Car Loans and Sales Drop

With vehicle sales dropping in November, so did auto loans as less consumers chose to enter into a debt that they may not be able to repay. With the housing market dropping as well, experts say that it was only a matter of time before the auto loan market dropped as well.

Up until now, auto loan companies had seen somewhat of a drop in sales, but nothing compared to November’s numbers. Experts say that auto loans and thus auto sales have dropped and that it is possibly only the beginning of a disturbing trend. They say that with the fallout from the collapse of the US housing market, people just aren’t willing to take out car loans and thus have not been heading over to the dealers.

They say that auto loans and sales are at their lowest since 1998 and that there is much concern of a recession if things continue the way they have been. They say that they expect car loan sales to continue to drop for the next quarter and well on into 2008. This will make it the third year in a row that auto loans and sales have been down.

Between rising gas prices and foreclosures and now dropping auto loans and sales, experts say that we are in “near-recession levels” and it is not expected to change any time soon. Chrysler LLC is expected to be hit the hardest this year as sales have been down as much as 18% for the company last month alone. General Motors Corp is doing significantly better, but they still saw their sales drop 5% over the previous month.

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