Car Loan Interest Rates by Credit Score

Written by Jared · Last reviewed 2026-08-05

Figures reviewed 2026-08-05 (yesterday). Rate data is sourced per table and each table states its own reporting period.

What are average car loan rates by credit score?

Lenders do not price off your exact score. They sort you into a credit tier and price the tier. That is why 619 and 638 will usually be quoted the same rate, while 639 and 641 may not be.

Here is the full picture on used vehicles, which is what most subprime buyers are financing.

Average used-vehicle APR by credit tier

*Experian, Q4 2025. This is the most recent quarter with all five tiers reported together.*

For Q1 2026, the figures published so far show deep subprime at 21.6% on used vehicles against 6.3% for super prime, and 15.85% for deep subprime on new. Those are consistent with the table above but come from a different reporting period, so they are stated separately rather than mixed into it.

What the "average car loan rate" figures actually mean

The overall market averages for Q1 2026 were 6.39% APR on new vehicles and 11.43% on used.

Neither number is offered to anyone. They are midpoints across a distribution running from roughly 6% to well over 21%, weighted by how many loans were written in each tier. A borrower who reads "the average used-car rate is 11.43%" and is then quoted 19% has not been mistreated — they have been quoted their tier.

This is worth saying plainly because the gap between the reported average and the subprime reality is where a lot of unnecessary distrust comes from.

Why used-car rates are higher than new

At every tier, used costs more. The reason is collateral quality: a used vehicle's value is less predictable and it recovers less at auction if the loan fails, so the lender prices for a weaker security position.

The gap widens as credit worsens. For deep-subprime borrowers it is roughly 15.85% on new against 21.6% on used — almost six points — while for super-prime borrowers the difference is a fraction of that.

This produces an unintuitive result: a subprime buyer looking at a cheap older car and a slightly newer certified one may find the newer car's total cost closer than expected, because the rate difference partly offsets the price difference. It is worth running both.

What one tier is actually worth

Two things follow from this table.

First, tier movement is where the money is. Chasing 20 points inside a tier does almost nothing; crossing a boundary does a lot. If you are at 595 and can reach 605, that is worth real money. If you are at 520 and can reach 540, it usually is not.

Second, this is the arithmetic behind refinancing. A borrower who takes a deep-subprime loan and pays it perfectly for twelve months frequently lands a tier or two higher, and almost nobody tells them to go back and refinance. That is often the largest single financial move available to a subprime car buyer, and it is available exactly once a year.

Where buy-here-pay-here sits

Above all of it. The Federal Reserve puts buy-here-pay-here financing at a weighted average 25.39% APR against 14.60% at traditional subprime lenders.

The rate is not the only difference. Many buy-here-pay-here dealers do not report payments to the credit bureaus, so a borrower can pay perfectly for three years and end with the same score they started with — paying the highest rate in the market while receiving none of the credit-building benefit that would let them escape it. See whether guaranteed approval offers are legitimate.

What actually moves your rate

Your tier sets the range. Within it, these move you around:

• Down payment. Reduces loan-to-value, which is the lender's real exposure.
• Term length. Longer terms often carry higher rates and always cost more in total.
• Vehicle age and mileage. Older and higher-mileage collateral prices worse.
• Income relative to the payment. Lenders cap payment-to-income; a payment near the cap is priced accordingly.
• Which lender the dealer sends it to. Two lenders can price the same file differently, which is why the same buyer can get materially different offers on the same day.

That last one is the least known and the most actionable: your rate is partly a function of which lender saw your application, not only of your file.