With Presidents’ Day approaching and consumers having taken out another $27 billion in auto loan debt in the third quarter of 2018 alone, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released the first-quarter installment of its Auto Financing Report along with its in-depth analysis of 2019’s Cities that Overspend on Cars as well as accompanying videos.
Below are some of our key findings from each of the two reports:| Cities that Overspend on Cars | Cities that Spend the Least on Cars | |
| Lake Placid, FL | Scarsdale, NY | |
| Leesville, LA | Bronxville, NY | |
| Rio Grande City, TX | Los Altos, CA | |
| Crosby, TX | Darien, CT | |
| San Juan, TX | Mill Valley, CA | |
| Dahlonega, GA | Westport, CT | |
| Mercedes, TX | Cupertino, CA | |
| Donna, TX | Palo Alto, CA | |
| Cordele, GA | Birmingham, MI | |
| Bastrop, LA | Ridgewood, NJ | |
| Alamo, TX | Bloomfield Hills, MI | |
| Moultrie, GA | Lexington, MA | |
| Natchitoches, LA | Ridgefield, CT | |
| Brownsville, TX | Saratoga, CA | |
| Willis, TX | Chevy Chase, MD | |
| Eagle Pass, TX | Garden City, NY | |
| San Luis, AZ | Westfield, NJ | |
| Tolleson, AZ | Melville, NY | |
| Roxboro, NC | Newton, MA | |
| Pharr, TX | Oceanside, NY | |
- Interest rates for new cars are at one of their lowest points in three years, with the average new-car loan today charging 12 percent less interest than the average used-car loan.
- Compared with buyers who have excellent credit, those with fair credit will spend about four times more, or about $6,199, in interest over the life of a five-year, $20,000 loan when financing a vehicle.
- The best options for financing a new car include credit unions (rates at 17 percent below average) and car manufacturers (rates at 13 percent below average). Secondary options include regional banks (rates at 8 percent above average) and community and small banks (rates at 10 percent above average).
- Car manufacturers continue to lack transparency when it comes to leasing offers, with the average automaker receiving a WalletHub Transparency Score of 4.5 out of 10.
We recommend prospective car buyers to check their credit scores for free on WalletHub and take advantage of a Car Payment Calculator to determine an auto-loan payment and timeline they can afford.
