What Car Owners Wish They’d Known, From Loan Terms to Lost Keys

Caribou's latest survey of 2,000 car owners explores the car expenses that they track closely, what they'd change, and the costs they found most surprising.

Ask most car owners what they pay every month and they'll tell you without blinking. Ask what they're actually paying - in interest, in the repairs and replacements - and the answer gets a lot less certain. These blind spots are the subject of a new Caribou survey of 2,000 U.S. drivers with active auto loans, which set out to measure not just what car ownership costs, but how well drivers actually track it, and the expenses that catch them off guard.¹

Drivers track monthly payments, not total debt

Most people track their monthly payment while losing track of the overall cost of their auto debt. In Caribou's survey, 70% of drivers can recall their exact car payment without checking paperwork, It's the one number that shows up on a statement and comes out of pocket every month. The difference is even more stark across generations. Eighty-seven percent of Baby Boomers can recall their monthly payment, compared with 66% of Gen Z drivers.

Only 43% of drivers know their APR and just 25% can recall from memory the total interest they're paying over the course of the loan. This awareness grows as credit improves. Drivers with a prime credit score of 740 and above are more likely to be able to recall their exact APR.

At the same time, 38% of drivers say the total interest on their loan is higher than they expected. This tracks with dealership dynamics that push shoppers toward monthly-payment thinking from the start. A buyer walks in with a target payment in mind, and the dealer will find a way to hit it, whether that means stretching the loan term or de-emphasizing add-ons that could affect the total cost.

What drivers would change about how they financed their car

The disconnect between what people track and what they actually owe shows up clearly in regret. Based on what they know now, most drivers say they'd do things differently. Nearly half (47%) said they'd put more money down when they financed their car - the most commonly cited change. This correlates with a broader trend of drivers carrying larger auto loan balances. Edmunds data shows the average down payment on a new-vehicle purchase dropped to $5,815 in Q2 2026, or 11.6% of the average purchase price, the lowest share since Q3 2020.²

About a third (33%) of drivers said they'd shop multiple lenders before signing, the second-most cited action. Caribou estimates that Americans overpay $54 billion a year on their auto loans, and that's often because many drivers accept the first rate they're given without comparing rates.

On loan length, 25% of drivers said they'd choose a shorter term, compared with 17% who'd have chosen a longer one. This is a reasonable reaction given that Edmunds also reports a record share of new-car buyers are now signing on to 84-month-plus terms to make the monthly payment work, even though it raises the total cost of the loan.

Budget anxiety, not risk, is why drivers decline protection

When drivers decline coverage like GAP insurance or a vehicle service contract (VSC), the easy assumption is that they've weighed the odds and decided the risk is low. The data says otherwise. Affordability, not risk tolerance, is driving the decision. Among drivers who declined GAP insurance or a VSC, not being able to afford the extra monthly cost was the top reason cited. The drivers who could benefit most from having coverage for surprise car bills are often the ones who can't afford the additional protection.

A knowledge gap could also be why these drivers didn't purchase GAP insurance, which exists specifically to cover the difference between what a totaled or stolen car is worth and what's still owed on it. Yet, 38% of drivers incorrectly believe their standard car insurance policy would automatically cover that difference. Interestingly, this misconception is more common among younger, more digitally fluent generations: 43% of Gen Z drivers hold this belief, compared with 29% of Baby Boomers.

While affordability keeps many drivers from purchasing additional protection, 41% say they've been surprised by both the cost and frequency of car repairs. Another 31% expect their monthly car-related costs to go up in the next 12 months, creating more incentive to have coverage in place to avoid surprises.

The mundane expenses that catch drivers off guard

Most car owners brace for the big, one-off costs like a major repair or a serious accident and underestimate the routine, everyday ones that add up just as fast.

Two-thirds of drivers report at least one unexpected car-related expense in the past 12 months, and 38% say those costs added up to $500 or more over that period. When asked what's caught them off guard as a car owner, the most common answer among all respondents was the cost of a single repair (44%), followed by the cost of a full set of new tires (41%).

Keys are a sharper example of the same pattern. One in three drivers have lost a car key or had to replace one, yet nearly two-thirds of that group had no key replacement coverage for it.

Drivers aren't just caught off guard by these mundane expenses. Thirty-one percent say their car has depreciated faster than they expected, more than double the share of drivers who say their car has depreciated slower than expected.

What's coming: drivers expect costs to keep climbing

None of this is likely to get easier soon. Over half of drivers (54%) believe federal policy-tariffs, regulation, Fed rate decisions-will have a moderate or major impact on what they pay for their vehicle over the next 12 months.

Drivers don't have to wait for that to happen to get ahead of it. Depending on each person's financial goals, refinancing can help lower their monthly payment, their interest rate, or both. Checking their rate with a refinance calculator is a low-effort first step. And, for the specific blind spots this survey surfaced-GAP coverage, service contracts, total interest paid over the life of a loan-a closer look now is cheaper than the surprise later.