Are Foreign Car Drivers Smarter?
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September 11, 2008
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Guest Writer
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Comments (
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)Well, at least they tend to be more educated.
That's what a recent study of the data shows at insurance shopping site InsWeb . The data was from 750,000 consumers randomly chosen who completed the auto insurance question set at InsWeb at some point during 2008.
The question set is designed such that a consumer shopping for insurance at InsWeb, having completed the question set, would be in a position to receive auto insurance quotes from several insurance companies and/or their agents. These are consumers who indicated that they either currently were driving these vehicles or were interested in these vehicles.
The table below shows education level of the driver and the percentage of foreign car owners and US car owners.
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From the above table, you can see that 36% of foreign car drivers have indicated they have a 4-year college degree or a postgraduate degree, whereas 20% of US car drivers indicate such. So it is logical to assume that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to drive a foreign car.
The following table shows the top car makes for each level of education.
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There was other demographic information that was linked to vehicle ownership; such as income (at a ZIP code level). While this information was not provided by the consumers themselves, the data was obtained by merging the InsWeb data with a database of ZIP codes. For example, this data showed that foreign car drivers lived in ZIP codes that tended to have higher levels of income than US car drivers. This shouldn't be terribly surprising given their tendency to attain higher levels of education.
There was other demographic information that was linked to vehicle ownership; such as income (at a ZIP code level). While this information was not provided by the consumers themselves, the data was obtained by merging the InsWeb data with a database of ZIP codes. For example, this data showed that foreign car drivers lived in ZIP codes that tended to have higher levels of income than US car drivers. This shouldn't be terribly surprising given their tendency to attain higher levels of education.
Interestingly, the data also showed that, foreign car drivers tended to be younger (average age 39.8) than US car drivers (average age 41.1). The top 5 most popular makes by drivers who obtained a 4 year degree are Maserati (53%), Aston Martin (53%), Saab (53%), Ferrari (52%), and Porsche (52%). What's the moral of the story? If you want to drive a nice car, study hard!
Interestingly, the data also showed that, foreign car drivers tended to be younger (average age 39.8) than US car drivers (average age 41.1). The top 5 most popular makes by drivers who obtained a 4 year degree are Maserati (53%), Aston Martin (53%), Saab (53%), Ferrari (52%), and Porsche (52%). What's the moral of the story? If you want to drive a nice car, study hard!
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So basically what your telling me. Is that people with a higher education tend to drive more gas guzzlers (i.e Ford, Toyota) then say the numerous Chevrolet models that get 30 miles or more per car per gallon.
Not very smart in my opinion. What about the Volkswagen and Audi TDI's and the Brazilian engine pioneered by GMC that runs off sugar cane.
If this base conclusion is on being more smart or educated then others, then my conclusion is somebody bought this study. Nothing new so no fault of the site.
Really need to do some more investigation on the types of cars you have listed here and the intelligence in todays economy that goes into buying them. Baffled at the Ford numbers...just say WOW! So gas prices go up! Thanks... all you smart college educated people, appreciate it! Ha!