Late car payments reach the highest level in decades

The data showed that the Americans miss their car payments at the highest rate in more than 30 years.

According to Fitch classifications, 6.56 percent of car borrowers without mortgage were no less than 60 days due to their loans in January, and most of them since the agency began collecting data in 1994.

The results shed light on the financial strain that many Americans feel, as high costs and high interest rates make it difficult to keep up with their bills.

A recent report issued by the New York Reserve Bank also found more borrowers who are behind their car payments. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the automatic loan share among all borrowers who moved to dangerous delinquency – 90 days or more diligently – increased to 3 percent, the highest level since 2010.

The researchers at the New York Reserve Bank wrote: “High cars prices, along with high interest rates, have paid monthly payments to the top and took pressure on consumers via the income spectrum and credit degree,” said researchers at the New York Reserve Bank.

The cost of buying a new car has increased by more than $ 10,000 since the epidemic, from about $ 38,000 in January 2020 to more than $ 48,500 in January 2025, according to COX car data.

It has added high interest rates to pain, which increases the cost of financing in recent years.

The average monthly payment of a new car loan was $ 755 in January – a decrease from $ 795 in December 2022 but much higher than an average of $ 566 in 2019, per COX.

President Trump’s tariff can increase car prices further, by up to $ 12,000, according to one analysis.

This anxiety has been so widely relied on that Trump has granted a single -month exemption on his new definition specifically for automatic imports from Mexico and Canada.

Mexico and Canada are the commercial partners in the first of the United States of both cars and parts, which means that the Trump tariff by 25 percent may harm consumers and automotive companies alike.

According to Fitch, those who have higher credit degrees, the so -called “Prime” borrowers, is a little better when it comes to their car payments. In January, 0.39 percent of the main borrowers were at least 60 days due to their car loans, an increase of 0.35 percent a year ago.

According to Bloomberg, Fitch identifies borrowers on cars in the mortgage as holding credit grades of 640 or less.