In a country where public transport is scant outside major cities, car loans are one of the last things that Americans will let themselves default on.
So it is particularly shocking that the share of car loan borrowers missing payments on their debt has soared to levels last seen during the financial crisis.
A study by VantageScore showed that delinquencies have surged by 50pc in the last 15 years, meaning car loans have gone from one of the safest consumer credit products to one of the riskiest.
Even worse, among subprime borrowers – typically low income households with bad credit ratings – delinquency has hit a record high.
In August, the share of subprime auto loans where borrowers had missed payments for 60 days or more was 6.43pc, according to Fitch Ratings. Bar a 6.45pc reading in January, this was the highest level recorded since Fitch’s data began in 1993 (back then, the rate was just 0.12pc) and far above the financial crisis peak of 5.04pc.