The average transaction cost for a new vehicle has reached a record high: $51,109. That’s according to a report out today from the Kelley Blue Book, which is part of the analytics firm Cox Automotive. That’s about $500 above the last record, set in December 2025. Car prices have been stubbornly high for years, especially since the pandemic, mainly driven by supply chain issues. And they’ve gotten higher recently, in part thanks to tariffs and to buyers flocking to, and car companies making, larger, fancier vehicles. Yet there’s a little good news: Cars are getting more expensive … more slowly. While that $51,109 figure is an all-time high, that’s only up 2.1% in the past year. “A 2.1% year-over-year increase is actually below inflation,” said Erin Keating, an executive analyst at Cox Automotive who co-authored the report. Between 2012 and 2021, cars got 3.4% more expensive a year on average, she continued. The Kelley Blue Book’s transaction cost is based on what people wound up paying for a new vehicle — that means whatever’s on the sticker price, plus add-ons for fancier features, and minus any incentives, such as dealer discounts. It also doesn’t include one other expense that adds to the cost of owning a car: interest on auto loans. The cost of borrowing has risen over the past several years as the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates high in an effort to drive down inflation. Auto loan rates are now about 11% for used vehicles and over 7% for new ones, according to Edmunds, a car analytics company…Read more