The key thing here is cost. Employers don’t want to pay, and everything is so damn expensive.
Here in Australia, it’s because they can’t afford anything more than an apartment or to rent one, so have nowhere to park for free
I’m right there with them. I spent 7-8 years in a larger city and enjoyed not having a car the entire time. No renting a parking spot or fighting over who gets to block in who with the upstairs or downstairs neighbors. No snow shoveling or scrambling to park on one side for street sweeping.
I’m now temporarily in a place where buses are at an hour interval and only go to 1 place so I took one of the family cars. Despite the car being “free” I’m paying more than an unlimited transit pass on insurance alone, and I have a great rate at the expense of having to let my insurance track my accelerating / braking through GPS/accelerometer (at least for a few weeks before I can uninstall the app and enjoy the lower rate). I’ve had to pay for an inspections, tags, fixing a tint that was legal at home but illegal where I am now (over $100 even if I just had them remove it), and I’m still needing to spend on extras like oil to top up in between oil changes, new wipers, coolant, and it’s looking like it’s almost due for tire rotations, brake and transmission flush, and other regular maintenance which is just another expense.
The car was free and it’s so expensive still. I miss being able to hop on a bus and zone out too.
Because it’s expensive and sucks if you live in a city. Also, most can’t afford a house out in the suburbs anyways.
This is the way
I miss living in a city where I didn’t have to drive. Maybe one day I will have that chance again.
If you’re working from home then ubering everywhere is cheaper than insurance for a new driver and once you put gas plus the cost of the car into the equation I totally understand this.
. . . cheaper than insurance for a new driver
I’ve been driving 20 years. No points and no recent accidents. I last paid $1300 for 6 months of car insurance on a Hyundai and it’ll probably go up again next time.
That’s $2600 a year or $50 a week and we haven’t spoken about gas, or parking in some locations. Absolutely Uber is an option, or ebike.
That’s because you own the number one most stolen car in the world.
61% of Stolen Cars were Hyundai and Kia (same company). Thefts are up 2400% in New York. You basically own a Free Use Cab.
https://jalopnik.com/how-kias-hyundais-became-most-stolen-vehicle-in-america-1850496951
Interesting article but
Thefts are up 2400% in New York
isn’t true. Rochester has a ton of crime compared to other cities in the Northeast.
Jesus christ that is expensive.
I dropped driving 20 years ago. Way too expensive if you don’t earn money with it in some fashion. I’m not a home-worker, but I live in a city. Having a car in a city… That just doesn’t feel right. They should be used to bring stuff into a city. Cites should provide their own means of getting around. The few times when I actually needed a car, I rented one. Way cheaper than owning a car.
It’s like owning a golf course to play golf once a week. Well. Something like that.
This is an easy thing to say, but ride-sharing apps price gouge ridiculously. Have you done the math on this for the average person’s annual needs, or does it just “feel” true? Also I assume your groceries and other regular shopping needs are all getting delivered in this scenario, so need to work all the delivery overhead in annual costs as well. I wish we could get rid of individual cars, but not sure this adds up…
Also, curious on the reality of this in big cities versus more rural areas
If you live within 1 mile of a grocery store you could easily walk, and you don’t need anything else on a regular basis. Use a bicycle and 5 miles becomes just as easy. People lived thousands of years without cars. The problem is our cities are built around cars, and they’re built poorly because of it.
You could easily walk there, yes. But walking back again? With 15kg of groceries? That gets tiresome.
You cooking for a whole gym or what?
You shop daily or what?
A couple of litres of milk, perhaps ditto soda, some canned goods and frozen items … easily 10 kg. Then add buying in bulk when there’s special offers.
If I lived about a mile I could shop daily. That’s an effortless walk. On the occasion I buy heavy liquids, backpack or bicycle.
The fact that it feels tiresome is worrying me. That should feel like nothing. 15 kg is not all that much (initially wrote “a joke”, didn’t realize that might sound disrespectful to some), unless you are either 12, 92, or really out of shape.
Have you tried carrying what equates to a toddler by one hand for 3km? Them plastic bag carrying handle bits are going to be digging into your fingers, friend. These days it won’t matter so much of course because the fingers will be frozen anyhow.
Frankly I haven’t used a shopping bag for years because I prefer collapsible cases (approx 40x60 cm) but economically those are even worse to carry farth than, say, 50m.
Why would I carry my groceries in a plastic bag or a collapsible box when I can just use a backpack? I can easily carry 15kg in my backpack.
I mostly go shopping with my bike though. I have huge bags that attach to the carrier and that can fit about a week of groceries for two people. I can transport even more with my bike trailer if I need to.
I might be a bad example indeed. I carry a lot of things in often quite unusual ways. As a male Paramedic working inner-hospital shifts in a 3000 bed hospital complex, well, there is a lot to carry around. And most things don’t have handles either; some resist.
I’m not good with cases, nor shopping bags. I use bags with long handles that I can hang from my shoulders. 12 kg per side won’t even make themselves felt.
Boxes are good to carry to a car.
The talk was about 1 km though, not three I believe? I might be wrong.
Anyhow, a good knapsack with a solid bottom. Two bags with long loops. I can carry 35 kg like that easily. In basic training, we carried that load for 20 km and more.
When I got my new barbells recently, I rented a car. My bench and rack I had delivered.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Maybe they don’t want to drive because they’re looking for a sustainable option, such as public transportation, ride-sharing, or e-scooters,” McKinsey analysts wrote.
