's not an excuse - it's merely a reason.

 

If you were at the zoo with your child and he was standing next to the monkey cage you probably wouldn't think twice about it. But if you had just read on the internet about a boy who got his arm ripped off by a monkey at another zoo - you'd be yelling at your kid and grabbing him to keep him away from the monkeys.

 

Parents today hear all these horror stories that happen around the world and that causes them to be more cautious with their own children. Our parents only heard what was in the local paper or local television.

 

If you don't understand that then you must not have kids. In which case none of you are qualified to comment.

[OAC_Sparky]

Parents today hear all these horror stories that happen around the world and that causes them to be more cautious with their own children. Our parents only heard what was in the local paper or local television.

There is a fine line between caution and paranoia.

 

Do I encourage my kids to play in traffic? No, but I teach my child to stay off the road and encourage them to play outside.

 

Better that than them camping out in front of the TV or computer or video game getting obese. Obesity will kill them too. But you can be cautious at the same time by teaching them to not approach strange cars, let us know where they are, etc. This teaches them responsibility as well as safety.

 

I was taught growing up that if you do the thinking for people they never learn to think for themselves. A skinned knee or a broken bone is a learning lesson. You would be surprised at the number of kids that can't ride a bike or throw a baseball or swim; because the parents are fearful and they pass those fears onto their children to the point they're afraid to try anything.

 

Doing everything for your children turns them into useless, naive and fearful adults, they have to learn about the world before you send them off to college.

[akirby]

There is a fine line between caution and paranoia.

 

Do I encourage my kids to play in traffic? No, but I teach my child to stay off the road and encourage them to play outside.

 

Better that than them camping out in front of the TV or computer or video game getting obese. Obesity will kill them too. But you can be cautious at the same time by teaching them to not approach strange cars, let us know where they are, etc. This teaches them responsibility as well as safety.

 

I was taught growing up that if you do the thinking for people they never learn to think for themselves. A skinned knee or a broken bone is a learning lesson. You would be surprised at the number of kids that can't ride a bike or throw a baseball or swim; because the parents are fearful and they pass those fears onto their children to the point they're afraid to try anything.

 

Doing everything for your children turns them into useless, naive and fearful adults, they have to learn about the world before you send them off to college.

 

I don't really disagree. Lots of parents go overboard. But it's also a parent's job to protect their children from harm as best they can. We just need to find a good compromise.

[RangerM]

Doing everything for your children turns them into useless, naive and fearful adults, they have to learn about the world before you send them off to college....

....where the professors can teach them they're all part of some "great society" where they should willingly surrender themselves to becoming mere cogs in a machine; rather than independent, thinking individuals.

 

It's shocking to me that most college students forget the professors teaching them about the real world, likely wouldn't cut it there.

[Noah Harbinger]

Are you a parent? Doesn't sound like it. There are a lot of predators out there looking for children to kidnap, molest and/or kill. Happens all the time. I live in an upscale, mostly crime free subdivision out in the suburbs but we don't let younger kids walk around the neighborhood at night by themselves. How much risk is acceptable when your child's life is at stake? Could you live with yourself if your child was killed because you allowed them to be in a dangerous situation unsupervised? I couldn't.

 

I know somewhere you can buy a barrel to keep your kids in. Nice and safe.

[goinbroke2]

A little extreme on both sides, that's how the bickering and fighting gets started here.

 

I make my 12 year old bike to a friends place about 4-5 km's away. (by a main road) The wife always complains/makes me drive him when she gets wind of it. Yesterday the 9 yo came home all mussed up, flipped his bike in the ditch in our sub division and a woman put his bike in the trunk and brought him home. We of course told him to never get in a strangers car/yadda, yadda, yadda.

 

Oldest one wants a bb gun for his birthday, mama said no, I'm indifferent I guess. Haven't suggested it yet but I'm thinking letting him have a paint ball gun and watch for "accidents". (and yes I would give him full training first)

 

As far as this thread goes, my 12 yo wants a "big truck" like my 4 door one ton. At 5'10" 165lb's at 12 I'm thinking a full size might be the only thing he'll fit into at 16! LOL! I'm telling him a 1/2 ton but he'll have to pay for the gas. My 9yo has been a mustang fan since I took him for a rip in my dragcar. (first gear up to 6000 then hit 2nd and slowed down, 4.86 gear we might of been doing 30mph hehe)

All he's talked about since is having a mustang when he grows up.

Can't vouche for other kids, but mine will both be driving as soon as they can. (actually the 12 yo has driven around the lake where our cottage is already)

[Devodev]

 

As far as this thread goes, my 12 yo wants a "big truck" like my 4 door one ton. At 5'10" 165lb's at 12 I'm thinking a full size might be the only thing he'll fit into at 16! LOL! I'm telling him a 1/2 ton but he'll have to pay for the gas. My 9yo has been a mustang fan since I took him for a rip in my dragcar. (first gear up to 6000 then hit 2nd and slowed down, 4.86 gear we might of been doing 30mph hehe)

All he's talked about since is having a mustang when he grows up.

Can't vouche for other kids, but mine will both be driving as soon as they can. (actually the 12 yo has driven around the lake where our cottage is already)

 

I agree, for folks like us that are into cars, the experience of having a car for my boys will be/is much more than just transportation.

 

My oldest is a Gen Y'er and while he sold the V8 '93 T-Bird I gave him because he said he couldn't afford the gas, he's looking for a peppy V6 to have some fun in (hopefully at the track).

 

But it is interesting that at 20, he's MUCH more concerned about a car's fuel economy and owning the latest technology than I even was...and the price of his tech toys certainly cuts into his car budget.

[goinbroke2]

Both my boys are quick to say "chrome don't get ya home!" everytime we see a blinged out whatever. My truck ain't pretty, it has 645,000km's on it and it shows. I just say it's a big old diesel and is made for work, not looking pretty. I've towed home many shiny new cars/trucks and made a point to remind my kids to value substance over flash.

 

I know the older one will want the chrome wheels etc, but the youngest one freaked out when he saw a primered 56 ford truck in the driveway. I was diagnosing a problem and when I was done (vac leak under carb) he took my boy for a drive. Eyes like saucers when he got back LOL!

[97 F350]

........

Oldest one wants a bb gun for his birthday, mama said no, I'm indifferent I guess.............

 

Ralphie: No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

 

Santa Claus: You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

[BrewfanGRB]

I don't really disagree. Lots of parents go overboard. But it's also a parent's job to protect their children from harm as best they can. We just need to find a good compromise.

 

But there's the problem, actually. Protecting them "as best you can" necessitates you drive them EVERYWHERE, never allowing them to swim, never allowing them to go to amusement parks (one year ago, a girl died at a "Lifefest" event on a "bungee jump" type ride...this summer another girl was nearly killed when an operator screwed up on a similar jump), never going anywhere alone, never going to concerts, never drinking (NO amount of alcohol is "100% safe"), on and on and on. You can't protect them "as best you can"---you protect them intelligently, with the proper compromise between protection and common sense.

 

Oh and FYI: I have 6 brothers and sisters--I'm the oldest. I'd do anything for any of them. I have 3 nieces. I don't to be a PARENT to understand the need to protect kids. But what you described earlier about child molesters, killers, etc is a function of human thinking---something scary that happens in your town seems like "it happens all the time". Unfortunately for your thinking, Critic is right: Statistically, it's FAR more likely that for any given person who is or has been a victim of sexual abuse, the abuser will be a family member or friend, rather than the guy with a windowless van looking for his lost puppy. That SHIT is scary and it happening once is way too much---but it just is not statistically common or likely.