U.S. Auto Loan Delinquencies at Record High

The number of car owners in the U.S. who are at least three months late on their loan payments climbed to 7 million at the end of 2018.

The total was the highest recorded since the Federal Reserve Bank of New York began tracking the data 20 years ago, Bloomberg News reports.

The proportion of delinquencies among subprime borrowers rose to its highest rate, about 8.1%, since mid-2010, when the market was struggling with the Great Recession. But the ratio of later-payers also has been creeping up for all borrowers with credit scores below 719.

Bloomberg notes that the stats apply to $584 billion in car loans written in the U.S. last year. The average price of a new car last year rose 3% to more than $36,000 and reached $37,600 in December, according to Kelley Blue Book.