Auto Loan Rates Edge Higher;
New at 5.764%

Auto loan rates ticked up across the board this week. New auto APRs rose for a second straight week to 5.764%, the general average climbed back over 6.00% to 6.018%, and the overall benchmark edged up to 6.192%. Used auto was essentially flat at 6.492%. The moves are modest, and auto rates track the broader rate environment and lender pricing more than any single Fed decision. With the Fed having held June 17 and signaling higher for longer, the bias stays gently upward.

📊 Full auto loan data: 1,991 institutions tracked across all 50 states.

NATIONAL: National auto loan APRs edged higher across every category the week ending June 29, 2026. New auto loan rates rose 0.034 points to 5.764%, a second straight weekly increase, while the general auto average climbed 0.035 points to 6.018%, back over the 6.00% line. Used auto loan rates were essentially flat, up 0.001 points to 6.492%. The overall benchmark, weighted across all segments, ticked up 0.031 points to 6.192%.

New financing did the moving. New auto APRs rose 0.034 points to 5.764%, building on last week’s increase, though they remain the lowest-APR segment, the reward for the stronger collateral and the captive-lender incentives that come with a new vehicle. The general auto average, which blends new, used, and refinance financing, rose 0.035 points to 6.018%, edging back above 6.00% after slipping under it last week. Both increases are small, the kind of drift a flat rate environment produces.

Used financing barely moved. Used auto APRs ticked up 0.001 points to 6.492%, holding their place as the highest-cost segment, where older collateral and longer effective risk keep rates above new financing. Because new rose while used held, the gap between them narrowed to 0.728 points from 0.761. That spread is the structural feature of the auto market: used borrowers consistently pay more, and the gap moves with new-car pricing and lender incentives rather than with any rate cut or hike.

For consumers, the rate on the screen matters far less than the rate you personally qualify for. New and used APRs both run from roughly 2% to the 18% ceiling across reporting lenders, so credit profile and lender choice swing the outcome far more than a fractional weekly move. A buyer financing $25,000 on a used vehicle over 60 months at the 6.492% average would pay roughly $4,346 in total interest; the same loan at the new auto average of 5.764% runs about $3,830, a difference of more than $500 that tracks the new-to-used gap. Comparing offers is where the real savings sit; see best auto loan rates, compare what lenders quote on Ohio auto loan rates, and follow the segments on the auto loan rate history page.

A broadly higher week in auto financing is less about any one event than about the level rates have settled at. New, used, and general all sit in the high-5% to mid-6% range, where they have been for weeks, and this week nudged them a touch higher rather than lower. The structure of the market did not change: new financing is cheapest, used is most expensive, and the general average sits between them. What moved was the small stuff, a few hundredths here and there, which is what a parked market produces.

Auto loan APRs sit further from the Federal Reserve than deposit rates do. The Fed held the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% on June 17 for a fourth straight meeting, the first under new Chair Kevin Warsh, and leaned hawkish in its projections, but auto rates take their cue from the broader rate environment, used-car values, and each lender’s own credit pricing more than from the policy rate itself. With borrowing costs parked at an elevated level and the Fed signaling no relief ahead, the gentle upward bias in auto APRs this week fits that backdrop. For a borrower, the lever that matters is not the Fed; it is credit score, loan term, and how many lenders you ask. Comparing several quotes on the same vehicle is the surest way to beat these averages, and segment-by-segment movement is tracked on the auto loan rate history page.