Fuel prices are displayed on a sign as a customer fills their vehicle at a gas station on April 13, 2026 in Miami, Florida.

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Auto debt is becoming a bigger problem for consumers , a new report shows.

Total auto debt reached $1.68 trillion at the end of 2025 — a 37% increase since late 2018, when the debt was at $1.23 trillion, according to a new analysis by The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, and Protect Borrowers, a consumer advocacy group, provided exclusively to CNBC. That figure includes traditional installment loans and leases.

Nearly 86 million Americans — about 1 in 4 — carry outstanding auto loan or lease debt, the organizations calculated.

The average origination balance for an auto loan was $33,519 at the end of 2025, compared with $24,782 in the fourth quarter of 2018, the research shows.…