Americans owe a record amount of money on their cars, totaling a whopping $1.68 trillion. This figure represents a 37 percent increase from the pre-pandemic debt of $1.23 trillion in late 2018, according to The Century Foundation and the consumer advocacy group Protect Borrowers. The main driver behind these record-high numbers is the cost of cars; the average price of a new car is now $49,000, up from $37,000 at the end of 2018. “That’s a $12,000 to $14,000 move in less than a decade, and incomes haven’t kept pace,” Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, told CNBC. The average origination balance has increased by nearly $10,000 in less than a decade, from $24,782 in 2018 to $33,519 at the end of 2025. As gas prices have skyrocketed during the War in Iran and the Fed continues to keep interest rates high, the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle isn’t getting any easier on Americans’ pockets.
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