America’s car market keeps smashing records, and not the good kind. These are not the sorts of uplifting achievements that are fun to peruse in the Guinness Book. Like the world’s smallest living dog (Pearl, the 3.5-inch-tall Chihuahua). Or the fastest time to eat a whole raw onion (just shy of 30 seconds, a number I’ve always thought I could beat if I put my mind to it). The milestones we’re seeing in American car-buying today are no fun at all.
This year, the average monthly payment for a new car purchase hit a whopping $773. The typical amount financed reached $43,899. Nearly a quarter of shoppers are now signing up for 84-month-or-longer car loans. These are all all-time highs, according to Edmunds. Meanwhile, the average new car will run you close to $50,000, up about $10,000 from 2019. All the data points to the same stubborn affordability problem.
