… sounds like they’re recognizing the benefits of “Minimizing the Skim” at a very young age.
intercst
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Maybe, and a wonderful wonder if true, but I think more likely we are simply seeing the most recent shift in the ancient loooonnnggg attachment of “juvenile” (of all ages) males of our species to virility symbol signifiers, which have moved from “me carry big stick” to spears and arrows to swords and horses to varoooom cars to huge noisy booom boxes to…. social media displays (!?).
Oh, how the mighty have, ahem, fallen.
d fb
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Or maybe it is a shift from driver’s ed being a basic life skill that all public high schools offered, free, to something that you have to seek out, and pay for. It sure isn’t because public transit is so excellent.
Steve
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Doing a “social media display” is a lot cheaper than owning and insuring a vehicle.
intercst
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Not only that, but sometimes (rarely) doing social media can be financially rewarding. And many of them dream of those rewards. There are rarely any financial rewards from owning and insuring and maintaining a vehicle.
But I have to wonder if maybe a simpler reason is at play here. Maybe all the kids just got used to their parents ferrying them all over the place and that is much more comfortable and convenient than driving on their own.
(I just picked up one of my kids from the pizza shop where they work. I didn’t want them taking my car all day because I also had places to go.)
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It could be a trifecta: fear, hassle, and expense.
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I was like at in high school. I couldn’t understand the big deal about owning a car. The expense, the ongoing expenses. A target for police everywhere. Too much hassle
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So when did you own your first car?
DB2
So, how did you get around? Or did you spend all your time, when not in class, sitting at home, like I did?
Steve
Yep, kids these days are delaying driving and having sex.
I stand by my decisions
- I was 22 at the time
I bought my first car in my last year of college. It was a Dodge Charger that I bought from my uncle for $500 (it was barely worth $500, but after a few months I discovered that it came with a few skin mags hidden under the trunk carpeting LOL). I used that car to drive to various interviews, some dates, and going out with friends. But a few months later I started my first real job, and a few weeks in, it died on the highway on the way to work. I was many hours late to work because of that darned car! So a few days later I went car shopping. Bought a Ford Mustang GT and took a loan to pay for it.
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Bought my first car in 1978 three years after graduating college. It was a crashed/smashed 1968 VW Karman Ghia with good engine and manual transmission that I got for a few hundred dollars, removing most of the front metal for slow repair with guidance from a high school buddy, temporarily replacing with tactically placed temporary sheet metal, taping key gaps shut and lights into place, and paying for skilled alignment. It was wonderfully horrid. I carefully repaired and replaced the pretty sexy metal work over the course of a year.
I actually cried when I sold it for nice money in ‘81, buying a sensible used VW squareback, and fattening my juvenile investments.
The 20th Century was dominated by the insane scourges of mass mechanized atomized warfare and sexually driven automobiles. We shall see if we can escape both.
d fb
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I calculated that it is about $1000/year to keep a vehicle street legal ( registration /tags, cheapest insurance ) and that doesn’t include maintenance and replacing wear & tear items, so I get that it’s expensive for the youngsters. But when we were young, a vehicle was FREEDOM,lol. Our generation would much rather be able to come and go as we pleased, than have the latest and greatest smart phone. But to each their own, times have changed.
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Plus with Uber and whatnot now, it is not strictly necessary for a young person to need a personal vehicle these days.
If you are a suburban teen you would typically be living in a multi-vehicle household. As a college student in a dorm or college town, a personal vehicle is a liability. As a young adult you tend have an apartment in an urban area.
Mathematically it can make sense not to own a vehicle or even have a drivers license since your mobility/freedom isn’t really impacted.
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How much would you spend if you didn’t own a car and saved the grand but instead, you paid for Uber for a large percent of any trips you’d have to make. I am assuming some transportation could be done on the bus. But, depending on where you live, maybe not. I don’t think the savings are all that great. A young person with at least some sort of social life, other strictly business trips, grocery shopping. The $1,000 + some minimal fuel usage could be cheaper
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I mostly commuted to work, surf, politics, and dates by bicycle from college graudation in 1975 until I got married in 1981 when I started to rideshare with my older less tolerant of sweat husband.
Saved on all manner of costs, including gym fees….
d fb
I just checked Uber. It would cost me roughly $30 to commute to work by Uber (and I’m only 5 miles away). That is roughly $600 per month, just to get to work and back. Now groceries, shopping, kid errands, the occasional trip to a restaurant, it adds up fast. No thanks. I’ll own and drive myself. Just another reason why I think the RoboTaxi dream will always be that - just a dream.
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TA DAA! Sometimes the manic obsession to “Save a buck everywhere” can blind people. Penny wise and pound foolish.
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It depends. If you worked in Boston and it cost $600/month to park your car at work, the calculation might be different.
intercst
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