In a country where public transport is scant outside major cities, car loans are one of the last things that Americans will let themselves default on. So it is particularly shocking that the share of car loan borrowers missing payments on their debt has soared to levels last seen during the financial crisis. A study by VantageScore showed that delinquencies have surged by 50% in the last 15 years, meaning car loans have gone from one of the safest consumer credit products to one of the riskiest. Even worse, among subprime borrowers " typically low income households with bad credit ratings " delinquency has hit a record high.