Auto loan rates by credit score
Experian's Q2 2026 averages. The gap between a 660 and a 661 is a tier boundary and about 3.6 points of APR on a new car; between deep subprime and super prime it is 11.7 points, which on the average loan is thousands of dollars.
6.35%average new-car APR
11.19%average used-car APR
$765average new payment
$542average used payment
By tier, Q2 2026
| Tier | Score | New APR | New payment | Used APR | Used payment | Interest on the avg new loan, 72 mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super prime | 781–850 | 4.41% | $741 | 6.29% | $534 | $6,103 |
| Prime | 661–780 | 6.15% | $770 | 8.81% | $528 | $8,650 |
| Near prime (nonprime) | 601–660 | 9.71% | $816 | 13.93% | $555 | $14,102 |
| Subprime | 501–600 | 13.52% | $805 | 19.10% | $567 | $20,286 |
| Deep subprime | 300–500 | 16.11% | $779 | 21.62% | $570 | $24,691 |
Payments are Experian's reported averages per tier (different loan sizes per tier). The last column applies each tier's rate to the overall average new loan of $43,610 over 72 months so the tiers are comparable. Scores: VantageScore 4.0. Sources: Experian: Auto loan rates and financing (Q2 2026 tier table) · Experian press release, Aug 27, 2026.
What your score costs
Rates are the tier averages; your lender quote will differ, but the tier gaps are the point.
Result
$0
saved over the loan by reaching the target score
—your tier now
$0payment now
—target tier
$0payment at target
Moving up a tier, fastest first
- Utilization: pay revolving balances under 30% of limits (under 10% is better) before the statement date; this is the quickest lever.
- Errors and collections: dispute wrong items; a paid collection may be ignored by newer scoring models.
- Do not open new cards in the 90 days before applying; the inquiry and the new account both cost points.
- Rate-shop in a 14-day window: all auto inquiries in that window count once.
- Bring a pre-approval from a credit union; dealers can add up to 2 points of markup on top of the buy rate (see the glossary).