Not having a car – no thanks

Not having a car – no thanks

Well-developed public transport, environmental protection and maintenance costs could most likely persuade Austrians to give up their own cars. However, the most common reason for choosing a car is emotional. This is shown by a current survey among 520 Austrians commissioned by AutoScout24.at, which examined the question of what reasons speak for or against owning a car.

Independence is trump

The results of the survey show: Austrians are reluctant to give up their car, among other things for practical reasons. For almost every second person who lives in the country, the car is indispensable for daily errands. Around 42 percent still have poor connections to public transport. The most frequently cited reason why owning a car is not up for debate, however, does not fall into the rational category: it is the independence or freedom (61 percent approval) that the mobile vehicle enables Austrians and that makes it so irreplaceable. So it's hardly surprising that almost a third of those surveyed (31 percent) are certain that they won't be without a car in the future - come what may. By the way, men and women are balanced.

Reasons for waiver

When asked about the reasons for not owning a car, the good expansion of the public transport network is the top priority for Austrians (39 percent). For 31 percent, the environmental protection argument is a reason for them to completely or at least almost avoid using a car in the future, with women (33 percent) paying more attention to this aspect than men (29 percent). In third place is the question of cost: 27 percent say that the maintenance costs mean they will no longer have their own set of wheels in the future. Interesting: Home office, which has been increasingly practiced by many Austrians for more than a year, provides relatively little reason for not owning a car. But even though commutes to work have been reduced in many cases as a result, only 13 percent think that they would do without a car for this reason. Sharing instead of owning is also little motivation for Austrians, because switching to car sharing systems does not even give one in ten people a reason to give up their own car. The guilty conscience of owning a car even though it is not really needed would only be a reason for 8 percent to give it away.