Counter to popular opinion, millennials are indeed buying cars, according to a recent report from the experts at TransUnion, a consumer credit information service. In its “Generation Revealed: Decoding Millennial Financial Health” study, TransUnion found that when tracking 21-34 year-olds from each group, Millennials are buying or leasing vehicles at a greater rate than members of Gen X did at the same age. The increase in car loans and leases is 21 percent.
According to the TransUnion study, just over 12 percent of Gen X-ers within the 21-34 age group were leasing or buying cars, compared to nearly 14.6 percent of today’s Millennials. TransUnion defined Millennials (also called Gen Y) as people born between 1980 and 1984, while Gen X includes those born between 1965 and 1979.
This study would seem to dispute the widely held idea that Millennials lack interest in vehicles and aren’t buying cars. The increased availability of online car shopping and longer loan terms may be contributing factors.