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

[srobin21]

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

 

By Sarah Agostino – CNBC-   Mon, Mar 30 2026

 

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.

Go to:

 

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

 

 

 

[Tim]

When I combine this horrific news with other stats coming out of the auto finance industry,all I see is flashing red lights on my dashboard.

Consumers are postponing doomsday.  

As it did in 2008-2010, doomsday will come. 

High fuel prices are here and going up.  Credit crunching is illustrated by info such as this Edmunds article. Changing demand patterns leave models stranded - e.g. the Cybertruck.

Add to this the tariff costs, the retooling, the turmoil the US auto industry has faced because of stupid Trump, and it just gets worse.  Nothing he has done has or will have any effect on lowering costs for we the people who believe we must have a car. 

We are going to get at least a 3% drop in new car sales compared to 2025, but Trump will make it worse as gas prices rise and regulation changes go into effect.

It is possible that groups of employees will petition their Back To The Office employers for relief - "Gas prices are way up and we need a raise in pay, at least temporarily, or we need to work primarily from home" but that may extend to "We cannot afford a new car and have not found a way to carpool.  May we work from home?  Or could you help us finance the car we need to commute to the office every day?".

We live in strange times. 2026 is shaping up to the strangest of the strange. 

 

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