“It’s also possible that a sputtering economy and inflation tinged their entry into adulthood, discouraging spending on big-ticket items such as cars,” McKinsey said.
But McKinsey analysts point out that previous generations of Americans had also appeared less interested in driving but went behind the wheel of cars eventually.
“It’s too early to tell whether the no-driving trend will hold with Gen Z, especially given the changes happening in the mobility and automotive markets,” McKinsey analysts pointed out.
The automotive industry is changing with the mainstreaming of the so-called shared mobility market, which includes car ride-sharing, scooters, and in the future, self-driving automobiles.
“And for those Gen Zers who decide that driving just isn’t for them, they can keep themselves busy with TikTok in the passenger seat—or get behind the wheel in the metaverse.”
The original article contains 459 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Oh my God that last quote is so cringe
I mean, I get it. I hate the damned things. I can’t deny their utility, but they’re just not worth it
“Choosing” is doing some heavy lifting here when gen-z ain’t got no money.
I guess you can check the median age of people getting their driving license first time. If is getting higher, is probably because younger people don’t care enough to get it, because past generations couldn’t afford cars ar 16 neither.
What do you mean? I know plenty of people who worked service jobs and bought cheap used cars in high school.
It just isn’t as feasible now.
Ok, I get you. I love in latinamerica and was using my experience as the standard, when here is a more American/European centric site where experience may vary.
Ah, that makes more sense. My bad on my part as well, the fediverse is certainly not just for US/Europe.
Prepare for the next headline saying that “Gen Z is killing the car industry”.
News in UK today said car insurance for young drivers is now £3000 a year on average ($4000USD)
What? That’s in no way sustainable.
Exactly the point of this post
Yup, at UK minimum wage 17 year olds would have to work 9 hours a week just to pay for car insurance. Then there is road tax, fuel, MOT, repairs, and buying the car in the first place.
Yes. Owning a car is a constant expense. For something that gets used a small percent of the day.
I rent if I ever need a car. The rent by-the-minute schemes near me include charging or fuel, insurance and everything for ~25ct/minute. Ideal for local trips with passengers. Otherwise I bike everywhere in Munich.
Just like us millennials ‘choosing’ not to buy houses.
Got any better systems?
How about we try a little of that European stuff?
I didn’t realize that wasn’t capitalism. Interesting. I’ll look into it more
Anarchist communism
Sounds super edgy and fun. Let’s do it bro.
You speak of “heavy lifting” without reading the article explaining in part how the economy may be impacting these choices.
Choosing not to drive then is an incorrect headline whereas unable to afford driving would be more accurate.
Agreed. Moreover, I’d like some more insight in the consumer patterns of Gen Z. A pie chart would be nice including groups like eduction, healthcare, subscription services, entertainment, etc.
I have a feeling, without the data, that a lot of young people are spending way more on novelty and entertainment things than ever before while they’re complaining about not being able to afford things.
Everything I’ve seen has said that Millenials and younger are spending more on experiences and less on things, but also that their purchasing power is much weaker than their parents’ was at the same age. Millenials, I think, have about half the purchasing power as the Baby Boomers did in their 30s and 40s.
Also of note that I just saw the other day is that the price of cars has jumped up about 30% since 2021.
So, not exactly what you’re looking for, but some of the stuff I’ve seen/heard that probably plays contributing factors to this.
I think being priced out of the housing market influences a lot how likely you are to spend your money on experiences. It seems like that’s all young people can afford, the mortgages these days are daunting even for people much older in good positions.
I and my brother did some math about cars.
We both work and have money for car but just insurance, technical and emissions control… is more expensive than public transport ticket (for one year in our city). And we didn’t count in petrol and parking.
In short for us it just doesn’t make economical sense to own one.
Is that because the costs of cars has vastly exceeded inflation while wages have mostly stagnated until mid 2021? (please note: beating inflation by a bit for 2 years in no way makes up for the prior 40+)
And car dealers (car mafia) make their money primarily through financing now. Some won’t even let you pay cash for a new car.
They can’t prevent you from purchasing with cash, that is the whole Legal Tender thing. Rather they dissuade you from not taking their financing. Very very different things.
Good on them. I fucking love Zoomers.
My dad in a conversation with other parents:
“When I was their age, a car meant freedom. It meant you could take yourself to a place your friends were and your parents weren’t, anytime you wanted. To them, the Internet means freedom, and they don’t really see the point.”
I really don’t agree. Young people still like to be able to move around freely and “the internet” is not the same as phisically going to bar, roadtrip, etc. In my opinion, nowadays people mostly don’t buy cars because A) they can’t afford it and B) we’re more nevorinmentally conscious.
I don’t know how old your dad is, but when I was a teenager 25 years ago, I could pick up a car for under $500, and it ran. Now, if it runs and drives it’s automatically $2500. It’s also probably beat to hell.
I can’t really blame kids today for not being interested in that.
~ 12 years ago I got an 04 rodeo for $1k and kept it running for a decade until it died over covid. That same $1k 2004 clunker that’ll still be in the shop for something every couple of months (even more so now 12 years later) is going to be 3-4k.
No thanks 🤷my bus system sucks but it works and I can just grab an Amtrak somewhere if I wanna travel.
I’m 31 and if I could never drive a fucking car again that’d be great 👍
