Fewer Younger People Driving, Buying Cars

With teenagers all over using things like iPhones and expensive computers, it might seem that they’ve got plenty of extra cash. But if they do, it’s likely they’re not spending it on driving. Studies done both in the U.S. and in the U.K. have shown that young people are not only not buying cars, but also not learning to drive, and the reason is simple: it’s too costly.

Instead of buying their own cars, more and more

young people are choosing to borrow and share

cars.

According to a British study published by the BBC, the number of 17- to 22-year olds taking driving exams has dropped by 19% in the past six years—that’s a drop of more than 200,000 people. And while your first thoughts might spring to gas prices, the blame lies with insurance costs. Five years ago, a 35-year old in England would have paid about £245 ($380) for insurance, but now they pay £325 ($504). A 17-year-old, however, used to expect to pay about £2,500 ($3,880), but now that’s jumped to about £4,000 ($6,208) —a huge difference.

Meanwhile, a study conducted in the U.S. by KRC Research has found that fewer young people are driving thanks to a few reasons: first and foremost is obviously the cost. Gas and insurance is a big expense, as is actually buying or leasing a car. But aside from simply the cost, teens are shying away from car ownership for other reasons, like social media removing the urgency to see their friends face-to-face and feelings of environmentalism—they’d rather carpool, take public transportation, walk, or ride bikes.

The study, which was funded by ZipCar, (LINK to article about zipcar/other car borrowing), also showed that people ages 18 to 34 were eager to test out car-sharing programs (like ZipCar…go figure).

The British survey didn’t even consider car-sharing programs, but that might be because their results showed that people weren’t even learning how to drive in the first place—driving lessons themselves were too cost prohibitive.