With Presidents’ Day approaching and consumers having taken out another $18 billion in auto loan debt in the third quarter of 2019 alone, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released the first-quarter installment of its Auto Financing Report along with its in-depth analysis of 2020’s Cities that Overspend on Cars.

Below are some of our key findings from each of the two reports:

Auto Financing Report:

• Interest rates for new cars are at one of their lowest points in three years, with the average new-car loan today charging 14 percent less interest than the average used-car loan.
• Compared with buyers who have excellent credit, those with fair credit will spend about four times more, or about $6,031, in interest over the life of a five-year, $20,000 loan when financing a vehicle.
• The best options for financing a new car include car manufacturers (rates at 28 percent below average) and credit unions (rates at 16 percent below average). Secondary options include regional banks (rates at 12 percent above average) and national banks (rates at 13 percent above average).
• Car manufacturers continue to lack transparency when it comes to leasing offers, with the average automaker receiving a WalletHub Transparency Score of 4.4 out of 10.

We recommend prospective car buyers to check their credit scores for free on WalletHub and take advantage of a Car Payment Calculator to determine an auto-loan payment and timeline they can afford.