[Robert Urbanek]

The VOX article is 90 percent about data. Nobody seems to have directly asked a young person, "Why are you driving less?" Maybe some equate driving with damage to the environment. I guess we'll never know.

[Godstud]

There are lots of reasons not to drive:
Poor economy.
Inflation.
Higher costs associated with cars(repair, insurance, etc.)
Social pressures(Global warming, environmental concerns, etc.)
Improved public transportation.
Alternative transportation.
Cost of gasoline.
More young people living at home.
Cost of cars.

I am sure we could find some more to explain the drop off in car ownership and driving.

My daughter is in her 30s and never sought out a driver's license. When I was growing up we could not even fathom the idea of not having one. Times change.

[wat0n]

Rideshare in particular makes owning a car a bit redundant in many (but not all) cities, at least for those who aren't constantly trying to practice activities outside the city.

If I really need to ride a car ASAP, I can always Uber...

[MistyTiger]

Should we talk about the (many) Progressive Left Democrat policies that have been making car ownership more expensive?

Should we talk about how many conservatives want people to rely on gasoline-powered cars because they own stocks in Halliburton for example? At one time, Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton.

With fewer cars on the road, that could mean fewer car accidents.

In 2020, a total of 35,766 fatal motor vehicle accidents occurred on U.S. roadways.[2] These crashes resulted in a total of 38,824 deaths.[5]

With so many fatalities occurring, Forbes Advisor calculated one fatal car accident occurs every 15 minutes in the United States. Sadly, the number of fatal accidents is on the rise. There was a 7% increase in the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents between 2019 and 2020.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/ca ... and%202020.

[Godstud]

@MistyTiger Just as many Democrats benefit from people driving cars. Don't kid yourself. Both parties support the rich, as evidenced by Trump's tax breaks still remaining, and Biden promising they wouldn't go away.

The car thing is apolitical.

[MistyTiger]

@MistyTiger Just as many Democrats benefit from people driving cars. Don't kid yourself. Both parties support the rich, as evidenced by Trump's tax breaks still remaining, and Biden promising they wouldn't go away.

The car thing is apolitical.

I know but the thread creator likes to blame things on liberals and Democrats. So I was pointing out that Republicans and conservatives have a stake in the car/energy industry as well.

[starman2003]

Fewer people having cars is a good thing. It will force cities to provide more public transportation…

Fewer cars is good for the environment. Btw I heard the percentage of teenagers/young adults who don't have a driver's license is considerably higher than it was decades ago. Dunno if that reflects concern for the environment or anticipation of autonomous vehicles.

[Puffer Fish]

Average Americans Are Struggling To Pay For Their Cars Following Delinquencies, Price Increases

Heightened rates of auto loan delinquency and increased costs reveal that Americans are struggling to afford their cars, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both prime and subprime auto loans have increased in 60-plus-day delinquencies, with prime reaching 0.49% in June compared to 0.41% a year prior and subprime reaching 5.37% compared to 4.89% during the same time frame, according to S&P Global.

Only one new car model is listed as selling for under $20,000 in 2023, as opposed to a dozen five years ago, according to the WSJ. The average costs for used cars are high, as well, with the average used vehicle listed at around $27,000, which is up 30% from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, according to the WSJ. The average for new car loan payments is over $750 per month with the average interest rate being 9.5%, according to the WSJ. To pay off a new car at current prices would require the average American to pay 42 weeks of their income, which is up from 33 weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic.

(article source: The Daily Caller, Will Kessler, August 2023 )

related thread: Unable to afford homes, Americans dive into subprime auto debt

[Unthinking Majority]

Young people want a nice, new car, like their parents currently drive. Same with their first house. A decent used car can be had for a couple thousand cars. A downgrade to what they're used to just won't do. So here comes the credit card, oops and now they're in a mountain of debt. Good thing daddy paid for college...and can bail me out now too.

[Unthinking Majority]

Average Americans Are Struggling To Pay For Their Cars Following Delinquencies, Price Increases

Heightened rates of auto loan delinquency and increased costs reveal that Americans are struggling to afford their cars, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both prime and subprime auto loans have increased in 60-plus-day delinquencies, with prime reaching 0.49% in June compared to 0.41% a year prior and subprime reaching 5.37% compared to 4.89% during the same time frame, according to S&P Global.

Only one new car model is listed as selling for under $20,000 in 2023, as opposed to a dozen five years ago, according to the WSJ. The average costs for used cars are high, as well, with the average used vehicle listed at around $27,000, which is up 30% from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, according to the WSJ. The average for new car loan payments is over $750 per month with the average interest rate being 9.5%, according to the WSJ. To pay off a new car at current prices would require the average American to pay 42 weeks of their income, which is up from 33 weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic.

