Car Repossessions Approaching Record High As Delinquency Rates Soar

A near-record number of cars are being repossessed as Americans continue to fall behind on their auto loans amid mounting financial strain.

According to data from the Recovery Database Network (RDN), analyzed by CURepossession, 2025 has seen over 7.5 million repossession assignments—authorizations given to an agency to recover a vehicle on behalf of a lender. Based on historic trends, this figure is expected to reach a record 10.5 million by the end of the year.

Although recovery ratios have fallen in recent years—potentially lowering the number of actual repossessions—it is projected that over three million cars could be repossessed in 2025, a level only reached in 2009 during the Great Recession.

Why It Matters

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, over 100 million Americans currently have an auto loan, and the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America estimates that their combined auto debt exceeds 1.66 trillion. It notes that this financial burden is becoming “more urgent every day” amid broader cost-of-living strains.

Many Americans are struggling to keep up with their car loans and falling into delinquency due to soaring car prices and high interest rates. This comes against the backdrop of widespread financial pressures facing consumers in 2025, with multiple surveys revealing an increasing number living paycheck-to-paycheck and expressing concern about the near-term outlook for the U.S. economy.

What To Know

The growing number of repossession assignments coincides with a surge in delinquencies. According to Fitch Ratings, 6.43 percent of subprime auto loans were at least 60 days past due in August, on par with the 6.45 percent recorded in January—the highest level in over three decades of tracking.

A separate study from credit-scoring firm VantageScore, cited in Fortune, found that auto loan delinquencies have risen by over 50 percent in the past 15 years, even as delinquencies for other forms of consumer credit declined. In its report, VantageScore attributed this trend to high interest rates, as well as soaring vehicle prices and costs related to car ownership.

Last week, Cox Automotive reported that the average transaction price for a new vehicle hit $50,000 in September, the highest level in history. Erin Keating, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, said that prices had been elevated by “price-conscious buyers … choosing to stay on the sidelines,” with wealthier buyers “propping up the higher end of the market.”

What People Are Saying

The Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit advocacy group, wrote in a recent report: “Auto finance is at a breaking point, as Americans owe over $1.66 trillion in auto debt. Delinquencies, defaults, and repossessions have shot up in recent years and look alarmingly similar to trends that were apparent before the Great Recession. Cars are more expensive than ever, due in part to economic factors, but also due to the fraught experience of buying and financing a car. Dealers and lenders have long engaged in deceptive and predatory practices that jack up prices for car buyers in order to line their pockets.”

What Happens Next

According to CURepossession, around 30 percent of repossessions happen in the fourth quarter, equating to an estimated 820,236 vehicles being repossessed in the final three months of 2025.