Ren runs up: buyers carry old car debt into the new loan. Granny Ume: so one count says; five thousand dollars, carried along ($5,114 on average for used cars, up from $3,774 in 2020). Mio: why carry it? Granny: the old car was worth less than its loan. Trade in the car; the debt rides along. Poko owes nothing.
Many car buyers start a new loan already owing on the old one: by one car-data firm's figures, used-car buyers who rolled negative equity into a 2026 purchase borrowed an average of $5,114 more than the car was worth, up from $3,774 in early 2020, and new-car buyers $7,023; a longer loan term lowers the payment but does not make the car newer, so the loan can outlive the car partly because it began before the car did.
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X · Oct 13, 2026
