Auto Loans
- 6.26% (60-month, new car)
- 7.25% (36-month, used car)
Here's a look at the state of auto loan rates from Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large banks and thrifts conducted Jan. 12, 2011.
Auto loan rates were up sharply this week. The average rate for a 60-month new-car loan was up 7 basis points, rising to 6.26 percent. The rate for a typical 48-month new-car loan also rose, climbing 6 basis points, to 6.21 percent.
Used-car loan rates were also higher this week. The average rate for a 36-month used-car loan, a popular option for auto loan refinancing, added 8 basis points, to 7.25 percent.
The uptick in rates in our auto rate averages may be due in part to Bankrate's annual readjustment of the banks it surveys, based on which banks have risen into or fallen out of the top 25 by assets in each market.
Auto leasing may be on the rise. In an article in Ward's Auto this month, Eric Lyman of the Automotive Lease Group predicts auto leasing will command 20 percent of the new-car market by 2015, up from just 13.5 percent in 2009. General Motors and Chrysler, which had both abandoned leasing during the worst of the recession, have returned to the leasing market, and foreign automakers pursuing market share have been aggressively pushing leases, according to the article.
To find updated auto rates in your area, visit Bankrate's auto rate table.
-- Claes Bell