{"id":471201,"date":"2026-02-12T23:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/471201\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T23:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T23:51:11","slug":"auto-costs-in-canada-a-lot-higher-than-canadians-expect-finds-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/471201\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto costs in Canada a lot higher than Canadians expect, finds survey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4312463649cac0dea69fe95deb011b88.jpeg\" alt=\"vehicle sales\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"720\" width=\"960\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> Vehicles are shown at a Windsor car dealership on March 4, 2025. (Credit: WINDSOR STAR &#8211; DAN JANISSE)         <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">As the <a href=\"https:\/\/financialpost.com\/tag\/auto-sales\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:price to own a car;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">price to own a car<\/a> in Canada climbs, there\u2019s a growing disconnect among Canadians between what they expect to pay and reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">More than 80 per cent of Canadians expect to pay less than $750 per month for a car payment, while 32 per cent expect to pay less than $250, according to a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deloitte.com\/global\/en\/Industries\/automotive\/perspectives\/global-automotive-consumer-study.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:survey from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">survey from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Yet according to data from J.D. Power and Associates, the average new car payment is nearly $900 per month, while the average used car payment exceeds $760 monthly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">AutoTrader predicts monthly payments will just go higher.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cIf new car prices climb due to the trade unclarity with the United States, we may see an increase in monthly payments to over $1,000, which would be a first in Canada,\u201d the company said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autotrader.ca\/editorial\/media\/fs1ey0yt\/price-index-q4-2025-en-final.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:in a recent report.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">in a recent report.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">AutoTrader \u2013 which reported used car monthly payments at $637 \u2013 expects that figure to climb as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cWith no expectation of a significant decline in vehicle prices, limited prospects for meaningful <a href=\"https:\/\/financialpost.com\/tag\/interest-rates\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:interest rate;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">interest rate<\/a> cuts, and assuming consumer demand remains broadly stable, we expect monthly payments to remain elevated but largely steady in 2026,\u201d it said in the report.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">The disconnect can also be seen in car loans, where 81 per cent of respondents to the Deloitte survey expect to sign a loan for 60 months or less, while JD power suggests more than half of vehicle loans have an 84-month duration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Just five per cent of respondents said they expect an 84-month loan or longer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">According to AutoTrader.ca, the average cost of a new car was $63,439 in December 2025, down 2.7 per cent year-over-over. The average cost of a used car was $35,201, up two per cent year-over-year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">However, still elevated prices, higher interest rates and more costly auto insurance are keeping more buyers on the sidelines, as Canadians hang on to their current vehicle a little longer, the report said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">Insurance rates are expected to remain high, despite an 18 per cent drop in auto thefts since 2024, said a recent report from RateHub.ca.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-vbsvxt\">\u201cWith theft rates on the decline, it can help in achieving a more stable market for pricing insurance in the near future,\u201d Matt Hands, vice-president of Insurance at Ratehub.ca. \u201cHowever, the cost of claims alone is still higher than pre-pandemic levels, due to more expensive vehicles, repairs and maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vehicles are shown at a Windsor car dealership on March 4, 2025. (Credit: WINDSOR STAR &#8211; DAN JANISSE)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,4191,179591,191752,46],"class_list":["post-471201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadians","tag-car-dealership","tag-car-payment","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}