The cars served as a makeshift room for young or illicit lovers to spend a personal time together.
But since the proliferation of the coronavirus pandemic, cars have taken on even more roles, proving that they are not just to transport other people from point A to point B.
Two separate surveys have shown that many other people are increasingly using their cars to get away from the other people they live with, replace their stage, take a nap, make a non-public or business call, have time to myself, or just plain. feel general again.
“I had to drive in the suburbs recently. I have two teenagers and it’s the first time in a long time that I’m not home,” said Jenni Newman, editor-in-chief of Cars.com in Chicago. It’s my first impression that life is back to normal. I did a song out loud and had a smart time. I was surprised, it was a fabulous and relaxing bond for my soul.
These new uses for cars are also turning what consumers need to buy into their next cars. For example, some consumers have said that they now need off-road features and more space in their next vehicle. Some other folks are for the later generation so they can paint in the car or entertain themselves on road trips. In some metropolitan areas, there has been an increase in searches for sedans.
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“The journey is no longer a component of our life, so getting back in the car is a component of laughter and the joy of driving again,” Newman said. “It is a bubble on wheels for many of us.”
Kim Sperling and her husband Bruce, 46, have reinvented their date night.
Every Sunday afternoon when he cares for his 7-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, the Texan couple takes off in their 2018 Chevrolet Suburban SUV.
“We’re going for a walk and this would be our date,” Kim said. “We went through a smoothie and finished taking a nap in our car. We communicated for a bit, turned on the air conditioning and fell asleep.”
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The couple, who live in suburban Dallas, started driving in April because “we knew we would be crazy if my husband and I couldn’t connect.” Kim said. children and replace the stage.
In April via Cars.com, 53% of parents who responded to the survey said they “used their cars to hide from their children,” Newman said. “Which is funny and also relatable.”
The exam had 990 respondents, of whom 445 were parents. One in four respondents also said they used their vehicle as a makeshift workplace because it was quiet, Newman said.
In a two-part study done by TrueCar, it found that 73% of the 2,000 respondents said they used their cars as a private space to get away from the people they live with. The first part of the study was done in March and the second part in July. TrueCar surveyed people ages 18 to 60-plus, an equal mix of men and women, said Wendy McMullin, director of research at TrueCar.
His own colleagues inspired directing the studio, McMullin said.
“We’ve had Zoom meetings where your delight is your vehicle,” McMullin said. “They use it as a workplace when they want a quiet, secluded area or a position to get away from it all. We also saw a clever bite from other people who said they were just taking it out for a spin, that they weren’t going anywhere to have time for themselves.
Beyond fitting a paradise for “me,” here’s the breakdown of the other activities for which TrueCar respondents reported a car:
Additionally, seven out of ten respondents said they viewed their car as an extension of their home and family. Car owners reported that they feel an emotional bond with their car, with 35% of those surveyed named their vehicle. The top stage names were: Betsy, Birtha, Bumblee, Cherry, Dr. Ben, and Falcon.
“We asked about life moments in the car and a giant component told us that they had their first kiss in a car or shared life news, like where they had been. they learned they were going to be parents, “said McMullin.
TrueCar also found people are starting to identify features they want in their next car compared to what they desired pre-pandemic, said McMullin.
“Comfort is the first selected,” he says. “People say you have to do more off-roading or have more area or more connectivity and more technology.”
Nearly a third of those surveyed said they were looking for off-road capability in their next car. A third of the cars sold lately are not capable of off-road driving, McMullin said, adding: “So there are more people saying they need this ability than we are seeing in car sales lately.”
The next generation is that other people race in their cars for some quiet time. Or, in the case of the Sperlings, they’re making plans for more family trips down the road, so they’d pay to turn on Bluetooth and have another generation in the car.
“Our next car we have, we are going to buy a car with Bluetooth and in-car televisions,” Kim Sperling said. “We thought we were probably going to take a path now and we wish we had.”
At Feldman Automotive, which has 8 new car dealerships in Michigan and 3 in Columbus, Ohio, customers’ personal tastes are changing as other people use their cars as an “escape” now from the pre-pandemic era. said Dave Katarski, Feldman’s chief operating officer.
“We’ve seen it in the RV industry too,” Katarski said, referring to Mark Wahlberg Airstream & RV in Columbus, Ohio, of which the organization is a co-owner. “People are buying RVs like loopy and they want a truck or SUV to tow the trailers.”
Beyond that, Cars.com said customer searches for sunroof and moonroof cars were up 1.5% from last year, spokeswoman Allison Phelps said. from Cars.com. Additionally, it found that 29% of buyers who are in the market to purchase a vehicle over Labor Day weekend said they are looking for a convertible. It is the third most popular election.
“We’ve also noticed an increase in sedan study activity,” Phelps said. “Sedan folks grew 14 percent above the expansion in overall search activity from April to June.”
Phelps said primary metropolitan centers have seen a more significant expansion in the sedan business than the rest of the country. In New York City, sedan searches were four percent higher, Chicago 2 four percent and Los Angeles four percent higher than the site’s overall search increase, Phelps said.
“People are incredibly careful about public transportation and carpooling, so they seek ownership of the vehicle to get where they want to go,” Newman said.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Learn more about General Motors and subscribe to our newsletter. Become a subscriber.