(article source: The Daily Caller, Will Kessler, August 2023 )

related thread: Unable to afford homes, Americans dive into subprime auto debt

Lenders are starting to make exceptions, and crate custom payment plans based on what people can afford. They'd rather get it over longer periods of time than not at all. They don't want to lose their customer.

[Potemkin]

Young people want a nice, new car, like their parents currently drive. Same with their first house. A decent used car can be had for a couple thousand cars. A downgrade to what they're used to just won't do. So here comes the credit card, oops and now they're in a mountain of debt. Good thing daddy paid for college...and can bail me out now too.

Before the 1960s, almost nobody owned a car. Their grandparents - the generation who defeated Hitler and Tojo - rode around on public transport, why can’t they?

[Puffer Fish]

Before the 1960s, almost nobody owned a car.

And now living standards are going to go back down.

Only people are going to be in a worse situation and be screwed, because far fewer people live in multi-adult families than in the 1950s, and the majority of homes are now in suburbs where any travel is very difficult without a car.

Also, because of unfettered immigration and rising crime rates, there are many cities that actually discourage public transportation because they are afraid it will bring in a lower-income demographic that it will bring blight to their neighborhood.

But the design of most cities these days assumes that most people will travel by car. This is not something that's going to be easy to change anytime soon. The Left has proved themselves totally incompetent, and they're not going to change it, unless you think they're suddenly going to do something in the next 10 years that they haven't done over the last 25 years.

But people like you think there is no need to worry about the negative effects of any policies because you assume the government will just solve those problems. That's idiotic, irresponsible, and dangerous thinking. You see that?

[Potemkin]

And now living standards are going to go back down.

Only people are going to be in a worse situation and be screwed, because far fewer people live in multi-adult families than in the 1950s, and the majority of homes are now in suburbs where any travel is very difficult without a car.

Also, because of unfettered immigration and rising crime rates, there are many cities that actually discourage public transportation because they are afraid it will bring in a lower-income demographic that it will bring blight to their neighborhood.

But the design of most cities these days assumes that most people will travel by car. This is not something that's going to be easy to change anytime soon. The Left has proved themselves totally incompetent, and they're not going to change it, unless you think they're suddenly going to do something in the next 10 years that they haven't done over the last 25 years.

But people like you think there is no need to worry about the negative effects of any policies because you assume the government will just solve those problems. That's idiotic, irresponsible, and dangerous thinking. You see that?

Are you drunk? You think the ‘Left’ has been in charge in the USA or in Europe from the 1980s to the present day? You think communism or even socialism has been the ruling ideology in the West for the past half century? You think pushing for universal car ownership and building sprawling suburbs was a ‘Leftist’ policy? Well, I got news for you - all of these policies were driven by capitalism, by the profit motive. Don’t lay this at our fucking door.

[Pants-of-dog]

I like these occasional feel-good threads you post, @Puffer Fish

[wat0n]

Cars are more expensive than usual because of the supply chain issues plaguing the industry since the pandemic and which have still not been fully resolved.

And I agree with @Potemkin, our grandparents were able to do just fine using public transportation when living in cities, and I will note suburbs did exist back then. They were more rural and less urban than today, obviously, yet they were still there.

[Unthinking Majority]

Before the 1960s, almost nobody owned a car. Their grandparents - the generation who defeated Hitler and Tojo - rode around on public transport, why can’t they?

Maybe we can get every young person a donkey.

[Puffer Fish]

How Gen Z's lack of driving could exacerbate loneliness epidemic

NBC News Dana Griffin explores why Gen Z is driving less than other generations and how the major cultural shift could potentially exacerbate the loneliness epidemic.

Less and less of Gen Z -- roughly defined as people born between 1997 and 2010 -- are on the roads. Today (for year 2022), just 25 percent of 16 year olds have any type of driver's license. Compare that to nearly three decades ago (1997) when that number was 43 percent.

Why do all of that when you have things like public transportation, ride sharing, and food delivery aps?
teen girl: "The modern accessibility for getting rides, and all of that, has sort of balanced out the fact that I don't have a license."

It's also part of some broader shifts we're seeing in Gen Z.
They're drinking less, sleeping earlier, and staying home. Part of it may have to do with their 'coming of age' being interrupted.
"Many of these young adults really finished middle school, or high school in the pandemic where everything shifted to online. So in real life, interactions seemed less important."
They're spending a lot of time glued to their phones. Just about half of teens say they're online almost constantly (2022), double that from 2014 to 2015, according to a recent Pew study.

Another part? Finances.
85% of Gen Z citing barriers. Maybe less focus on getting a car and paying insurance, and more on groceries and paying off student loans.

Last year 24 percent of Gen Z adults reported always or often feeling lonely over the past 12 months. Compared to 18 percent of Millennials, according to the American Enterprise Institute's Survey Center on American Life). ​

How Gen Z's lack of driving could exacerbate loneliness epidemic, NBC (video), Feb. 12, 2024