Students have their licenses, but rarely own cars

It’s not surprising that few students own their own cars, as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) states. Most have an OV student card, which allows them to travel by public transport for free or at a discount.

Of course, age is relevant, too. There are almost no eighteen-year-old students who have their own cars. Where they live is also a factor: in rural areas, more students own cars (ten percent) than in cities (six percent).

The difference between cities are remarkable. In Nijmegen, almost seventy percent of students have their driver’s licenses, whereas that figure is only fifty percent among students in Rotterdam. However, the percentage of students who own a car is higher in Rotterdam.

In Utrecht, 63 percent of students have their licenses, but only 4 percent of students own a car. In Groningen, Maastricht and Amsterdam, this number is similarly low. Notable is that Leiden has the highest percentage of students with licenses, but perhaps they’re driving around in their parents’ cars.

You’d think students don’t need a car if they still live at home: they could, after all, borrow their parents’ car. But the opposite is true: the students who live at home are more likely to own their own cars, a difference of no less than 45 percent compared to students living independently.