Repossessions Are Skyrocketing As Buyers Can’t Afford Their Own Cars

Happy Tuesday! It’s August 4, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, we’re looking at an uptick in car repossessions, as well as an uptick in BYD sales. We’ll also look at how Tesla’s faring in Europe, and Toyota’s latest earnings numbers.

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Car prices are ever-rising, and wages aren’t keeping up. That’s already meant that we’ve seen more and more buyers are taking out longer and longer loans, but now gas prices are skyrocketing too — those ever-less-affordable cars are getting more expensive to even use. Eventually, something has to give, and it seems like it’s car payments. From Automotive News: 

The average transaction price for a new vehicle exceeded $50,000 for the first time ever in September. A record 24 percent of borrowers took out auto loans that span seven years or longer in the second quarter, according to Edmunds. In March, default rates rose to their highest levels since the Great Recession in 2010, and the number of defaults from January through March rose 9 percent from a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive.

While the data suggests high costs are leading to significant hardship for consumers, nationwide statistics on repossession across lenders, states and outcomes are scant.

In general, adjacent data suggests repossessions are growing more frequent, lenders, agents and economists told Automotive News. For example, Manheim, a major vehicle auction marketplace, reported that the volume of vehicles at auction from repossessions for the first half of the year is up 11 percent from last year and 36 percent from 2019 (though part of that growth is Manheim’s securing a greater share of the repo business).

Automotive News cites a repo man in New York who claims a 20% rise in repossessions over the past year. Does our current economy work for anyone, anywhere, who doesn’t have millions in the bank?

BYD is doing well in 2026, but the company will have to do considerably better if it wants to actually meet its optimistic estimates for the year’s sales. The automaker may be massive and growing, but only the largest of numbers will satisfy investors. From Bloomberg:

BYD Co.’s vehicle sales rose 22% in July year-on-year, kicking off a crucial second half where it needs to sharply lift shipments to meet its annual deliveries target.

The automaker sold about 420,000 cars in total last month, figures released Saturday showed. It is already falling behind the pace needed to meet its annual sales goal. After selling 1.81 million vehicles in the first half, the company needs to average about 530,000 a month for the rest of the year to reach the lower end of its 5 million to 5.5 million goal.

BYD sales in China are slowing, but the company is moving into new markets around the globe to keep its growth numbers up. Investors demand bigger gains every quarter, forever and ever amen, and it’s on the CEO if that doesn’t happen. 

EV sales in Europe are way up, owing in no small part to the whole dumb war we’re waging on Iran. But while the segment as a whole is doing well, Tesla isn’t reaping all the benefits that one would expect for a massive EV maker. Instead, sales are actually down in my markets. From Reuters: 

Tesla’s July registrations across several European markets painted a mixed picture on Monday, with strong gains in France and Denmark offset by sharp declines in Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Registrations of Tesla’s vehicles, a proxy for sales, ​rose 86% in France and 52% in Denmark from a year ​ago, according to data from French car body PFA and ⁠Denmark’s bilstatistik.dk.

However, registrations plunged 97% in Norway, 60% in Sweden, 81% in ​Spain, 69% in Portugal and 77% in Italy, according to figures from OFV, ​Mobility Sweden, ANFAC, ACAP and Italy’s transport ministry.

The broader European electric-vehicle market appeared strong in July, supported by government incentives in France and continued growth in battery-electric vehicles in markets such as Denmark, said Rico ​Luman, senior economist at ING Research.

It’s almost like there’s something else turning people off from Tesla. Maybe it’s the cars that haven’t gotten a second generation ever, or the increased competition from legacy automakers making better-built and better-equipped vehicles for the money. Or the CEO constantly throwing money at far-right causes, alienating potential buyers. Or all of the above. 

Toyota is looking into stock buybacks, which are a great way to make your earnings per share look good on the year-end books by putting your finger on the scales of supply and demand. The company is profitable, and it seems it’s looking for a little extra bonus on top of that. From the Wall Street Journal: 

Toyota Motor raised its annual earnings forecasts, citing a weaker yen and a smaller impact from the Iran war, and unveiled a more than $6 billion buyback as quarterly net profit rose sharply.

The Japanese carmaker on Tuesday reported stronger net profit for the three months ended June, supported by a weaker yen and gains in financial income, even as vehicle sales were dragged by a drop in sales in the Middle East.

Toyota also lowered the expected hit from war-related disruptions, now estimating a 510 billion yen, equivalent to $3.24 billion, drag on operating profit for the year ending March 2027. It had forecast a ¥670 billion impact previously.

The automaker has been establishing alternative routes to shorten the time it takes to deliver vehicles to customers, according to Takanori Azuma, Toyota’s chief officer for accounting.

The company said it will buy back as much as ¥1 trillion of its own shares over the next year, repurchasing up to 4.2% of outstanding shares under the program.

Earnings per share are calculated based on shares outstanding, meaning shares owned by the company don’t count towards the math. Take shares off the market, and your EPS can see a massive bump without you actually having to make any more money. Finance is good and normal and doesn’t need to be questioned at all. 

You shake it, and then you bake it!

I actually had to buy gas this weekend for the first time in a bit, and even in Bumfuck, New Hampshire, it cost more than I’d been hoping. Gas is down a bit, sure, but it’s not down enough. 

Last night, as I was helping my ex move, we got to talking (as we often do) about our friendship and our own individual relationships. Then “The Chain” started playing in the truck. It was a bit on the nose, if you ask me.