Skip to main content

Nearly 25% of UK millennials ‘favour renting cars’ – new research

Nearly a quarter of UK millennials would forgo buying a car and are likely to subscribe to a car-as-a-service scheme within the next year, according to new research. The study by cloud software subscription service Zuora states UK millennials are ‘key drivers’ for the ‘subscription economy’, with 73% looking to increase subscription use over the next two years. Zuora’s A Nation Subscribed research involved 2,000 consumers and was carried out by YouGov. It shows 77% of 16-24 year olds and 85% of 25-34
October 9, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Nearly a quarter of UK millennials would forgo buying a car and are likely to subscribe to a car-as-a-service scheme within the next year, according to new research.


The study by cloud software subscription service Zuora states UK millennials are ‘key drivers’ for the ‘subscription economy’, with 73% looking to increase subscription use over the next two years.

Zuora’s A Nation Subscribed research involved 2,000 consumers and was carried out by YouGov. It shows 77% of 16-24 year olds and 85% of 25-34 year olds subscribe to at least one product and/or service – such as gym membership or music streaming sites.

Also, around half of both millennial age groups believe subscriptions are the future, with 31% of 16-24-year-olds expressing interest in connected and self-driving cars.    

Nearly half of respondents rank convenience as the main benefit of using subscription services, followed by cost (29%) and ease of use (27%).

John Phillips, Zuora managing director for EMEA, says millennials are adopting subscriptions at a rapid pace and are pushing companies to rethink their business model.

“It’s likely that as the UK evolves to become smarter, fully connected and more efficient, we’ll see a new generation of businesses catering to this trend,” Phillips adds.

Related Content

  • Majority of people ‘unaware of smart cities’, says ATG Access
    January 23, 2019
    More than two-thirds of people do not know what a smart city is - and around a quarter find the concept worrying due to lack of available information, says a new study. ATG Access surveyed 1,000 UK participants and found that just 24% of people in this category believe the concept would improve overall safety. Smart Cities: Turning the dream into a reality says educating the public on how smart cities can help solve challenges on traffic congestion will be key to solving consumer reservations. Of
  • Xerox takes youthful view of future transport
    August 23, 2016
    Xerox’s David Cummins talks to Colin Sowman about the lessons for city authorities from its survey of younger peoples’ attitude to transport. There can be no better way to get a handle on the future of transport demand than to ask the younger generation about how they view and consume today’s transport. Sociologists have called this group Generation Z – those born between 1995 and 2007 – which will make up 40% of all US consumers by 2020.
  • Outsourcing security weakness for Sweden’s driver and vehicle data
    October 24, 2017
    The security of driver and vehicle data hit the headlines this summer in Sweden and its authorities are still dealing with the fallout. David Crawford reports. epercussions from Sweden’s vehicle data outsourcing scandal continue to reverberate. Transportstyrelsen, the government’s transport agency, came under fire this summer for risking the personal security of over five million motorists by failing to implement full security checks on personnel in other countries to whom individual work packages could
  • UK ITS professionals doubt driverless car timescales
    February 6, 2018
    Only one member of ITS (UK) thinks that level five driverless cars will be on the country’s roads by 2021, as suggested by chancellor Philip Hammond in the autumn budget. The results showed a near 50/50 split between those who expect fully driverless cars to be available within 15 years and those who think it will take longer to become widespread.