Home / Car loan rates
Current Bank of Canada benchmarks, plus what each major Canadian lender actually publishes about its car loans. Most publish terms but not a rate, because the rate is set on your application — so this page shows you the market you are borrowing into, then gets you a real number.
Bank of Canada figures as of Aug 19, 2026; lender terms last checked Aug 20, 2026.
These come straight from the Bank of Canada and refresh on their own. Each carries the date of the observation behind it.
Bank of Canada policy rate
2.25%
Aug 19, 2026 · Set on eight fixed dates a year
The overnight rate every other Canadian rate moves with.
Bank of CanadaChartered bank prime rate
4.45%
Aug 12, 2026 · Weekly
The base most variable-rate car loans are quoted against.
Bank of CanadaAverage rate on new auto loans
6.55%
June 2026 · Monthly, about two months behind
What chartered banks actually charged on new car loans that month.
Bank of CanadaAverage rate on existing auto loans
6.83%
June 2026 · Monthly, about two months behind
Rate across car loans Canadians are already paying down.
Bank of CanadaRead the average this way: in June 2026, chartered banks charged an average of 6.55% across all the new car loans they wrote. Strong credit on a short term lands below it, and rebuilding credit on a long term lands well above it. It is a market average, not an offer.
No major Canadian bank posts a consumer car loan rate. Nearly all of them lend indirectly, meaning the dealership submits your application and the bank prices it, so there is no single number to post. That is worth knowing before you walk in: the rate on the worksheet is the first offer, not a published price you can look up and check.
| Lender | Published rate | Vehicle | Term | Rate type | What they do publish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBC Royal Bank Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | Up to 96 months | Fixed | Arranged through 4,500+ enrolled Canadian dealerships. New and used, plus EV, RV and marine. A newcomer program covers buyers with no Canadian credit history. |
| TD Auto Finance Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | Up to 96 months on select vehicles | Fixed or variable | Indirect lender through a national dealer network. Private-sale vehicles over five years old can be applied for directly instead. Lump-sum payments without penalty. |
| Scotiabank Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | Up to 96 months | Fixed or variable | Up to $200,000, on a new vehicle or one up to seven years old, at 4,000+ dealerships. Variable rate is not offered in Quebec. No prepayment penalty. |
| BMO Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published Ask BMO directly | New and used | — | Fixed or variable | BMO no longer runs a dealer-arranged retail auto program in Canada and publishes no car loan page. Its Personal Loan Plan starts at $5,000 with a fixed or BMO-Prime-linked variable rate, and can fund a vehicle. |
| CIBC Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | 12 to 96 months | Fixed | From $7,500, on a vehicle up to 10 years old, at 3,200+ dealerships. Approved rate is held 30 days. CIBC lists the Personal Car Loan on its own rates page with a term but no rate. Promotional pricing exists for hybrids and EVs. |
| National Bank of Canada Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published After you apply | New and used | Up to 96 months | Fixed or variable | One of the few majors you can apply to online rather than only at a dealer. National Bank states the rate is set from your credit history and the approved amount. Repay in full or in part without penalty. |
| Desjardins Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the caisse or dealership | New and used | — | Fixed or variable | Dealership car loan from $7,500 and secured by the vehicle, which Desjardins says prices better than unsecured credit. Publishes reference rates only: prime 4.45% and a personal base rate of 5.95% as of the retrieval date. |
Every row links to the lender's own page it was read from. Where a lender publishes no rate, this table says so rather than estimating one. Credit unions are the exception to all of this and several of them do post a real car loan rate — the lender directory covers which ones, and which provinces they are open to.
Two people can finance the same vehicle on the same afternoon and be quoted rates several points apart. These are the reasons, roughly in order of how much of the difference each one explains.
1
The overnight rate sets what it costs banks to fund a loan, so it is the floor the whole market sits on top of. It is reset on eight fixed dates a year, and prime follows it within days.
2
The single largest source of difference between two people financing the same vehicle on the same day. Lenders price risk in tiers, and moving up one tier is usually worth more than negotiating.
3
Used vehicles carry higher rates because the collateral is worth less and falls further. Most bank programs also cap vehicle age — commonly seven to ten years — and a vehicle past the cap has to be financed another way.
4
Longer terms lower the payment and raise both the rate and the total interest. An 84 or 96 month loan also keeps you in negative equity far longer, which is what makes the next trade-in expensive.
