Nearly 1 in 5 New-Car Loans Now Top $1,000 a Month

Experian Automotive data show $1,000-plus new-vehicle payments are rising, with non-luxury models making up most of those loans.

Monthly auto payments of $1,000 or more are taking up a larger share of the new-vehicle market, and most of those loans are not attached to luxury cars, according to new data from Experian Automotive.

An Experian analysis of more than 5 million open auto loans and leases in the first quarter found that nearly 19% of new-vehicle loans carried a monthly payment of at least $1,000. That was up from about 17.4% a year earlier and far above the 5.4% share recorded five years ago.

The finding underscores how expensive mainstream vehicle ownership has become, especially for buyers financing large trucks and SUVs. Almost 74% of loans with payments of $1,000 or more were for non-luxury models, Experian said. The top five models in that payment category included widely sold pickups such as the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500.

“The assumption is that it’s all luxury, it’s high-line, and that is not the case,” Melinda Zabritski, head of automotive financial insights for Experian Automotive, told CNBC.

The shift follows a period of steep vehicle-price increases after the global chip shortage in 2021 and 2022, when automakers concentrated production on higher-end and more profitable models. Experian’s data indicate that those higher transaction and borrowing levels have not fully reversed.

The average amount borrowed for a vehicle has reached an all-time high of $43,952, while the average monthly payment has climbed to a record $770, according to Experian Automotive. Zabritski said consumers appear to be adjusting to the higher cost of financing new vehicles as sticker prices and loan amounts remain elevated.

There are early signs of pressure in repayment, though Experian’s data do not point to a broad deterioration. The share of new-vehicle loans more than 30 days late has edged up to 2%, and the 60-day delinquency rate has also increased. Zabritski said the rise in 60-day delinquencies is concentrated in the subprime market, where borrowers with lower credit scores are more likely to default.

Even with those increases, she noted that delinquency rates remain below 2018 levels. The next test for the market is whether buyers continue absorbing record borrowing costs without a sharper rise in missed payments.