Study: Nine Out Of 10 Millennials Consider Car Ownership Important

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

Allegedly, Millennials care only about the latest iPhone, and not the i8. Nine out of 10 Millennials would disagree, and consider car ownership important.

The statistic comes from a study by rental car company Enterprise Holdings, The Detroit Bureau says, with the indication Millennials are renting cars they might want to buy later, per fleet operations boss Kurt Kohler:

When we provide our customers with a great rental experience, it doesn’t just keep them coming back to us – it clearly sends many of them into their local dealer showrooms, as well.

Though studies like Enterprise’s are seen more as marketing tools benefiting the company than the consumer, other studies and reports point to the same conclusion: young adults want to drive, and want to own what they drive. One analysis by J.D. Power found Millennials account for 27 percent of all U.S. new car sales at present, with the cohort overtaking Baby Boomers on the sales floor by the 2020s.

Returning to Enterprise’s study, the company found 92 percent of Boomers and Millennials believe owning a car is important, compared to 73 percent in 2013. The spike is likely the result of improving fortunes among the younger cohort alongside the economy following the end of the Great Recession.

Regarding rental-to-showroom sales, 32 percent of Millennials said a positive renting experience led them down the road to their new vehicle, while 30 percent of Gen-Xers and 23 percent of Boomers though the same. Additionally, 45 percent of those surveyed said renting a car prepared them for the technologies they would find in their own vehicle.

The study is more good news for automakers as they seek to bring in more potential customers. Rather than build fleet-ready models for the sake of keeping the lights on, automakers could use the opportunity to claim those sales as marketing for the real thing, especially if they decide to add more technology to a base model to show off what they can do when it comes time to turn the renter into a buyer.

(Photo credit: Mercedes-Benz USA/ Facebook)

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Corey Lewis Corey Lewis on Jun 30, 2015

    This is in direct conflict with those other studies which say car ownership isn't important for said group of people, and they shun ownership and don't want to drive or get a license. Depending on framing, you can get whatever results you desire. All these studies are just a joke.

  • Nrd515 Nrd515 on Jul 02, 2015

    I work with a lot of much younger people, I'm over twice the age of the guys I work directly with, and a couple of the things they want/wish for concern me, even though I won't be around long enough to have them affect me. 1. A couple of them really really want self driving cars, where they can sit back and play their games without having to pay attention to what's going on outside. I tell them I would probably kill myself if I had to do this, to me, driving IS the ultimate video game! 2. They don't seem to care about power at all. Or if it's decent looking. In fact, they seem to go out of their way to buy old ugly beaters that last a few years at best, and then they scrap them and buy another. A couple of them don't even know (or care) about their car being FWD or RWD. I don't think any of them have a clue about the advantages of either one. Almost everything they have ever driven is FWD and 4 cylinder. Ugg! I call these penalty cars. One guy is driving a car almost as old as he is, a 1993 Taurus, a green base car with a ticking time bomb of a motor, I keep waiting for it to finally do whatever it's going to do, but it seems to keep on going. I'm so happy I can afford to buy what I want that's new and not some throw away beater that will eventually develop some fatal motor or trans issue that will end up with it being sold to one of the recycle yards in the area, and a new beater taking it's place.

  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
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