Financing a new vehicle got more pocketbook painful than ever in the fourth quarter.

Though incentives continued to be plentiful and interest rates fell a bit from their inflation-tamping highs, consumers faced the highest loan amounts the industry has ever seen while those with monthly payments of $1,000 or more also hit a record, Edmunds data shows.

The average financed amount in the quarter was $42,113, the online automotive research provider said. That’s up 3% from the third quarter and 5% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, those committing to monthly payments of at least $1,000 reached 19%, the highest share ever seen, Edmunds said.

"Although they tend to skew a bit higher at year end, the record highs in auto financing amounts that were set in Q4 are the culmination of major challenges to new-vehicle affordability that consumers faced in 2024," said the company’s head of insights, Jessica Caldwell. 

"It's getting more and more difficult for the average shopper to walk into a new-car dealership and leave with a set of keys without feeling like they are forced to create extra room in their budget from some other aspect of life.”

Thanks to last year’s series of interest rate cuts, consumers are at least getting a break in that area. The average annual percentage rate fell slightly from 7.1% in the third quarter and 7.4% a year earlier to 6.8%, Edmunds said, also pointing out that the average APR for loan terms of more than 67 months fell from 8.3% in the third quarter to 7.8%, helping those consumers cut monthly payments.

“The one bright spot is that interest rates seem to finally be on a downward trajectory, so buyers are at least getting more car for their buck rather than allocating their payments to interest," Caldwell said.

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