Record amount of carless households

[Frank Lee]

Why More Families Are Shunning Cars | The Exchange - Yahoo! Finance

[t vago]

I like this bit...

Besides, new cars these days increasingly include smartphone connections, dashboard apps, tablet-style controls and other features that bring social networks and myriad entertainment options into the passenger compartment. So young drivers will have more ways than ever to connect with their friends and chill out. Somehow the automakers might just convince them that cars are pretty cool after all.

Why not just integrate a feature that causes the new car to occasionally just lose control, and plow into something or someone else?

[Frank Lee]

I think they have that.

[LeanBurn]

Teens aren't as motivated to drive as we were. I see it everyday. They either get their parents to drive them or take the bus or stay connected with social media that is for sure.

[Ryland]

I have a handful of car-less friends that are in their 20's and 30's that use my car from time to time and they don't want the dohickies, smart phone apps or anything other then a CD player, they really like that my car has hand crank windows and is solid because they view a car as a tool and one of the big reasons they don't want to own a car is that they can't buy a good quality basic car without it being 20 years old and at that point it's older then they want to deal with.

This is why bicycles are popular and why fixed gear and single speed bicycles are growing in popularity! we peeked out in how complected and annoying a mode of transportation can get and it made the younger generation realize that they want something that just works.

[t vago]

Originally Posted by LeanBurn

Teens aren't as motivated to drive as we were. I see it everyday. They either get their parents to drive them or take the bus or stay connected with social media that is for sure.

Can't be bothered with all of the requirements of owning a car (driver's license, registration, insurance), nor can they afford to actually buy a car and keep it maintained and keep it fueled up.

[Flakbadger]

The average new car costs nearly $31,000, according to TrueCar.com

Are you f***ing kidding me? Who in the hell spends $31k on a car?

[shovel]

Originally Posted by Flakbadger

Are you f***ing kidding me? Who in the hell spends $31k on a car?

What I find odd is that the cost of entry to a car keeps escalating, but it also seems fewer people bother to learn to repair old cars. I often see the "reduce-reuse-recycle" logo anywhere that an ecologically responsible agenda is being pursued but to me, repair and maintenance are as important (or more important than) recycling and reducing.

My daily driver was $48k eleven years ago, which is close to $61k inflation adjusted today. I picked it up for $8k a year and a half ago, neglected but only about halfway through the total lifetime I'm expecting to get out of it (without heroic measures). The Taurus SHO I just picked up for my S/O was supposedly $27k in 1994, which is around $41k adjusted for inflation. It was $1000 in similarly neglected shape, though the application of $500 in repair parts and some greasy elbows and foul language has put it in such condition that I should easily see another 50k miles from the machine.

There's no possible way I could afford a $30k car new today, and while I may only make a modest salary I'm told there are more (employed) Americans making less than me, than making more than me.

[redpoint5]

I read "record amount of careless households" and had to find out more...

Portland is increasingly moving towards a bicycle culture, and I believe it is primarily due to economics. As the show Portlandia says, Portland is the place young people go to retire. Many people in their 20s and 30s have low paying, part-time jobs, rent a house with many others, and can only afford a bicycle.

If I lived in Portland, I would still own all of my vehicles, but I would drive them much less. It's fun to bike from place to place, and you really can't drive faster than a bicycles pace in Portland anyhow. Parking is impossible, and traffic is nearly always stop and go.

As an added benefit, you are much less likely to be hassled for having a few beers and jumping onto a bicycle. It's still illegal to ride while intoxicated, but at least you can't do 90MPH and blow a corner.

As to $31,000 average price, that doesn't surprise me. That likely includes all of the luxury and exotic cars out there; the BMWs and Ferraris. Someone paid $31,000 for my TSX (Euro Accord), but it wasn't me

[Frank Lee]

The $31k likely includes all the pretty-boy trucks which seem to push $50k.