5
A fixed rate is locked for the term. A variable rate is quoted against prime and moves with it. Most Canadian car loans are fixed, and variable is not offered everywhere — Scotiabank, for one, does not offer it in Quebec.
6
Nearly all Canadian bank auto lending is indirect, meaning the dealership submits your application and the bank prices it. The dealer can be compensated on the rate, so the number on the worksheet is not always the lender's floor.
7
Captive finance arms subsidise rates on specific models and terms, sometimes far below any bank. These are usually an either-or against a cash rebate, and are typically limited to the strongest credit tiers.
8
Both cut the amount financed, which shortens the term you need and can move you into better pricing. Negative equity rolled forward from an old loan does the reverse.
Lenders price in bands rather than on your exact score, which is why moving up one band is usually worth more than negotiating within one. No Canadian lender publishes a rate card by score, so what follows describes what changes at each tier rather than attaching a number to it.
Excellent — roughly 760 and up
Priced at or near a lender's best posted tier, and the group manufacturer promotional financing is aimed at. Usually the widest choice of term.
Good — roughly 660 to 759
Approved by the same bank programs, at a somewhat higher rate. Term length and vehicle age start to move the price.
Fair — roughly 560 to 659
Bank programs may still approve, often with a larger down payment or a shorter term. Some applications move to a lender that specialises in this range.
Rebuilding — below roughly 560
Usually a specialist lender rather than a bank auto program. Rates are materially higher, and income stability and down payment carry more weight than the score alone.
No Canadian credit history
Newcomer programs exist at several majors and are assessed on income and residency rather than a domestic score. A larger down payment is commonly required.
Score bands differ between Equifax and TransUnion, and every lender sets its own cutoffs. Treat these as the shape of the market, not a threshold to clear. If a bank program has already declined you, the section on non-prime financing covers what happens next.
Subprime — the industry usually says non-prime — is the part of the market that lends when a bank auto program has declined the application. It covers a low score, a discharged bankruptcy, an active or completed consumer proposal, collections or missed payments, self-employment that is hard to document, and no Canadian credit file at all. It is ordinary lending with a higher price and tighter conditions, not a separate class of borrower.
Market reference
6.55%
The average chartered banks charged across all new auto lending in June 2026. Subprime pricing starts above this, not at it.
Bank of CanadaLegal ceiling
35% APR
The criminal rate of interest under s.347 of the Criminal Code, in force since Jan 1, 2025. No consumer car loan in Canada can legally be written above it, fees included.
Criminal Code s.347Between those two numbers there is no published rate. Canadian non-prime lenders price every application on its own facts and none of them posts a rate card by credit score. Sites that show a tidy table of bad-credit rates by band are estimating, and we will not reprint estimates as if they were sourced. What follows is what these lenders do publish, what the law caps, and what actually decides the number you are quoted.
The Criminal Code sets a ceiling. The provincial rules below are not a second ceiling — crossing one of those thresholds does not make a loan unlawful, it makes the lender a licensed high-cost grantor with disclosure duties and gives you extra cancellation rights.
All of Canada
35% APR
The criminal rate of interest under s.347 of the Criminal Code, in force since Jan 1, 2025. Offering, advertising or entering into a consumer credit agreement above it is an offence. "Interest" is defined to include fees and charges, not just the quoted rate, and a car loan is not one of the exempted categories.
Criminal Code s.347 Checked Aug 20, 2026BC, Alberta, Manitoba
32% APR
Credit above this is a high-cost credit product. The lender must hold a provincial licence and give prescribed disclosure of the APR, the total cost of credit and every fee before signing. Alberta names car loans in the products this covers. Banks and credit unions are exempt from the licensing itself.
