Will sell driving cars depreciate the value of regular cars?

86,155

Asked by Mark Aug 13, 2015 at 02:46 AM about the 2010 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited

Question type: General

There's talk about self driving Google cars taking over in 15 to 20 years.  
I think it's more like 30 to 35 years,  but,  when they do, people are speculating that you
won't be able to afford the insurance do drive anything except a self driving computer
controlled car.  Don't you think this will devalue ordinary cars because they would not be
in demand for sale if only a few people can afford to drive them and pay the higher costs
to insure?

6 Answers

44,845

"self driving" cars will never happen- stop thinkin' about it- 2 reasons: 1) they will crash into everything because no machine is perfect- 2) what fun is a car if you can't drive it? please- men will fly to Mars before there are automatically controlled cars- which means: NEVER

86,155

James, thanks for your answer, I think? Seriously, you must know that Google self driving cars have logged 700,000 miles with no accidents. See this link and article below, http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/181508-googles-self-driving-car- passes-700000-accident-free-miles-can-now-avoid-cyclists-stop-for- trains

86,155

Yes, I'm aware that this is a site for car enthusiasts and can see how you and others would not like this, I'm not enthusiastic about giving up my driving experience either, but, as the population ages and more people live in high congestion areas, a computer controlled car makes sense to reduce serious accidents. I think they would have to provide for people with RVs and pleasure driving in the highways and byways throughout the country. We take our teardrop trailer on long distance road trips and no Google car will do that. Actually, I hate driving in bumper to bumper traffic and if I could get a car to do this for me, it would be great! And, in 20 years, I'll be in my 80s and probably want one. It will take some time for this to switch over, but, I can see this is coming.

1 people found this helpful.
44,845

Thanks for your thoughtful response- this is a blog and I am glad that there are sometimes questions beyond the usual "Why is my check engine light on?" What we are talking about here is quite interesting- I hate to just express opinions but try to stick to indisputable facts- let me know when any of my points stray from obvious truth- here's the first one: Like I said, no machine can ever be made perfect- anything made by the hand of man can fail, even if it is just with age- of course the self driving car will crash sooner or later- I guess the only difference with this and the crashes we have now, is that when the automatic car creates death and destruction, who is responsible? When a driver is involved, we can legally assign blame- but with a driverless car? I would hate to be killed by one- the next point I would like to make is that the present situation with crowded freeways was created when our society purposely chose to turn away from mass transportation- (see "Who Killed Roger Rabbit")- the answer to our traffic congestion is to go back to mass transit, and do away with "cars" completely- of course it will take decades for the political and individual will to embrace this idea- but mass transit will be the only answer because the population increase to 9 billion people in the next few decades will necessitate new ways of urban life- the next generations will have a different way of looking at things and will forget about the ego-centric ways of 20th Century thinking- "I have to have my OWN car, because I do not want to ride with others" What you are describing with driverless cars is just maintaining the status quo- individual modes of transportation will not be viable in the future, for many reasons, except in rural areas- and, as for your original question, the old cars will only get more valuable in the future, their value determined by the art and integrity of their design and construction- ( An Alfa Romeo will be more desirable than a Dodge Caravan)- thanks again for bringing up a very interesting and relevant topic-

86,155

James, wow! That's a nice picture of the Alfa Romeo. And, you know what, I think you may be right on certain cars especially sexy ones that will get more valuable in the future as they do now, even more so. Yes, this is a more substantive topic than "where's my dipstick ", although, every question is valid on this forum. NOW, you've raised an interesting question about "responsibility ", YES, I think that's a fair point. To the best of my knowledge from reports I've read, not one single Google car has caused an accident, and the ones that have been in an accident are all cases where the others driver rear ended the Google car or ran into the Google car. There's plenty of accident forensics to prove that. I'd love to hear others join this conversation and hear their thoughts. Again, I love driving and have always been very comfortable behind the wheel and in fact had driving jobs when I was young and in school. I'm not advocating the elimination of private cars! I think in urban areas, like Los Angeles, where I live, public transportation and driverless cars make more sense. There's 18.5 million people living in Metropolitan LA. I'm just saying that if we can reduce the amount of tragic and senseless deaths on the roadways here in SoCal, it would be a great achievement. I'm not sure where you live, but, I'm sure anyone can only imagine how all this congestion makes life more difficult. And, I see people all over the place here racing in their BMWs like they were in a Fast and Furious movie , it really is dangerous. They might as well be like a Roman chariot racer! Not to bash BMW, they're very nice cars, BUT, they advertise their cars as "BE VICTORIUS " on the road. Now, what do you think they are really saying here? Everyone else is just a loser and clear the road for BMWs and drivers in these cars seem to speed, race and get in more accidents. This is definitely NOT GOOD. JAMES, you can't predict what someone is going to do behind the wheel of their own car, BUT, the computer will not take unnecessary risks and their choices will be predictable, they won't get drunk, tired or speed.

86,155

James, as far as responsibility goes, there's likely still going to be some forms of insurance even with self driving cars, but, insurance will be a lot less and affordable since the incidence of serious accidents will be reduced.

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