Average interest rates and transaction prices remain high and continue to keep new-vehicle monthly payments elevated. The latest Federal Reserve increase from a target range of 5% to 5.25% could send the US into a deep recession. According to J.D. Power, the average interest rate on a new-vehicle finance contract in April 2023 is expected to be $729, an increase of $48 year-over-year. The average interest rate on a new-vehicle finance contract should reach 6.8% in April 2023, or 227 basis points higher compared with April 2022. Interest rates will now go higher.

And then there’s the debt spending limit, which Republicans are holding hostage US workers and the economy, which threatens a self-induced recession or a Global Depression.