Automotive credit was harder to get as the year began, tightening in all channels and lender types, according to Cox Automotive analysis.

A string of declines that started in late fall continued to reach the index’s lowest level since August 2020 and making for tighter access than a year earlier.

Multiple conditions combined to make credit harder to come by for consumers: widening yield spreads, and falling term lengths, approval rates and subprime share, Cox said.

The only metric in consumers’ favor in January was an uptick in the negative-equity share. Though flat, the down-payment share was at its highest in the report’s history.

New-vehicle loan access was the tightest for the month.

Loan approval rates were down 1.6 percentage points year-over-year, while the subprime share was up 0.6 percentage points.

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