Alberta high-cost credit Checked Aug 20, 2026Same test as the table above: what does the lender say on its own site. One of these posts a starting rate, which is one more than any major bank manages, and one publishes the floor its rate-reduction programme stops at. The rest publish terms only and price at the dealer.
| Lender | Published rate | Vehicle | Term | Rate type | What they do publish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifco National Auto Finance Checked Aug 20, 2026 | From 12.9% | New and used | — | Fixed | Posts "rates as low as 12.9%" on its own home page — a starting point for its strongest non-prime files, not a rate offered across the book. Full-spectrum non-prime lending through a national dealer network, from Red Deer, Alberta. |
| iA Auto Finance Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | — | Fixed | Publishes no origination rate, but does publish the terms of its Rate Reducing Loan: after 12 months of on-time payments the rate drops by a tenth of itself each year, down to a floor of 9.99% plus prime. Requires no returned payments and no accident on the vehicle. |
| Scotia Dealer Advantage Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | Up to 96 months | Fixed | Scotiabank's near and non-prime arm, for buyers with no credit history or less than perfect credit. Personal-use vehicles up to 10 years old, term set by the vehicle's age and mileage, fixed rate only. A StartRight program covers newcomers to Canada. |
| EdenPark Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | Used | — | Fixed | A Fairstone Bank subsidiary that approves a wide range of credit scores. Reports payment history to both Equifax and TransUnion at the end of every month, and allows any part of the balance to be prepaid without penalty. One payment-schedule change a year is free; further changes are $25. |
| Santander Consumer Bank Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | — | Fixed | Became a fully licensed Canadian bank on March 5, 2025, having lent here since acquiring Carfinco. Describes its own book as full-spectrum, covering a wide range of credit profiles across automotive and powersports. |
| LendCare Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published At the dealership | New and used | — | Fixed | Point-of-sale lender owned by goeasy, working through more than 10,800 partner businesses. States it finances the full spectrum from prime to non-prime. Automotive is one of several categories it lends in, alongside powersports, home improvement and healthcare. |
| Axis Auto Finance Checked Aug 20, 2026 | Not published No longer lending | Used | — | — | Listed here because it is still widely named as a Canadian non-prime lender and is no longer one. Axis sold its auto finance business to Fionic Canada on December 12, 2024, was delisted, and went private in 2025. Existing borrowers were transferred; there is nothing to apply for. |
A starting rate is the floor of a lender's range, offered to its strongest non-prime files. It is not what the segment pays on average, and no lender here publishes that average.
Once a bank program has declined the file, the score stops being the deciding input. These are what a specialist lender weighs instead, and most of them are things you can change before you apply.
Steady, provable income carries more weight than the score once you are outside bank programs. Go Auto, one of the larger Canadian dealer groups, publishes its working floor as three months in your current job and at least $1,800 a month, and says some government assistance counts as income. Other lenders set their own floors and do not publish them.
Go Auto financing requirementsMoney down cuts the amount financed, which cuts the lender's exposure if the vehicle has to be repossessed and sold. It is the fastest lever you control. A trade-in with real equity does the same thing; a trade-in with a balance still owing does the opposite.
The car is the collateral, so its age, mileage and resale value are part of the credit decision. Scotia Dealer Advantage caps personal-use vehicles at 10 years old and sets the term from age and mileage. An older or higher-kilometre vehicle can narrow your lender list faster than your credit does.
Stability signals are cheap for a lender to verify and hard to fake. Expect to be asked how long you have lived where you live, what you pay for it, and for a void cheque or pre-authorised debit form so payments come out automatically.
A co-signer with stronger credit can move a file into a better tier. They are equally liable for the whole balance, and the loan appears on their credit file too — so it is a real commitment to ask for, not a formality.
Discharged and still-filing are treated differently, and lenders differ on which they will look at. If you are in an active consumer proposal, your trustee generally has to be told before you take on new credit. Say where you stand up front — it decides which lenders your application can even be sent to.
The rate is negotiated least and watched most. These are the parts of the contract that move the total more than a point of interest does, and every one of them is disclosed somewhere on the worksheet.
Stretching a loan to 84 or 96 months is the usual way an unaffordable payment is made to look affordable. It raises the total interest, and it keeps you owing more than the car is worth for years. Ask for the total amount you will repay over the full term, and compare that figure between offers.
If you still owe more on your current vehicle than it is worth, that shortfall can be added to the new loan. It is legal and common, and it means you start the new loan already underwater. It should appear on the worksheet as its own line — ask which line it is.
Extended warranties, gap coverage, appearance and tire protection are usually sold at signing and financed with the car, so you pay interest on them for the whole term. They are optional. Ask for the price of each one separately, and for the deal without them.
Creditor life, disability and critical-illness cover on the loan is sold through the dealership by third-party insurers, not by the lender, and enrolment is voluntary. Premiums are commonly folded into the financed amount. If you want it, price it against the equivalent standalone policy first.
