Credit unions have captured more vehicle financing marketshare over the past several quarters, due in large part to a focus on used-vehicle financing, Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of automotive finance, told Auto Finance News.
“One thing we see with credit unions is a lot of growth in used-car financing, and more prime consumers purchasing used vehicles,” Zabristski said.
Overall, Experian has seen a market turnaround in the past few quarters, she said. While subprime originations are still active, prime originations have been increasing. Considering 70% of credit unions offer used-vehicle financing — and used vehicles are being increasingly bought by prime customers — it makes sense that they correlate, she added.
With over 5,000 credit unions active in the U.S., credit union marketshare in the auto finance space grew to 24% in the first quarter alone, compared with 21.3% during the same period last year, according to CU Direct’s State of the Credit Union Auto Lending Market report. As larger national banks have been pulling back, credit unions have been capturing some of their marketshare and will likely hover in the 20% range for the next few years, Zabritski previously told AFN.
