Auto Loans
Rates: 6.81 percent (60-month, new car); 7.71 percent (36-month, used car)Auto loan rates continued a general downward trend this week, dating back to at least the beginning of September. The average 60-month new-car rate and 48-month new-car rate each fell 2 basis points, to 6.81 percent and 6.84 percent, respectively. The average rate for a 36-month, used-car loan also rolled downhill 1 basis point, to 7.71 percent.
If you're buying a new car today, chances are you aren't going to choose the same brand of car you drove to the dealer in. Only 20 percent of new car shoppers so far this year elected to stay with the same brand they had previously purchased, according to a study released this week by CNW Marketing Research and reported in The New York Times. That number is down precipitously from the nearly four out of five American car shoppers who stuck to the same brand in the 1980s, according to the Times report.
To find updated auto rates in your area, visit Bankrate's auto rate table.
-- Claes Bell