Nearly 1 in 3 car buyers are underwater on trade-ins — analyst calls dollar amount ‘troubling’

[DCPatriot]

Nearly 1 in 3 car buyers are underwater on trade-ins — analyst calls dollar amount ‘troubling’

Sarah Agostino
Published Mon, Mar 30 20268:15 AM EDT

Key Points
The average amount owed on trade-ins with negative equity reached $7,214 in the fourth quarter of 2025, an all-time high, according to Edmunds.

The average price of a new car is $49,353, which is 30.3% higher than in February 2020, when that amount was $37,876, according to Kelley Blue Book data.

Among new-car purchases involving negative equity, 40.7% are now financed with 84-month loans, Edmunds research shows.

excerpt:

Average payment for rolled-in negative equity is $916
When you trade in a car with negative equity, the remaining loan balance typically gets rolled into the loan for the car you’re buying. This effectively carries the old debt into the next vehicle purchase.

The average monthly payment for buyers who rolled negative equity into a new loan reached $916 in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Edmunds. That’s a record high, and $144 more than the average monthly payment of $772 for all new-car purchases.

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continured at: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/30/negative-equity-trade-ins-car-buyers.html