Auto Loan Statistics 2026: Debt, Payments, and Defaults

Americans owed $1.685 trillion on auto loans and leases at the end of Q1 2026, according to the New York Fed. That made vehicle debt slightly larger than student loan debt and kept it the second-largest household debt category after mortgages.

The market is not frozen. Borrowers opened or refinanced $182.05 billion of auto debt during Q1 2026, and CFPB data still showed more than 2 million monthly originations in October 2025. But affordability is tight: Experian put the average new-car loan amount at $43,925 and the average new-car payment at $770 in Q1 2026.

Use this page as a citable reference for auto loan statistics, car loan debt statistics, and auto financing statistics. It combines New York Fed, CFPB, Experian, Edmunds, Cox Automotive, and FRED data. This is general information, not lending, tax, or legal advice.

U.S. auto debt reached $1.685 trillion in Q1 2026. That was about 9% of the $18.794 trillion in total household debt reported by the New York Fed. Auto debt was also slightly above the $1.658 trillion in student loan balances and well above the $1.252 trillion in credit card balances.

The number of open auto accounts was 108.14 million. That count matters because payment pressure can spread across a large borrower base even when the average balance looks manageable. A household shopping for a new loan should compare APR, fees, term length, and total repayment cost before choosing among car loans.

The long-term story is simple: auto balances keep setting highs. The category has grown with higher vehicle prices, longer loan terms, and more expensive replacement cycles.

Borrowers opened $182.05 billion in auto loans and leases in Q1 2026. The distribution was not equal across credit tiers. Borrowers with scores of 760 or higher accounted for $78.02 billion, or 42.9% of origination dollars. Borrowers below 620 accounted for $28.42 billion, or 15.6%.

The median credit score for auto originations was 723. The 25th percentile borrower had a 640 score, and the 10th percentile was 577. That means subprime borrowers are still present in the market, but prime and super-prime borrowers dominate the dollar volume.

If your score is below prime, the tradeoff is usually price, not access. Compare total cost carefully, because bad-credit car loans can carry higher APRs and longer payoff risk.

Experian put the average new-vehicle loan amount at $43,925 in Q1 2026, with an average monthly payment of $770. Used vehicles were lower, but still expensive: the average used-vehicle loan amount was $27,070 and the average payment was $531.

Terms stayed long. Experian reported average terms of 69.48 months for new vehicles and 67.73 months for used vehicles. More than 35% of new loans and 31% of used loans ran longer than six years. Edmunds found that 22.9% of new-vehicle loans had terms of 84 months or longer in Q1 2026, and 20.0% of new-car buyers committed to payments of $1,000 or more per month.

A longer term can reduce the monthly bill, but it can also keep the borrower upside down for longer. Refinancing may help some borrowers, but only if the rate, fees, and remaining term improve the total cost. Start with the math in our guide to car refinancing.

Loan sizes are high because vehicle prices are high. Cox Automotive and Kelley Blue Book put the average new-vehicle transaction price at $49,220 in May 2026. The average sticker price was $51,595, and incentives averaged 7.1% of transaction price.

The mix matters. Cox reported that the five largest segments made up 64.2% of retail sales in May 2026. Full-size pickups averaged $66,288, while EVs averaged $54,532. A market tilted toward expensive vehicles naturally produces larger loans and longer terms.

Demand has not disappeared. FRED showed total vehicle sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.949 million in June 2026, with light vehicle sales at 16.523 million. Used-car and truck prices remain relevant too, because many borrowers use used vehicles to keep payments down.

The New York Fed reported that 5.6% of auto loan balances were 90 or more days delinquent in Q1 2026. Its transition-rate data also showed 2.97% of balances flowing into serious delinquency during the quarter.

The pressure is uneven by age. Borrowers ages 18-29 had a 4.875% flow into serious delinquency, compared with 1.646% for ages 60-69. Experian also reported 2.00% of auto loans 30 days delinquent and 0.86% 60 days delinquent in Q1 2026.

This is where APR matters. A higher APR raises the payment, slows principal reduction, and makes negative equity harder to escape. Our APR explainer and guide on why APR matters for car loans break down the cost mechanics.

State-level auto debt looks different from the national average. The New York Fed state workbook put U.S. auto debt per capita at $5,660 in Q4 2025, with 5.18% of auto balances at least 90 days delinquent.

Texas had the highest auto debt per capita among the values reviewed, at $8,000. Louisiana and New Mexico were next at $7,000. The lowest per-capita balances were in Washington, DC, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon.

Do not read state balances as a pure risk ranking. Vehicle ownership, commuting patterns, income, public transit access, insurance costs, and local prices all affect how much households borrow.

Experian reported that subprime borrowers represented 15.75% of total auto financing in Q1 2026. The share was much lower for new vehicles, at 6.88%, and higher for used vehicles, at 20.60%.

Refinancing was one bright spot for borrowers who qualified. Experian said refinanced loans moved from an average rate of 10.29% before refinancing to 8.05% after refinancing, saving $81 per month on average. Credit unions captured 63.43% of refinanced auto loans in the same period.

Electric and hybrid financing also kept growing. EVs accounted for 6.23% of new financing in Q1 2026, while hybrids accounted for 14.90%. These shares matter because EVs and hybrids can have different price points, incentives, residual values, and lender assumptions.

The next big threshold is whether total auto debt moves above $1.7 trillion. It was only $15 billion below that mark in Q1 2026. Another key question is whether serious delinquency keeps rising from the 5.6% balance share reported by the New York Fed.

The CFPB dashboard gives earlier monthly signals. It showed 2.1 million auto loan originations and $67.1 billion in origination dollar volume in October 2025, up 1.5% year over year. It also showed credit inquiries up 2.0% year over year in February 2026 and a credit-tightness index down 1.9% year over year in December 2025.

If originations remain steady while payments stay near record highs, lenders may keep leaning on longer terms, larger down payments, and tighter underwriting. If prices soften or rates drop, refinancing and replacement demand could pick up before balances show it.

This page uses the newest public source for each metric available during research on July 6, 2026. New York Fed household debt figures are as of Q1 2026. State debt figures are from the Q4 2025 state workbook because that was the latest annual state table available in the data bank.

Payment, term, refinance, subprime, EV, and hybrid metrics come from Experian Q1 2026 reporting. Edmunds is used for new-vehicle financed amount, payment, APR, long-term loan, and $1,000-payment context in Q1 2026. Cox Automotive/Kelley Blue Book is used for May 2026 average transaction prices. FRED is used for vehicle sales and used-car CPI series.

Numbers are rounded for readability. Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding or category definitions. Source windows differ, so use the citation attached to each table when quoting a figure.