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Comment by gotofritz | Hacker News Reader

It looks like people like to comment on the title without reading the article - it says that young people are genuinely not interested, as demonstrated by the fact fewer take a driving licence. They do have money, but they prefer spending on IT gadgets rather than cars. The article may be wrong of course, but it's not simply a matter of them being broke.

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I went from commuting for the first couple of years by car, to moving within a 10 minute bus ride from my office.

Being a major city, the bus fare alone is cheaper than parking. I live within 15 minutes of world class night life, a city who's main source of income is tourism. An uber home costs little more than a drink.

For a lot of high rises, the cost of a car park is comparable in price to an extra room. It could be the difference between a nicer place or one further out.

I used to road trip to my home town before I started working, but the last few years have been trips overseas, or to other states with the same friends. Not having a car payment, or registration, or insurance helped here...

I know my lifestyle isn't for everyone, there are a lot of pros and cons. I think putting off settling down and having a family (another millennial trend?) removes a lot of the need for a car though. By the time I stopped driving, it seemed more an inconvenience than anything. Like that bulky spare couch you don't have a room for after moving house.

Just offering my $0.02 as a millennial that relates to the story.

The idea that millenials are buying gadgets over cars is a pretty dumb one. Those aren't in the same realm of financial responsibility.

People disagree with the article.

How much of the money spent on cars is spent on transportation vs spent on status? Money made from selling status has to compete with everything from craft beer to the latest iPhone and holidays that can be bragged about on social media.

Not to mention the status boost of being rich enough to not need to own a car.

Not owning a car in the current year is pretty much the "don't own a TV" of the last couple decades. Everyone competes to status signal the hardest how they support it, but when the rubber meets the road (ahem) its emperors new clothes time and almost everyone does the opposite of the signalling.

Something often not discussed is the opportunity cost of not owning a car. Not being able to have hobbies other than drinking at college bars, for example. Not being able to leave the city, not being able to travel, or visit a real park. Sorry can't take that job or promotion because I gotta live 5 minutes walk from the leased apartment. Sorry can't go out on that date, can't you just go with me to the college bar again? The cost of the parochial tunnel vision of never meeting people outside walking distance.

Your straw man requires someone not have a car and not have the money that one saves from not having a car.

For the price of a car payment, I can commute on the DC metro and rent a car for a weekend. For the price of car insurance, I can take Uber for quite a few miles. For the money I made renting my parking space, I can rent a car for another weekend and subscribe to Amazon Prime. With the money saved on gas, car maintenance, and parking downtown, I can fly home to see family.

> Your straw man requires someone not have a car and not have the money that one saves from not having a car.

That's not the predicament that most people are in. Just because you don't have a 30k car doesn't mean you have 30k in the bank to utilize. Hell, since most people finance cars now a days, having a 30k car doesn't mean that you had anywhere near 30k in the bank before buying. Whereas, if you buy that car, whether or not you had something in the bank to cover it before buying, you now are on the hook for maintenance, gas, insurance, etc. So no that's not straw man at all.

> For the price of a car payment, I can commute on the DC metro and rent a car for a weekend.

I won't get started on this, as owning and utilizing a car in the DC/NoVa area is a beast onto its own.

What did I write that requires 30k in the bank? I'm specifically talking about the same cash flows you mention.

The amount spent per month on car loan, insurance, gas, parking, amortized maintenance, etc is now free to pay for other forms of transportation: car rentals, uber, flights.

Someone with the monthly cash flow to choose not to buy a car, that complains they can't afford to go anywhere or do anything is very much a straw man.

Mercedes Benz isn't going after Millenials. Millenials are sought after in the lower market segments. 15k Kias and 20k Hondas. Outside of the ability to not have to bum rides from my friends, I can assure you my Civic is no status symbol.

I'm not saying your car is a status symbol, but there's status at every price point. Someone might not need a car, but the status of owning one could push them over the edge. Do Kia and Civic have paint and trim options that cost extra? Status. Does a new Civic loose value as soon as its purchased because no other buy will be able to say they bought it new? Status.

"demonstrated by the fact fewer take a driving licence"

That's not actually demonstrated in the article, read again.

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