The share of Americans 18 to 34 years old without a driver’s license has soared between 2000 and 2020
Fort Wayne, Ind.—More Americans 18 to 34 years old are choosing not to drive. A driver’s license, which was a rite of passage for Baby Boomers (in the 1960s and 1970s), holds a diminishing value for a growing number of Millennials and Generation Zers, according to a new report.
“Social media, environmental issues, and ride-sharing have combined to reduce the need for a driver’s license to a large portion of young Americans,” stated the 2022 Lang Aftermarket Annual. “This has important consequences for vehicle use and aftermarket volume across the U.S., now and in the future.”
The following are a few takeaways from the analysis.
Love Affair with Autos is Over
Although Americans have long had a love affair with automobiles, this special relationship is over for most young Americans. “Many Americans, particularly those under 35 years old, view vehicles much differently than did the youth of earlier generations.”
Boomers Could Not Wait to Drive
Securing a driver’s license (as soon as possible) was a rite of passage for Baby Boomers. As proof, approximately 93 percent of Americans 18 to 34 years old had a driver’s license in the mid-1980s.
Environmental concerns, social media, and ride-sharing top the list of factors altering the attitudes of young Americans toward vehicle use.
Saving the Planet
Today, driving is seen by many young Americans as detrimental to the environment. More than half of Americans 18 to 34 years old are convinced that reducing vehicle use would help the environment.
Improvements to the internal combustion engine, particularly lower emissions, and the availability of many types of hybrid and electric vehicles, have made today’s vehicles much less polluting than just a few years ago. However, most of that is lost on young Americans, stated the report.
Social Media
Social media is the dominant means of communication among many Americans under 35 years old. It has become a strong factor in reducing vehicle use among Millennials and Gen Zers.
Many young Americans do not travel to visit friends since they can communicate with them through social media.
Ride-Sharing
Ride-sharing provides a transportation alternative to young Americans. Ride-sharing provides them with the benefits of vehicle transportation without the cost of vehicle ownership and need for a driver’s license.
More Americans Skip A Driver’s License
The share of Americans 18 to 34 years old without a driver’s license has soared between 2000 and 2020.
At the beginning of the new millennium, less than 14 percent of Americans 18 to 34 years old did not have a driver’s license. By 2010, 18 percent of young Americans had skipped getting a driver’s license.
Lang Marketing estimates that today approximately one-quarter of Americans 18 to 34 years old do not have a driver’s license. This is nearly twice the share not driving over 20 years earlier.
Unforeseen Consequence
One unforeseen consequence of the changing attitude of young Americans toward getting a driver’s license (and their related lack of interest in vehicles) is their having little mechanical knowledge of vehicles.
In contrast, Baby Boomers, showing their love of vehicles, were hungry to learn all about cars and their mechanical workings. As a result, young Baby Boomers had much greater mechanical automotive knowledge than today’s Millennials and Gen Zers.
Millennials Go to the Internet for Auto Repair
Millennials and Gen Zers are much more likely than earlier generations to rely on the Internet in making automotive repair decisions.
This has significant implications for the potential growth of eCommerce purchases of auto parts and automotive repair, especially o2o (online to offline) auto repair growth.
Aftermarket Impact
Young Americans, with their changing attitudes toward vehicles, will have a profound impact on the future of vehicle ownership and use as well as aftermarket product volume.
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