Rising car prices fuel auto debt

Economic recovery efforts have enabled some Americans to begin buying new cars again after abstaining because of gas prices and a lack of funds. Consumers have started to purchase new cars more than used vehicles, and manufacturers have taken notice, driving up prices based on demand. The Detroit Bureau said that auto experts believe this is only the beginning for increased automobile prices, which may result in more frequent exploration of alternative finance options needed for to make purchases. According to TrueCar.com, the average price of a new car in the United States in March was $30,748, which was up by 6.9 percent from March 2011, which The Detroit Bureau claims is an all-time record. CreditUnionTimes recently reported that credit unions have claimed their most frequent loans have to do with vehicle financing. By the end of 2011, CUDL said that an average of 29 percent of a credit union's portfolio consisted of auto loans, a sizable increase from the 15.2 percent they represented in March 2011, the source explained. Despite the increase in car loan frequency, delinquency by the borrower dropped by almost 20 percent at credit unions.