Dealership Marketing

Why Millennials Aren’t Buying Cars – with Lindsey Kirchoff

Jeff Kershner
Posted onJun 13, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Updated onUpdated on Oct 25, 2019 at 7:25 AM


Why Millennials Aren’t Buying Cars from Lindsey Kirchoff

A community member asked me yesterday where they could find some great information and research around GenY and Millennials. The frist thing that came to mind was Lindsly’s presentation on Why Millennials Aren’t Buying Cars.

One of my favorite stats from the presentation – “46% of 18-24 year olds would choose the Internet over their car”

There was a day where our vehicles were our freedom, now it’s being plugged into the internet.

Which one would you choose if you had to?

What changes will GenY and Millennials have on our industry? 

Jeff Kershner
Founder of DealerRefresh - 20+ Years of dealership Sales, Management, Training, Marketing and Leadership.
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“46% of 18-24 year olds would choose the Internet over their car”
I love this stat. While I'm sure there's some initial truth in it - I would venture to say that the largest percentage of the 46% are closer to the age of 18. What happens when they grow up, get married and have children? 
Not to dismiss the fact that this is a growing trend - with a larger portion of a generation not purchasing a vehicle until they are older poses some great challenge to the industry.
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    Mike Haeg
  • June 14, 2013
Hey Lindsey!
Enjoyed this immensely.  I missed your presentation at the Kain Automotive event last November.  Glad I could at least catch up with this.  
It takes some serious vision and commitment to wrangle with these ideas.  Dealers and dealer groups who do will be on the right side of history no doubt.
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    Aaron Wirtz
  • June 14, 2013
Great line-- "You don't just have to convince us to buy YOUR car, you have to convince us to buy A car."
How much of this could also be due to the removal of Driver's Ed from many public school systems? I was shocked when I heard that Driver's Ed would no longer be offered regularly in Wichita schools. Sure, that class could be pretty cheesy at times (we used those "simulators" from the 1960s), but I completed it feeling confident in my driving abilities. Schools would do well to reinstate more life skills training and less standardized test taking, but I suppose that's a conversation for another forum! :)
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    Jurgen
  • June 28, 2013
As a person from the demographic, I completely understand the statistic, "“46% of 18-24 year olds would choose the Internet over their car”
If I have the internet and no car, I can find a way to get a ride somewhere through expedia, craigslist, facebook, twitter, et cetera. 
If I have a car and no internet, I can get somewhere but I'd get lost without Google Maps, not be able to get reservations or phone numbers without Yelp, and I'd have no one to go with because everyone would be at a party I didn't get invited to because I don't have email/internet.
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