People are borrowing more than ever to buy cars, especially used vehicles, with average monthly payments now at an all-time high of $355. According to data from information provider Experian, in the three months from April to June, 85 percent of new car purchases and 53.8 percent of used car purchases were financed. Those numbers were up 0.5 percentage points and 0.9 percentage points, respectively from the same period in 2013. The size of auto loan amounts and monthly payments continue to rise, especially for used cars. Since the second quarter of 2013, the average used vehicle loan rose 1.9 percent to $18,258 and the average monthly payment rose 1.1 percent to $355, both all-time highs. "More and more consumers, especially those that are credit challenged, are turning to the used vehicle market as a viable option to purchase their next car," said Melinda Zabritski, Experian's senior director of automotive finance. Banks were the largest lenders to consumers buying used cars, financing 35.6 percent of all such purchases.
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- Reuters
