Car shopping in 2025 comes with a reality check the moment you start running the numbers. New data from Experian shows the average monthly payment on a new vehicle has climbed to $748 as of the third quarter of 2025, landing uncomfortably close to the psychological $750 mark. Prices are not doing shoppers any favors either, and while the market is calmer than the peak pandemic chaos, “calmer” does not automatically mean “cheap.”

Experian’s snapshot of Q3 2025 puts the average new-vehicle transaction price at $42,332, paired with an average interest rate of 6.56%. Buyers are also stretching loans out longer, with the average term now at 69 months, and roughly 81% of new-vehicle purchases being financed. The speed of the climb is what really stands out. Back in Q4 2019, the average new-car payment was $554. By Q3 2021 it had risen to $617, and by late 2022 it had jumped to $716. In Q3 2023 it was $726, and by Q4 2024 it reached $742. Now, in 2025, the average sits at $748 and still feels like it could keep creeping.

Used cars still come in cheaper month-to-month, but “cheaper” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The average used-car payment hit $532 in Q3 2025, tied to an average transaction price of $27,128 and a tough 11.40% average interest rate. The average term is also long at 67 months, even if it is slightly shorter than new. One more twist from Experian: far fewer used-car buyers are financing in the first place, with about 35% taking out loans. That suggests many shoppers are either bringing more cash, buying less car, or opting out entirely.

The takeaway is not just that payments are higher, but that the levers to manage them have narrowed. Longer terms can make a monthly number look friendlier while quietly locking buyers into nearly six years of payments, which is a long time to be exposed to depreciation or life changes. With $700-plus payments going from rare to routine in a few short years, the smart play is treating the monthly payment as a budget line item, shopping the loan as aggressively as the vehicle, and being willing to walk away when the math does not make sense.