Auto Loan Rates Climb Sharply;
New Auto at 5.698%

All three auto loan categories climbed sharply this week, reversing the recent decline pattern. General auto led at +0.128 points to 6.164% APR, used auto rose 0.126 points to 6.476%, and new auto added 0.069 points to 5.698%. The overall average jumped to 6.210% — up 0.130 points and back above the 6.20% threshold.

📊 Full week-over-week data for all 3 auto loan categories tracked by MonitorBankRates.com across all 50 states.

NATIONAL — National auto loan rates climbed sharply across all three tracked categories for the week ending May 12, 2026, reversing the recent decline pattern. The overall national average rose to 6.210% APR — up 0.130 points from last week and back above the 6.20% threshold for the first time in three weeks. General auto loan rates led the climb at +0.128 points to 6.164%, posting the steepest single-category move. Used auto loan rates rose 0.126 points to 6.476%, while new auto loan rates added 0.069 points to 5.698% — a more modest move that kept new auto as the lowest-rate category by a widening margin.

New auto loan rates rose 0.069 points to 5.698% APR — the smallest weekly move among the three categories and a meaningful divergence from the broader pattern. While general and used auto both climbed by more than 0.12 points, new auto’s slower pace expanded its rate advantage. The new-to-used spread widened to 0.778 points from last week’s 0.721, restoring more of the typical premium that lenders charge on used vehicle financing to compensate for higher collateral risk and broader credit profiles. New auto remains the lowest-rate category in the dataset.

Used auto loan rates climbed 0.126 points to 6.476% APR, the largest weekly increase in used auto pricing in recent months. The 0.778-point premium over new auto reflects the typical spread between the two categories, though the recent decline-then-reversal cycle has compressed and re-expanded that gap multiple times. General auto loans — which include refinance products and non-specific vehicle loans — led declines for three of the past four weeks but now lead increases this week, rising 0.128 points to 6.164%. This category’s sensitivity to weekly direction continues to be the most pronounced in the auto loan dataset, consistent with its higher proportion of refinance products that reprice quickly in either direction.

For borrowers tracking auto loan pricing, this week’s reversal is consequential. The cumulative 0.270-point decline in general auto over the prior three weeks — which made for an opportune refinance window — has been largely undone in a single week. New auto buyers continue to see meaningfully better pricing than refinance shoppers or used buyers, with the 5.698% rate sitting 0.512 points below the overall average. For comparison shoppers, the spread between new auto (5.698%) and used auto (6.476%) translates to roughly $11 in monthly payment difference on a $30,000, 60-month loan — meaningful over the life of the loan. Best auto loan rates from banks and credit unions can run well below these national averages for qualified borrowers.

The full cycle now stands out clearly in the data. Over five weeks, auto loan rates traced a complete decline-and-recovery pattern: the overall average fell from 6.268% on April 20 down to 6.080% on May 5, then jumped back to 6.210% this week. New auto traced a similar path (5.775% → 5.629% → 5.698%), used auto traced a deeper version (6.575% → 6.350% → 6.476%), and general auto moved most dramatically of all (6.193% → 6.036% → 6.164%). The five-week round trip means most of the recent rate-shopping opportunity has closed.

The leadership shift in general auto this week is consistent with what was observed during the decline phase: this category, which contains a higher proportion of refinance products than new or used, tends to move first and most aggressively in both directions. The 0.128-point jump this week followed a 0.270-point cumulative decline over the prior three weeks, demonstrating again that refinance pricing responds most quickly to shifts in the broader rate outlook. For consumers, the implication is that timing matters in auto refinance pricing — windows can open and close in just a few weeks. Track how auto loan averages evolve on the national auto loan rate trends page.