- The average 48-month new car loan rate was 7.42% in the first half of 2026, up from an all-time series low of 4.19% in 2015, a rate increase of more than 3 percentage points in about a decade.
- Rates rose from 5.05% in 2021 to 7.96% in 2023, a 2.91-point two-year jump that is the sharpest since the Volcker-era rate shock of 1978–1982; the 2022 to 2024 move (+2.87 points) was nearly as large.
- The all-time high in this series is 16.82% in 1982; the all-time low is 4.19% in 2015.
- 48-, 60-, and 72-month loan rates have tracked within about half a percentage point of each other every year since 2015, loan term alone hasn't driven meaningfully different rates in recent years.
01 Introduction
The interest rate on a new car loan has moved more since 2022 than in almost any stretch since the early 1980s. This article presents the complete annual history of U.S. new car loan interest rates from 1972 through 2026, using the Federal Reserve Board's G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, the same underlying rate data this site's earlier vehicle finance charges analysis referenced as a likely explanation but did not have a directly citable series for at the time.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files (series RIFLPBCIANM48_N.M, commercial bank new car loans, 48-month term)The Fed's commercial-bank new car loan rate series has been collected on the same quarterly survey schedule (February, May, August, and November of each year) since 1972, which makes it possible to build a consistent year-by-year picture spanning more than five decades, including the 48-month loan term throughout, and the more recently tracked 60- and 72-month terms.
02 Year-by-Year Rates
The table below lists the U.S. average interest rate on a 48-month new car loan at commercial banks for every year from 1972 through 2026. Each annual figure is the average of that year's quarterly survey readings (February, May, August, November); 2026 reflects only the February and May 2026 readings, the most recent available at time of publication.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files, series RIFLPBCIANM48_N.M, quarterly readings averaged by calendar year| Year | 48-Mo. Rate | Year | 48-Mo. Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 10.05% | 1973 | 10.21% |
| 1974 | 10.97% | 1975 | 11.36% |
| 1976 | 11.07% | 1977 | 10.92% |
| 1978 | 11.02% | 1979 | 12.02% |
| 1980 | 14.30% | 1981 | 16.54% |
| 1982 | 16.82% | 1983 | 13.92% |
| 1984 | 13.71% | 1985 | 12.91% |
| 1986 | 11.33% | 1987 | 10.45% |
| 1988 | 10.86% | 1989 | 12.07% |
| 1990 | 11.78% | 1991 | 11.14% |
| 1992 | 9.29% | 1993 | 8.09% |
| 1994 | 8.12% | 1995 | 9.57% |
| 1996 | 9.05% | 1997 | 9.02% |
| 1998 | 8.72% | 1999 | 8.44% |
| 2000 | 9.34% | 2001 | 8.50% |
| 2002 | 7.61% | 2003 | 6.94% |
| 2004 | 6.60% | 2005 | 7.07% |
| 2006 | 7.71% | 2007 | 7.77% |
| 2008 | 7.02% | 2009 | 6.72% |
| 2010 | 6.21% | 2011 | 5.73% |
| 2012 | 4.91% | 2013 | 4.43% |
| 2014 | 4.24% | 2015 | 4.19% |
| 2016 | 4.30% | 2017 | 4.60% |
| 2018 | 5.03% | 2019 | 5.39% |
| 2020 | 5.09% | 2021 | 5.05% |
| 2022 | 5.62% | 2023 | 7.96% |
| 2024 | 8.49% | 2025 | 7.62% |
| 2026* | 7.42% |
03 Key Rate Points
1978-1982: the Volcker-era rate shock. New car loan rates climbed from 11.02% in 1978 to an all-time series high of 16.82% in 1982, as the Federal Reserve under Chair Paul Volcker raised interest rates sharply to break double-digit inflation. The two largest single two-year jumps in this entire 55-year series happened during this stretch: +3.28 points from 1978 to 1980, and +4.52 points from 1979 to 1981.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files2012-2015: the low-rate trough. Rates fell steadily through the post-financial-crisis low-rate era, bottoming out at an all-time series low of 4.19% in 2015, down from 9.29% as recently as 2012.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files2021-2023: the sharpest rate jump since the early 1980s. Rates rose from 5.05% in 2021 to 7.96% in 2023, a 2.91-point increase in two years (2022 to 2024 was +2.87 points, and 2021 to 2024 was +3.44 points in three). That is larger than any other two-year move in this series except the two jumps recorded during the 1978-1982 Volcker era, meaning car buyers saw a steeper two-year rate increase during the recent Federal Reserve inflation-fighting cycle than in any stretch of the last four decades.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files. Two-year change calculated as the difference between each year's annual average and the annual average two years prior.Estimate your vehicle's driving cost using official EPA fuel economy data.
Use the Calculator04 48 vs. 60 vs. 72-Month Loans
The Federal Reserve has tracked 60-month new car loan rates since 2006 and 72-month rates since 2015, alongside the longer-running 48-month series. The table below compares all three terms for every year they overlap.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files, series RIFLPBCIANM48_N.M, RIFLPBCIANM60_N.M, RIFLPBCIANM72_N.M| Year | 48-Mo. | 60-Mo. | 72-Mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4.19% | 4.20% | 4.45% |
| 2016 | 4.30% | 4.14% | 4.10% |
| 2017 | 4.60% | 4.33% | 4.50% |
| 2018 | 5.03% | 5.01% | 5.13% |
| 2019 | 5.39% | 5.31% | 5.36% |
| 2020 | 5.09% | 5.02% | 5.21% |
| 2021 | 5.05% | 4.82% | 4.82% |
| 2022 | 5.62% | 5.35% | 5.50% |
| 2023 | 7.96% | 7.83% | 7.89% |
| 2024 | 8.49% | 8.16% | 8.29% |
| 2025 | 7.62% | 7.65% | 7.80% |
| 2026* | 7.42% | 7.33% | 7.25% |
05 What This Means for Car Financing
This site's earlier analysis of vehicle finance charges found that average household spending on vehicle finance charges, per BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data, rose sharply after 2021, but noted at the time that it had no BLS-published interest rate series to cite as a direct explanation. The Federal Reserve's G.19 data confirms the underlying driver: 48-month new car loan rates rose from 5.05% in 2021 to 8.49% in 2024, a 3.44-point increase in three years and the sharpest rate increase in over four decades, tracking the Federal Reserve's 2022-2023 rate hikes to fight inflation. A car buyer financing the same loan amount paid meaningfully more in interest in 2024 than in 2021, independent of any change in vehicle prices.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys, as used in this site's vehicle finance charges analysisRates have eased somewhat since the 2024 peak, falling to 7.62% in 2025 and 7.42% through the first half of 2026, but remain well above the 2012-2021 range that new car buyers financed under for most of the last decade.
06 Data Sources
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: G.19 Consumer Credit statistical release, historical data files (commercial bank new car loan interest rates, 48-, 60-, and 72-month terms). federalreserve.gov
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Expenditure Surveys, used for the vehicle finance charges comparison in this article and throughout this site's vehicle finance charges analysis. bls.gov