By Steven Symes 
There’s serious trouble brewing in the auto industry as car repossessions are ballooning, threatening to spin everything out of control. A growing number of Americans have become seriously behind on their vehicle loan to the point the repo man shows up and tows the bank-owned ride away.
Man breaks into dealership, calls the police to rescue him.
According to Cox Automotive, 2024 marked the highest annual car repo rate in more than 10 years with around 1.73 million vehicles taken by lenders. That marked a 16 percent increase versus 2023 and a 43 percent increase versus 2022, according to Bloomberg.
There are more Americans who have been flirting with having a date with the repo man. Last year, 2,332,837 borrowers defaulted on their car loan. To give you context, that’s more than the number of defaults during the Great Recession.
The storm has been brewing for some time, despite all of us being told we were living in “the greatest American economy ever.” S&P Global Mobility back in June 2023 was covering how auto loan delinquencies back then were beyond the Great Recession’s peak. What’s interesting is that trend was being driven by subprime borrowers, which is still the case, as revealed more recently by Fitch Ratings.
In other words, the economy has been great for some Americans, who have been gobbling up luxury cars, spacious homes, and enjoying a financial windfall, while others are getting squeezed to the breaking point. This is in part why so many voted for the economic we’re seeing with tariffs and other game-changing moves from President Trump.
After peaking in 2022, the average cost of a new car has come down some, but not by much. For example, in January 2025, Kelley Blue Book found the average transaction price for a new vehicle hit a lofty $48,641. Consider that in July 2020 that figure was just $38,378.
While cars have become too damn expensive, consumers haven’t all been refusing to participate in the inflated market. Many have fallen for loan terms at 84 months or longer to help them squeeze into that pricey new ride.
In other words, you might see a repo man in your neighbor hunting for a pricey new vehicle in the near future, if you haven’t already.
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