A similar percentage of females and males would sacrifice their access to the Internet (one of the most popular responses) so they could keep their car.

BOSTON, Mass. (October 10, 2013) – You’ve always known you worship your car, but did you ever realize just how much? iSeeCars.com decided to put that love to the test and see what, if anything, survey respondents would be willing to give up to keep their car.

“At iSeeCars.com we meet many different types of car enthusiasts.” Phong Ly, CEO and co-founder of iSeeCars said. “However, even we were surprised that 54.2% surveyed would let go of something potentially far more valuable before giving up their car.”

To determine the lengths people would go to keep their car, we surveyed 1,505 people. They were asked “If you could keep your car only if you give up one of the following, which one would you give up?” The list included Internet access (email, Facebook, etc.), job, significant other, home or apartment, all contact with friends and none of the above (I’d give up my car). Note: Only 5 choices were shown to any given respondent. Percentages may not add up to 100%.

 

 

There were a few surprises in the survey, including the age groups that were least likely to give up the Internet.

“As expected, those ages 18-24 were the smallest percentage willing to give up Internet access to keep their car,” Ly said.  “However, surprisingly, the second-to-smallest percentage that would give up Internet access was the 65+ age group. “

Other datapoints:

  • A higher percentage of male respondents (9.9%) than females (6.8%) would give up their job before they’d say goodbye to their car.
  • A greater percentage of male respondents (4.8%) than females  (2%) would give up their home or apartment before they relinquish their automobile.
  • 29.9% of respondents would give up the Internet to keep their car, and males and females were pretty equal in this response.
  • Among 35-44 year olds, women (58.7%) picked “none of the above, I would give up my car” considerably more than men (35.6%).
  • Among people in suburban areas, those in the U.S. West picked Internet access (37.9%) significantly more than those in the U.S. Midwest (22.1%).
  • As retirement creeps up, that car is apparently looking a lot more appealing. As age of our respondents increased, so did (in a majority of age groups) the percentage reporting they would give up their job to keep their car. Those 65+ in age were the highest percentage at 19.3%.
  • Those making $100K-$149K were the highest percentage to respond, “none of the above, I’d give up my car.”

About iSeeCars.com:

 

iSeeCars.com is a data-driven car search and research company that helps shoppers find the best car deals by providing key insights and valuable resources, including the iSeeCars VIN Check report and Best Cars Rankings. iSeeCars has saved users over $414 million so far by applying big data analytics powered by over 25 billion (and growing) data points and using proprietary algorithms to objectively analyze, score and rank millions of new cars and used cars.