Subprime and deep subprime auto loans in the first quarter dropped to their lowest share of the market since 2012, Automotive Data Experts said this week.
Together, subprime and deep subprime loans made up 19.7 percent of the market, compared with their 19.6 percent slice three years earlier, according to the source’s first-quarter State of the Automotive Finance Market report.
The Data Source defines the subprime risk category as credit scores of 501 through 600 and the deep subprime category as scores of 300 through 500.
“Over the last year, there has been a tremendous amount of conversation around the growth in subprime loans, and the concern over the automotive finance industry approaching a potential ‘bubble,’” the senior director of automotive finance, said in a statement on Monday.