Sales of used cars on credit fell by 53% in Russia

In the first 10 months of 2025, 383 thousand car loans were issued in Russia for the purchase of used cars, which is 53% less than in the same period last year. In monetary terms, the reduction in lending amounted to 57%, to 472.3 billion rubles. Sergey Tselikov, director of Autostat, told about this in his Telegram channel on November 20, referring to data from the analytical agency and experts from Frank RG.

Analysts attribute the reason for the drop in loans this year to high loan rates. By March, the rate had increased to 26.7%, in the summer it stayed close to this level and began to decrease only in the fall. In October, the average rate for buying a used car was 23.4%.

Another reason for the drop was the low approval rate, which dropped to 19% at the beginning of the year (in other words, banks refused four out of five applicants for a loan). By now, the approval rate has increased to 30%. At the same time, in October, according to experts, the share of credit sales in the used car market was only 8.3%.

"More than two thirds of transactions are still "hand-to-hand" or with the participation of overbiddings. Which is about the same thing. Therefore, the main financing channels are personal savings, loans from friends and relatives, as well as consumer loans without car collateral," explained Tselikov.

Stop cars: banks approved half as many loans for used cars

Financial organizations do not consider them as liquid collateral

Earlier in the day, it was reported that the average amount of car loans issued in Russia in October 2025 increased by 9.5% compared to a year ago and amounted to 1.51 million rubles.

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