With car-sharing services, there’s less need for people to actually own the wheels they rely on to get around. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune / February 10, 2013)
By Howard Tullman
February 10, 2013

Why doesn't Generation Y care about cars?
First things first: It's not entirely by choice. If you're living in your parents' basement with no job, buying a car probably isn't at the top of your to-do list. And if you're flipping burgers for a "living"— gas prices, insurance premiums and payments (on top of your college loans) preclude purchasing that great-looking Prius.
We're witnessing the collision (no pun intended) of a number of trends that are bringing about seismic changes in the auto industry. The Gen Yers might be leading the charge, but the changes that are coming will affect all of us and millions of businesses as well.
Some of these developments are already apparent and others are just emerging. For the car guys in particular, it looks to me like the worst is yet to come. But if the ads on the Super Bowl are any indication, Detroit still doesn't get it and they continue to ignore the demographic tidal wave that's soon to roll right over them.
I see six major problems:
Emotional ties: There was a time — not so long ago — when owning a car was part of our civic duty. We were exhorted to "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" and Chevys hummed with the "Heartbeat of America." We felt that our cars (even though mass produced) were expressions of our individual identities and — more importantly — evidence of our station in life. Everyone knew a successful doctor and knew he was successful because he drove a new Cadillac every year.
Today, if there's any emotional attachment left in our connection to our cars, it's demonstrably a negative one — our cars are too expensive, a maintenance and parking burden, costly pollution machines, etc., and we'd just as soon be rid of them.
Mechanical abilities: A significant portion of the population once actually knew something about the insides of their cars and how (at least minimally) to maintain them because it was something they could learn in school. But auto shop classes declined, and even if we were inclined to pop the hood, we'd have little prospect of doing anything other than getting our hands dirty. Everything from the distributor to the diagnostics in today's cars is so computer-controlled that a layman has zero chance of doing anything but damage.
Technical constraints: Another old-time way we could learn a little about our vehicles was to hang around the neighborhood gas station and watch the grease monkeys fiddle around. Not today. And even less tomorrow as we can expect to see fewer garages that are equipped to do repairs because — as small and local businesses with limited capital and other resources — they simply won't have the financial ability to purchase costly equipment or to hire properly trained personnel.
Economic realities: The costs of owning a car just keep increasing. A 2012 AAA study found the expense of having a car totaled $8,946 annually on average, nearly 2 percent more than the previous year. As transportation alternatives increase, the desire to own your own car diminishes. You've got I-Gocar sharing and Zipcar. I love Zipcar's slogan — it says it all for this generation: "The car for people who don't want one."
There are also shared ride programs, company-provided transportation plans and the old reliables: biking and walking. The Gen Y stats (16- to 34-year-olds) are pretty impressive: Driving was down from 2001 to 2009 (23 percent), biking was up (24 percent) and walking was up (16 percent), according to the National Household Travel Survey.
Environmental considerations: And then there's Mother Earth. There is mounting pressure to develop alternatives to fossil fuels and to construct public transportation systems. These trends are near and dear to the hearts of Gen Yers, who can be expected to employ their social networks and new crowdsourcing and crowdfunding tools to raise their voices and increase their influence in these areas.
Political and regulatory changes: Finally, there are the politicians. It turns out that polluters are pretty low-hanging fruit and easy targets (even when they're your neighbors) and we can expect initiatives from the Obama administration to increase restrictions and raise fees and taxes in ways calculated to drive polluting vehicles off the roads.
Similarly, there will be increasing regulatory attacks on gas guzzlers. Sadly, many of these used cars were the entry-level transportation vehicles for younger and less-affluent consumers, and we can expect to see them disappear.
Howard Tullman is the CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy in Chicago. He was the founder of CCC Information Services, which provides vehicle valuation information to insurance companies and car dealers.