Posted on 05/28/2026 6:44:17 AM PDT by CFW
In a country where big trucks are a big deal, those pickups and SUVs represent a big percentage of auto loans that come with a sizable monthly payment, more than $1,000 a month, according to new data.
Experian Automotive’s analysis of more than 5 million open auto loans and leases in the first quarter shows nearly 19% of new vehicle loans include a monthly payment of at least $1,000. That’s up from roughly 17.4% year over year.
“The assumption is that it’s all luxury, it’s high-line, and that is not the case,” said Melinda Zabritski, head of automotive financial insights for Experian Automotive.
Almost 74% of the auto loans requiring owners to pay $1,000 or more every month are for non-luxury models, with the top five models being popular pickup trucks including the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ram 1500, according to Experian.
Just five years ago, auto loans with monthly payments over $1,000 accounted for just 5.4% of the market. Then the global chip shortage hit in 2021 and 2022, and automakers around the world prioritized production of higher-end, more profitable models. Vehicle prices soared, and so did the amount borrowed for auto loans.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
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That’s just plain stupid.
The life of a Repo Man is always intense.
Who the ever-loving eff can afford a grand a month for a car.
I sure can’t.
Go watch videos of the hood. Trash everywhere, properties are rundown, but the cars are nice.
The car “value for the money” ratio has gone down hill significantly over the past five or six years. Especially in what is allegedly the “luxury” car market. They have followed the house flipper model. Add some expensive gingerbread where people look but the rest is a POS and then charge a fortune. I’d say buy a used car but they ain’t cheap either anymore.
In the first quarter of 2026, delinquency rates for subprime auto loans hit 6.8%. With average new car payments exceeding $800, around 30% of buyers trading in vehicles faced negative equity, owing an average of $7,200 on their previous loans.
People who make such irresponsible financial decisions deserve to stay in debt for the remainder of their lives.
People who make such irresponsible financial decisions deserve to stay in debt for the remainder of their lives.
Eventually there will be a bailout. Only a matter of when.
That’s only $120,000 in payments on a 10 year loan.
How is a rapper going to be able to get a Lambo with that when you figure in how much is going for interest.
.
Irresponsible, maybe. Financially ignorant, certainly. They should be required to complete some budget and economics classes.
I paid cash for my (used) SUV. I know someone who just purchased a Ford Bronco.
Monthly payment over $800 a month, after trade-in and down payment.
Paying that kind of dough while losing value each month.
I did finance my used SUV when I purchased it in 2016, but it was through the credit union at 1.67% interest. I then paid it off in 2 years rather than three.
The car has been such a good one! I’ve put very little money into it over the past 15 years other than regular maintenance. When you get a car like that, there is no need to get rid of it.
Waiting for a drone to chime in with “walk or ride a bicycle if you dont like it”.
I have a 2006 Buick. It’s a tank...and I’m 82. Maybe need a smaller car. No payments and lotsa prayers at inspection time.
I’ll make do with my 21 year old Ford truck, just over 148k and never left me stranded. Don’t do much travelling anyway except on the Harley. I haven’t had a penny of debt since I retired (third time) in 2016.
Last new car I bought was a 99 Durango. Didn’t last 5 years. Since I never spent more than 2500 bucks and every one of them lasted over 6 years...
Lesson well learned...
These aren’t real working trucks, but tricked out versions that retail for $80 grand. These super trucks also get poor gas mileage a significant cost these days and have higher maintenance costs. For example just consider the cost of replacing those oversized tires. License fees in many states for large trucks like this can top over $1000 and insurance costs aren’t cheap either. I fail to understand the rationale for particularly young families buying these trucks as a family car and paying those kind of car payments and operating costs.
To yours and other's point about high car payments, I'm in 100% agreement. The only time I'm happy with a high car payment is when it involves the rare few who save and invest a car savings for the next car. My wife and I put $400/month into a savings account to repair our existing cars and eventually replace them. When that savings account exceeds about $5K, I start putting the $400/month into an investment account -- with that investment being earmarked specifically for our next car. 4 years ago, when it was time to replace my wife's gas crossover, the car investment account was enough to buy a new car ($65K after tax and such). This would be my wife's only new car in her life (we share it, though, because it's an EV and gives us awesome gas savings with the tons of miles we drive, though I drive our gas pickup if I drive separately from my wife). I thought about buying it with cash, depleting the car investment account. But since we could get a low fixed interest rate loan for a car, I instead decided to make a car payment (almost $1,400 / month) for 4 years so that the $65K could stay invested longer and make more than the 3.3% interest rate I was paying on the car loan.
I just made the last car payment yesterday. And there's still $20K left in the car investment account (because it was still growing some, though not as fast as I was withdrawing to make the car payments). It wasn't quite time for the last car payment, but the stock market was up high and I thought it was a good time to cash out some of our invesetments.
But very few people do that. So the high car payment is a bad decision for 99% of people.
Stop buying them people. Demand back to basics cars.
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