Average Car Payment and Auto Loan Statistics for 2026

The average new car buyer in America now signs up for a $765 monthly payment on a $43,610 loan. Auto lenders wrote a record $211 billion of new loans in a single quarter. And the share of car debt falling seriously behind is at its second-highest level since 2003. Car money got serious in 2026, and the numbers tell the story better than any opinion can.

Here is the current data, pulled from the quarterly reports lenders and analysts actually use. Bookmark this page: we refresh it as new quarterly numbers land. This edition reflects Q2 2026 figures released in August. And if you are citing these figures somewhere, link back here so your readers can check the latest.

The numbers at a glance

• Average new car payment: $765 per month (Experian, Q2 2026)
• Average used car payment: $542 per month (Experian, Q2 2026)
• Average amount financed: $43,610 new, $27,852 used (Experian, Q2 2026)
• Average APR: 6.39 percent new, 11.43 percent used (Experian)
• Average new car transaction price: $49,855 (Kelley Blue Book, July 2026)
• Auto loan originations: $211 billion in Q2 2026, the highest quarterly volume in the New York Fed's data
• Auto debt entering serious delinquency: 3.00 percent in Q2 2026, up from 2.93 percent a year earlier (New York Fed)
• New loans stretched beyond six years: about 36 percent, up from 31 percent a year ago (Experian)
• Average monthly saving from refinancing: $83 (Experian, Q2 2026)

What Americans pay every month

Experian's Q2 2026 State of the Automotive Finance Market puts the average new vehicle payment at $765 a month and the average used payment at $542. The average loan behind those payments: $43,610 for new, $27,852 for used.

Note the direction of travel. The new payment ticked down about $5 from Q1 while the used payment rose about $11. New car buyers are getting slightly more help from incentives; used buyers are not.

Powertrain now matters more than it used to. In Q2 2026 the average new hybrid payment was $646, an electric vehicle was $692, and a plain gasoline vehicle was $721. The cheapest monthly payment on the lot is increasingly the hybrid, which is close to the opposite of the conventional wisdom from five years ago.

One more Experian finding worth sitting with: new loans running longer than six years grew from 31 percent to roughly 36 percent in a single year, and loans past seven years are now above 3 percent. Stretching the term is how a $49,855 car becomes a "manageable" payment, and it is also how buyers end up underwater for years.

Interest rates: credit score is worth thousands

The averages hide a brutal spread. Super prime borrowers finance new cars around 4.55 percent, while buyers with poor credit pay about 16.01 percent on new and as much as 21.77 percent on used, per Experian. As of early September 2026, Bankrate's weekly survey put a 60 month new car loan at 6.90 percent.

On a $27,852 used car loan over 60 months, the gap between a super prime rate and a subprime one is roughly $13,000 in interest. That is close to half the price of the car all over again.

Two practical takeaways. First, check where refinance rates sit today on our Market Pulse tracker before accepting any dealer quote. Second, if you financed a used car at a double-digit rate and your credit has improved since, run the Refinance Verdict.

Refinancing is quietly working right now

This is the most useful number on the page for anyone already holding a loan. In Q2 2026 refinancing saved borrowers an average of $83 per month, up from $64 a year earlier. The average refinance rate was 7.97 percent against an average original rate of 10.40 percent.

That spread exists because a lot of people financed at the dealer during a high rate stretch and never revisited it. Where you refinance matters too: credit unions delivered the largest average payment reduction at $102 a month, ahead of banks at $65 and finance companies at $38.

$83 a month is roughly $1,000 a year for a form that takes about fifteen minutes. If you have not checked, check.

The debt behind the driveways

Lenders originated $211 billion in auto loans in Q2 2026, the largest quarterly figure in the New York Fed's records, though that number is not adjusted for inflation and prices have risen a lot.

The stress signal underneath: 3.00 percent of auto debt moved into serious delinquency, meaning 90 or more days past due, up from 2.93 percent a year earlier. The share of balances sitting 90+ days late reached its second-highest level since 2003. Volume and risk grew together, with lenders approving more lower-score borrowers.

Payments engineered to fit a monthly budget at any cost eventually stop fitting.

Negative equity: trade-ins are still underwater

Edmunds has reported roughly 30 percent of trade-ins toward new car purchases carrying negative equity, with the average underwater trade-in owing several thousand dollars more than the car is worth.

Rolling negative equity forward is how one bad car deal becomes two. If you owe more than your car is worth and you are eyeing something newer, run the Sell or Keep Verdict first, and read our plain-English breakdown of gap insurance, which exists precisely because of this math.

What a car actually costs per year

AAA's Your Driving Costs study puts the full cost of owning a new vehicle at $11,577 per year at 15,000 miles, or about $965 a month once depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance, and finance charges are all counted. That works out to roughly 77 cents per mile.

The monthly payment is the loudest number in a car deal, but it is barely half the real bill. If the all-in math is what you care about, our Lease vs Buy Verdict compares total cost of ownership, not just payments.

How to read these numbers

Averages are diagnosis, not destiny. The average buyer finances $43,610 at 6.39 percent because the average buyer walks into the finance office with no outside quote. Delinquency sits near a two-decade high because payments got stretched across six and seven years to look affordable. Every stat on this page is a reason to run your own numbers before signing anything, which takes about 60 seconds with any of our verdict tools.

FAQ

What is the average car payment in 2026? The average new car payment is $765 per month and the average used car payment is $542 per month, per Experian data for Q2 2026.

What is a good interest rate for a car loan in 2026? Anything below the Q2 2026 averages of 6.39 percent new and 11.43 percent used is reasonable. Borrowers with strong credit should be seeing rates closer to 4.5 to 5.5 percent on a new car. If you are above the average, you have room to refinance.

How much can refinancing an auto loan actually save? Experian put the average saving at $83 per month in Q2 2026, up from $64 a year earlier. Credit unions produced the largest average reduction at $102 per month.

Are car loan delinquencies really at a record? Close to it. In Q2 2026 the share of auto balances 90 or more days past due was at its second-highest level since 2003, and the share of debt newly entering serious delinquency rose to 3.00 percent from 2.93 percent a year earlier.

How long are car loans now? About 36 percent of new vehicle loans run longer than six years, up from 31 percent a year earlier, and more than 3 percent now exceed seven years.

Sources

Experian State of the Automotive Finance Market, Q2 2026. New York Fed Household Debt and Credit Report, Q2 2026. Kelley Blue Book / Cox Automotive average transaction price, July 2026. Bankrate auto loan rate survey, September 2026. AAA Your Driving Costs.