Posted on 07/12/2015 12:09:17 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
*If you’ve never heard of ride-sharing, app-based taxi services like Uber and Lyft, you probably don’t get out much.
They are pretty much taking over the world.
And John Zimmer, who co-founded Lyft, even goes as far as saying that in five years, most millennials won’t own a car. They will see no need for it.
“You could actually start seeing the majority of millennials in the next five years or so saying there’s no reason I should get a car,” Zimmer told Mashable recently. “The car used to be the symbol of American freedom. Now it’s like …owning a $9,000 ball and chain, because you have $9,000 in expenses on your car every year.”
Sounds like something someone with a ride-sharing business would say.
But apparently there’s data to support his theory.
An article in Huffington Post states millennials are less likely to get driver’s licenses compared to previous generations; and according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the number of cars purchased by people aged 18 to 34 fell by almost 30 percent from 2007 to 2011.
Of course this could be for a number of reasons. The economy; parents unable to foot the bill for a monthly car note.
And these days, the Generation Y’ers use skateboards, bikes and public transportation more often as a means of travel. So this could also lend itself to the reasons why they are not purchasing cars.
Yet it is true, as Mashable notes, that this millennial shift has contributed greatly to the success of ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber, whose worth is at least $2 billion and $40 billion respectively.
Not to mention the contributions of their parents and grandparents; who rely heavily on the service for their own means of regular transportation.
Yet and still, the jury is still out on whether or not cars will soon be obsolete for the Gen Y set. A survey conducted this year found that 43 percent of millennials are actually likely to purchase a car in the next five years.
“Whatever millennials do right now, it’s highly likely that they’ll drive more as they age into their 30s and 40s,” wrote reporter Emily Badger in an op-ed for The Washington Post last year. “The question is whether they’ll continue to drive less than their parents did at each stage of life — and whether future generations will replicate their patterns.”
I absolutely LOVE Uber in Los Angeles.
But even a Millenial needs a car in LA. You must have a car in LA.
Dallas/Ft Worth is the same.
Uber is super efficient here.
They are very affordable, reliable, on time and fast.
Witness the paperless office has finally arrived. ...as if
Hubby is driving for Uber and it is saving our lives. It is really saving our lives, to me it is pretty much a miracle.
I seem to remember them spouting that “paperless office” bull**** as far back as the 1970’s.
How does the insurance coverage for the car work, though? That’s what mystified me. There’s even a professional (Miami Dolphins) player driving for Uber.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3299068/posts
I can’t picture Uber letting me load 8 sheets of plywood and a bunch of 2 x 4s onto the vehicle...
Right now we are just winging it, but if all goes OK I am going to look into getting “umbrella” coverage.
I really have to look into our insurance, last year I paid $500 for $250K coverage for my bookkeeping sidework.
Over 4th of July I talked to my sis-in-law who’s an RN. She pays only $100 for A MILLION DOLLARS of coverage.
We all decided I was getting robbed as the chances of me actually killing or maiming a person via bad bookkeeping were pretty much nil.
You made me think of an old Missing Persons song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_UpLtGEWoY
You won’t see a cop walking on the beat
You only see them driving cars out in the street
You won’t see kids walking home from school
Their mothers pick them up in a car pool
Walking in L.A.- Walking in L.A.
Nobody walks in L.A.
...and about a decade ago, the segway people were saying it would revolutionize civilization and lead to car-less cities.
if the millenials won’t have cars in 5 years, it’ll be because hillary/JEB/boehner/mcconnell have continued obama’s/reid’s/pelosi’s/boehner’s/mcconnell’s 8 years of failed policies and they’ll all be working minimum wage jobs for barely 30 hours a week.
there are people all over this country who live 25, 40, or 50+ miles from their jobs (one way) and no ride-sharing app is going make it any easier for them to get to and from work.
In cities, use public transportation or a ride-sharing service like Uber. Why spend $10,000 a year on a vehicle? Get a vehicle as a frivolous convenience if you earn more than, say, $150,000 a year. Will consumers prefer the utility of vehicle ownership as substitution for other goods or savings at that point on their indifference curve? In other words, would it be a rational tradeoff at that income level? If so, the car market will implode. Perhaps consumers are stuck in a habit that will quickly dissolve.
Medical liability vs. E&O liability - apples and oranges but you have a point about the cost of coverage and the potential losses being covered. Shopping rates on all kinds of insurance coverage is just being a good consumer.
those city folks without cars are gonna be soooooooo screwed when the zombie apocalypse hits.
;)
If they don’t have cars how will lyft- and uuber- stay in business? It depends on their drivers having cars?
Have you seen my hovercar?
Papercuts!
$9000. In expenses, every year, what kind of car is that. Or are they figuring in fuel?
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