By Herb Weisbaum, The Consumerman / February 1, 2022
The cost of buying a car is on overdrive, pushing up those monthly car payments.
Here are the latest figures from Edmunds.
The average new car sold for $46,400 in December, up 14 percent from the year before. The average new car payment in the fourth quarter of 2021 hit a new record high of $636.
To get those monthly payments down, buyers continue to take out really long loans – 70 months or nearly 6 years, is now the average.
The average used car sold for nearly $30,000 in December, up 29 percent from a year earlier, driving up the average monthly payment to a record $520 per month.
With continued supply chain problems, prices are expected to continue to climb the rest of this year.
More Info:
Why car prices remain so stubbornly high
Average Monthly Payment for a New Car Hits Record of $636
Herb Weisbaum, The ConsumerMan, is the consumer reporter at Northwest Newsradio, the founder of ConsumerMan.com, and host of the Consumerpedia podcast. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
