Automakers often talk about following market trends, but in reality, they’re the ones steering them. Their instincts aren’t always perfect—sometimes they miss the curve, and other times they overshoot it entirely. But when the marketing lands, it cuts straight to emotion, leaving logic somewhere in the rearview.
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That might explain why so many people who buy and drive trucks today use them no differently than sedan or crossover owners. Most truck ads feature towing, hauling, or gnarly off-road heroics. They promise unmatched capability and performance. In practice, however, data shows most owners treat their trucks as lifestyle vehicles, not work tools.
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### Everyday Trucks or Weekend Toys?
Carscoops spoke with Alexander Edwards, President of Strategic Vision, a research firm that surveys some 250,000 car buyers each year. His data paints a clear picture: truck owners love their rides, even if they’re not particularly engaging to drive compared to other segments.
Nearly 90 percent of truck buyers said they never use their truck for business towing, as a mobile office, or as a work site. Yet nearly 40 percent said they drive their truck strictly for pleasure at least once a week.
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Those with standard and APT trucks are the most likely to use them for pleasure. Heavy-duty owners report the least amount of recreational driving, which makes sense given how differently each segment functions. APTs and standard trucks are often nimble, quick, and easy to park, while heavy-duty trucks are usually the opposite.
Here’s the kicker: while APT trucks might seem less likely to be used as trucks, the data says otherwise.
– **63.8%** of APT truck drivers haul something in the bed at least once a month, compared with **61.3%** of full-size truck owners.
– Towing habits differ slightly: **39%** of APT owners never tow, versus **32%** of full-size owners.
– Weekly towing breaks down as:
– **7.9%** of full-size truck owners
– **4.4%** of APT owners
– **12.2%** of heavy-duty truck owners
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### How Truck Owners Actually Use Their Vehicles
All told, just over one in ten trucks on the road is never used as a truck at all. Their owners never haul, never tow, and would likely get by just fine with a car or crossover—which they might even enjoy driving more.
Still, as Edwards noted, truck ownership is often about identity:
> “They want that vehicle to take their self-perception and help them become their ideal self. When you get into your truck, you can be more confident, more capable, more reliable, more secure.”
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That’s not to say every buyer is cosplaying as a cowboy. The data is clear: the larger the truck, the more likely it is to be used for its intended purpose. Yet even then, owners aren’t constantly hauling, towing, or rock-crawling. What matters most is that these vehicles *could* do those things if called upon. After all, not every Corvette owner hits a track every month, either.
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### Bigger Machines, Bigger Questions
All of this data seems to point to one question: When our appetite for capability we rarely use leads to ever bigger vehicles on public roads, do we also carry trade-offs for safety?
Research from IIHS shows that vehicles with higher front ends—particularly pickups and SUVs with hood heights above 40 inches—are about **45 percent more likely to cause pedestrian fatalities** than lower-sloped cars with hoods 30 inches or less.
Additionally, studies show that extra weight in pickups adds almost no driver safety benefit beyond a point, but can increase risk for others involved in a crash.
Clearly, no one should be forced into buying a vehicle they don’t enjoy. But perhaps it is time we question how ethical it is for automakers to steer the market the way they do in advertisements, which may influence not just our perception, but the size, shape, and risk profile of vehicles we share the road with.
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### Where Do You Stand?
Do you own a truck? If so, what do you use it mostly for? Sound off in the comments below!
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*Photos: Stephen Rivers / Ford / Rivian / GM*
https://www.carscoops.com/2025/11/capability-by-numbers-what-most-buyers-actually-use-their-trucks-for/