The average down payment on used vehicle sales is down, though the monthly payment and amount financed rose in the past year.
Edmunds’ 2026 first quarter report on financing trends found the down payment dropped from $4,078 at the start of 2025 to $3,993 at the opening of this year. The amount financed surged from $28,338 in the first quarter of 2025 to $29,314, with a monthly payment increasing by $9 to $559.
Edmunds Consumer Insights Analyst Joseph Yoon said the lower down payments could be attributed to ongoing economic pressure on consumers.
“When budgets are tight, buyers tend to hold onto cash and finance more of the purchase rather than put more down,” Yoon said. “It’s consistent with what the broader data is showing, including longer loan terms and higher monthly payments. Consumers are managing near-term cash flow, often at the expense of their long-term loan costs.”
The term of loans inched up from 69.7 to 69.9 in the past year.
The down payment, monthly payment, amount financed and term are all down from the fourth quarter 2025 numbers. The amount financed at the end of 2025 was $29,987 with a down payment of $3,956, monthly payment of $570 and term of 70.1.
The amount financed and monthly payments for new vehicles hit all-time records in the first quarter of 2026. The amount financed was $43,899, an increase of more than $2,000 from the start of 2025. The monthly payment hit $773, a jump of $32 year-over-year.
As more consumers turn to the used vehicle options, they soon could see an increase in inventory with more lease returns entering the market. Edmunds’ data shows that leases increased by 464,553 in 2023 to 2.489 million from a 10-year low in 2022. An additional 451,395 vehicles for a total of 2.94 million vehicles were leased in 2024.
“Lease return volume is directly tied to lease penetration rates from roughly three years prior, given the average 36-month term,” Yoon said. “Penetration was historically depressed in 2020, 2021 and 2022, which squeezed off-lease supply by just over 2 million units across 2023, 2024 and 2025. The penetration recovery that began in 2023 makes 2026 the year dealers should start to see supply return.”
