I totally get it from a taxi business model. I know it can succeed in that business in the US. I thought the plan was to sell the cars. That’s why I didn’t see as a strong market and I know first hand the pain of being too early in the tech game. I worked with a startup that tried to launch car sharing, GPS monitoring for pay-as-you-go insurance as well as automated tolling and parking. That was a tough sell in 2005 — they were way too soon. Their GPS could track a car location in an urban core full of skyscrapers to within a half inch. Amazing tech but before its time. I also understand the diffusion of innovation curve and expect the autonomous car to have a really short window except in the most congested cities where they are most practical. To the passenger I’m sure it will get old really fast making the business dependent on cost savings to survive. Which is fine. But driving will then become more of a status symbol than ever and make a huge comeback before the late majority phase even gets going.

My son is (or was) in the no car generation. It’s not that their generation doesn’t love driving, or they are not into cars, it’s that they can’t afford to buy them and they all want Ferraris. But he is ready to buy a car now because he’s traveling more and Uber is killing him. He usually spends around $250 per month despite walking to work. Do we pay more for Uber in Canada? Base fare is about $8, plus 40¢ per minute and about $3.50 per mile. (all US dollars)

He will likely start with a used car which is a hit and miss proposition. With new cars you either drive them for a few years and sell them before the big drop off or keep them until they die. Otherwise they are a terrible investment. My first two cars were just like you described. I did everything wrong. :P

But I learned. One of my current cars is a VW I bought cash. I saved 5K on the $28k price and all the financing fees. It’s a diesel and will easily last 500,ooo clicks. If I kept it for 15 years the total cost of ownership would have been around $115 per month. But I won’t be keeping it as planned due to the VW diesel scandal, which was a huge win. They are buying it back for the 2015 black book value of 15k and giving me 9k cash. So they paid me $1,000 to drive it for almost 4 years! Woohoo.

My second best buy was a Toyota van that cost $32k. I drove it for 3 years and sold it for 28k. Before fuel and maintenance, that would have been a cost of ownership closer to $90 a month IF I didn’t finance it, but I did. But it was still under $110 and it took me across the country and back a couple times. Great value again.

I hate to say it, but it was the American made cars that killed me before that. They depreciated so much faster and I kept them too long. Live and learn.