Used-car finance outpaced new auto loans over five years: CRIF High Mark
Used-car loan outstanding rose at a 26.2% CAGR to Rs 1.3 lakh crore by June 2026, versus 17.6% for auto loans. The segment also showed higher early-stage delinquencies and greater unsecured-loan exposure among borrowers.
What happened
Crif High Mark · CRIF High Mark reports India’s used-car finance portfolio grew faster than new auto loans over five years, despite higher delinquencies. Formal
Key facts
- Used car finance outstanding grew at 26.2% CAGR to Rs 1.3 lakh crore in June 2026 from about Rs 40,000 crore in June 2021
- Auto loan outstanding grew at 17.6% CAGR to Rs 9.9 lakh crore from Rs 4.4 lakh crore
- Used-car loans overdue 31-90 days: 3.1%; auto loans: 2.1%
- Used-car loans overdue 91-180 days: 1%; auto loans: 0.6%
- Used-car borrowers with unsecured consumption loans: 9.2%; auto-loan borrowers: 6.4%
- Commercial vehicle finance grew at 20.1% CAGR to Rs 7.4 lakh crore from Rs 3 lakh crore
Why this matters
Lenders, marketplaces and dealer groups should consider partnerships or acquisitions in used-car financing and credit analytics to capture growth while improving risk selection.
What to watch
- 30-plus and 90-plus day delinquency trends for used-car loans versus new-auto loans.
- Changes in average loan-to-value, tenure, interest-rate spreads and approval rates for used-car financing.
- RBI or credit-bureau data on consumer unsecured-loan growth, leverage and delinquency roll rates.
- Used-car transaction volumes, residual-value trends and auction recovery rates for repossessed vehicles.
- Funding-cost movements and securitization appetite for auto-focused NBFC loan pools.
- NBFCs and private banks are likely to raise risk-based pricing, increase down-payment requirements and cap financing for older vehicles or weaker credit bands.
- Used-car platforms and dealer networks will emphasize certified inventory, warranty bundles and faster digital loan approvals to maintain conversion as credit screens tighten.
- Lenders will deepen bureau monitoring of unsecured-loan obligations, deploy tighter fraud and valuation controls, and expand early-bucket collections capacity.
- New-car OEM finance arms may introduce stronger exchange, upgrade and pre-owned financing programs to protect customer acquisition and dealer throughput.