Stephen Gandel’s new Breakingviews analysis makes the auto-credit problem unusually tangible. In the second quarter, a used car bought for $15,000–$20,000 was six years old on average, according to Edmunds data cited in the piece; in mid-2019 it was a little over three. Experian’s average used-car loan term has meanwhile stretched to 67.9 months.
Those are different populations, so adding them does not produce a measured average age at repayment. Together, though, they identify a problem that a monthly-payment screen can miss: the borrower may face rising repair bills while still servicing substantial debt. The article’s crash prediction is an opinion; the mismatch between financing duration and physical wear is the more useful observation. Breakingviews, October 13; updated October 14