Car repossessions expected to hit their highest rate since the 2009 recession. [View all]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/car-repossessions-expected-hit-highest-150000266.html

Car repossessions expected to hit their highest rate since the 2009 recession. Is it a sign the economy is in trouble?
Will Kenton
Sun, November 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM CST

More Americans are struggling to keep up with their car payments. Auto loan delinquencies have risen above pre-pandemic levels after hitting record lows during COVID — and more borrowers are now facing defaults and repossessions.

A recent report from the Recovery Database Network (RDN), says more than 2.5 million cars were repossessed last year, and this year is on track to hit 3 million, the most since 2009.

This pattern of rising auto loan delinquencies and repossessions often appears when household budgets are under strain. Auto finance is a significant slice of consumer credit, with more than $1.6 trillion in balances across over 100 million active accounts. (Compare that to $13.07 trillion for mortgages, $1.65 trillion for student loans and $1.23 trillion for credit cards.)

When times get hard and consumers tighten their belts, the first payment they postpone is on their credit card, and the last one is on their home. Auto loans fall somewhere in between.

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