Car Loan Credit Access Tightens in January

Credit availability for vehicle purchases diminished in January to its tightest level since June 2021, Cox Automotive reported.

Its Dealertrack Credit Availability Index for all vehicle types fell 1% from December’s level to 98.0.

Credit access was 3.9% tighter year-over-year. Compared to February 2020, just before the pandemic descended in the West, access was tighter by 1.2%, Cox said.

The subprime share fell from 11% in December to 10.3% and was down 1.5 percentage points year-over-year. Still, consumer terms were lengthened and the approval rate rose 0.2 percentage points but was down 1.9 percentage points year-over-year. Down payments stayed at a record high, the average percentage up 1.8 percentage points year-over-year.

Most loan types tightened in January; only used-vehicle loans through independent dealers were looser. Certified preowned loans tightened most.

The Dealertrack index is baselined to January 2019 to track credit access changes over time.

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