What’s the Average Car Payment?

The amount of your car’s monthly payment is a bit like the horsepower in your car: Absent more context, neither number gives the full story. That doesn’t rule out comparisons, though. While inflation has helped push up the prices for new vehicles (along with eggs, milk and bacon), the most recent quarterly report on auto finance shows that higher interest rates meant to help tame inflation also have raised the cost to finance a car.

Related: What to Know Before Taking on a 72- or 84-Month Car Loan

Industry data provider Experian Automotive’s latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report for the first quarter of 2024 is chockablock with numbers on car payments, buyers and vehicles.

Fatter Payments for Skinnier Loans

The average loan payment on new and used vehicles rose about 0.4% each from 2023. For a new vehicle, it increased about $3 to $735, while the average monthly payment for a used car rose about $2 to $523. The increases came even though the average loan amount was down; the average amount borrowed for a new car was $40,634 in the first quarter of this year, a drop of $481 from 2023, while the average used-car loan was $26,073, down $498.

However, loan interest rates helped drive higher payments to borrow less. For new cars, rates averaged 6.73% in the first quarter, up from an average of 6.61% in 2023, and loan rates for used vehicles averaged 11.91%, up from 11.40%. At the margins — beyond the averages — 16.31% of all monthly payments for new vehicles in the first quarter were more than $1,000, but in the other direction, 33.6% of all payments for used-car loans were less than $400.

For leasing, the average payment was down $7 to $595. The increased inventory of new vehicles fueled the renewed growth in leasing, according to Experian. Leasing was up significantly to 24.12% of new vehicles in the first quarter, up from 19.33% in the quarter in 2023.

Other Car-Buying Tidbits

• The top five brands for leasing were Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet, Nissan, and a tie between BMW and Ford. The top five models for leasing in the quarter were mostly SUVs, led by the Honda CR-V, Tesla Model Y, Nissan Rogue, Chevrolet Equinox and Honda Civic.
• Electric vehicles accounted for 8.56% of total new-vehicle loans and leases in the first quarter, with more shoppers choosing to lease — a rate of 35.22% in the first quarter, up from 12.27% in 2023. The top five EV models for leasing in the first quarter were Tesla’s Model Y, Model 3 and Model X, followed by the Rivian R1S and Volkswagen ID.4.
• Shoppers with the best credit — customers with prime and super prime credit ratings from 661 to 850 — accounted for nearly 69% of the total loans and leases in the first quarter.

More From Cars.com: 

• How Do I Calculate if a Lease Is a Good Deal?
• Can You Get a Car Loan With Bad Credit?
• Can You Lease a Car With Bad Credit?
• How Much Does It Cost to Lease a Car?
• How to Calculate a Car Payment
• How to Get a Car Loan
• Car Loans: How to Get the Best Interest Rate
• What Are the Best Used Cars for $20,000?
• What Are the Best Used Cars for $10,000?
• More Car Financing Advice

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