Some non-prime lenders charge an origination or loan fee. Under s.347 of the Criminal Code, fees and charges count as interest, so they are part of what the 35% ceiling is measured against — not an extra on top of it. Every fee has to be disclosed before you sign.
The point of a rebuilding loan is the record it creates. EdenPark, for one, publishes that it reports to Equifax and TransUnion monthly. If a lender does not report, on-time payments do nothing for your score. It is a fair question to ask before you sign.
The bodies that report on Canadian credit quarterly publish volumes, delinquency and insolvency — but not rates. These are the closest measured figures to this part of the market, each with the period it covers.
0.96%
Auto loans 60+ days past due
Consumer-level serious delinquency on Canadian auto loans, up 4 basis points on the year. The only product-level auto figure published on a quarterly cycle in Canada.
TransUnion Canada Q1 202678.3%
Consumer insolvencies that were proposals
Of Canadians who filed an insolvency in the year to June 30, most filed a consumer proposal rather than a bankruptcy. If that is your situation, it is the ordinary case rather than the unusual one.
Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy 12 months to June 30, 202615–20%
Cut in new credit limits for higher-risk borrowers
Lenders reduced average limits extended to higher-risk consumers even as those consumers sought more credit. Approval conditions tightened across the market in the same quarter.
Equifax Canada Q1 2026AutoMart is not a lender, does not set rates and cannot promise an approval. We share your application with Canadian dealer and finance partners, and every credit decision is theirs.
The Bank of Canada reports that chartered banks charged an average of 6.55% on new auto lending in June 2026. That is a published average across all approved borrowers, not a rate you are offered. Individual rates are set per applicant.
Because Canadian bank auto lending is almost entirely indirect. The dealership submits your application and the bank prices it against your credit, the vehicle and the term, so there is no single posted number to publish. RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC and Desjardins all direct you to a dealer; National Bank lets you apply directly and still sets the rate after review.
Not directly. The policy rate is 2.25%, and it sets what lenders pay to fund a loan — the floor the market sits on. What you are offered is that floor plus a margin for your credit, the vehicle age and the term.
Some do, and they are the only Canadian lenders that post a rate you can read before you apply. Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union prices vehicle loans by the age of the car, Prospera posts separate starting rates for new, used and electric vehicles, DUCA publishes a new car loan rate for every term, and Vancity publishes one for electric and hybrid vehicles. Most of the rest publish nothing beyond their mortgage table. The catch is membership: nearly every credit union that publishes a rate can only be joined from one province.
Generally yes. The collateral is worth less and depreciates faster, so lenders price used higher and cap how old a vehicle they will finance — commonly seven to ten years at the major banks.
You have to apply, because every Canadian lender prices per applicant. Applying through AutoMart shares your details with Canadian dealer and finance partners who quote the terms. AutoMart is not a lender and does not set rates.
Nobody publishes one. Canadian non-prime lenders price each application individually and post no rate card, so any site showing a precise bad-credit rate table is estimating. What is documented is the range it has to fall inside: the legal ceiling is 35% APR under s.347 of the Criminal Code, and the Bank of Canada put the average across all new auto lending at 6.55% in June 2026. A subprime offer sits above that average and below the ceiling, and where it lands depends on your income, down payment, the vehicle and the term.
Section 347 of the Criminal Code sets the criminal rate of interest at an annual percentage rate above 35%, in force since Jan 1, 2025. It applies to consumer car loans, and "interest" includes fees and charges rather than only the quoted rate. Some provinces add licensing and disclosure duties above 32%, and Quebec above the Bank Rate plus 22 points, but the Criminal Code figure is the ceiling.
Lenders that specialise in this do exist, and where you are in the process matters — discharged and still-filing are assessed differently. If you are in an active consumer proposal your trustee normally has to be told before you take on new credit. AutoMart is not a lender and cannot promise approval; partners make every credit decision.
Everything above is market context. The only way to learn your rate is to apply, because every Canadian lender prices per applicant. It takes about three minutes, and we share your application with Canadian dealer and finance partners who quote the terms. AutoMart is not a lender and does not set rates.
Lenders and credit unions · Car loans in Canada · Financing with poor credit · Calculators · Provincial guides