A new auto trend has emerged: Car subscription services. They look similar to leasing but are hassle-fee – insurance, service, and even upgrades are often included – and are certainly an up-and-coming new trend to watch in the auto world. After running a quick survey to more than 2,900 U.S. Adults, CivicScience learned that car subscriptions draw interest from nearly one-third of the population. Another 11% aren’t sure, so they could potentially be swayed.

Though younger adults lead the charge finding the concept of car subscriptions interesting, there is still some curiosity among older Millennials and Gen Xers.

Debt Plays A Role

When looking at the four types of debt CivicScience tracks, those with auto loans were the second most likely (39%) to be interested in a car subscription, to student loan debt (41%). Perhaps they see these services as a way to save some cash overall.

Volvo recently released their own subscription service, Care by Volvo. Based on the always-on CivicScience survey tracking Volvo favorability, we see that interest in these subscription services at large looks similar among Volvo Favorables and Unfavorables alike.

A Subscription for Everything

Subscription fans in general are embracing this model the most. Forty-five percent of those who consider subscription-video-on-demand services like Netflix a necessity are interested in the car-subscription model, compared to 26% of those who don’t stream at all.

A similar story emerges when comparing car subscription interest with meal kit subscriptions. Those who are interested in car subscriptions are much more likely than the non-interested group to have already tried or have intentions to try meal kits. What’s more, those ‘not sure’ about car subscriptions could likely be swayed because they’ve embraced meal kit subscriptions at similar rates as the already-interested group.

Taking a look at consumer adoption of car subscription services, however, shows they are still emerging. Only 4% of U.S. adults have tried them with the same number having intentions to sign up in the future. Awareness still has a ways to go with half the U.S. adult population. 

And a tip for marketers – lovers of luxury car brands (think Mercedes and Prosche) are more likely to be interested in a car subscription service than the consumers of day-to-day brands like Honda or Ford.