Santander's prime auto push follows used values up 4.3% while older-car collateral slides
Lending, US used market, Aug 2025 compared with Aug 2026.
wrticles.com reported on Oct 08, 2026 that Santander Consumer USA is shifting its auto loan funding toward deposits and growing its prime lending business, moving away from its historical subprime focus. The deposit base arrives with Banco Santander's pending acquisition of Webster Financial Corporation, agreed on Feb 03, 2026. In the US used market, MarketCheck sold-vehicle data shows the median asking price rose 4.3% year on year to $23,988 in Aug 2026, up from $22,998 in Aug 2025, while MarketCheck research shows older-car values moving the other way. Those are the two halves of the collateral picture sitting underneath a move toward prime borrowers: late-model retail values firming, and the cheaper end of the market softening.
What the data shows
| Measure (US used, all dealer websites) | Aug 2025 | Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median asking price ($) | 22,998 | 23,988 | +990 (+4.3%) |
| Mean asking price ($) | 26,503 | 27,350 | +847 (+3.2%) |
| Mean price vs MarketCheck MSRP (%) | -38.56 | -38.20 | +0.36 pts |
| Median miles | 61,714 | 58,947 | -2,767 (-4.5%) |
| Median days on market | 25 | 26 | +1 |
| Used vehicles sold (units) | 1,738,262 | 1,709,132 | -29,130 (-1.7%) |
Reading: used asking prices rose 4.3% while sales eased 1.7%, so values firmed on a little less volume, with lower-mileage cars in the mix. These are last-list prices on vehicles that left dealer websites, a sold proxy rather than transaction prices, and the mean discount to MarketCheck MSRP narrowed from -38.56% to -38.20%.
Why it matters
Funding cost sits behind the pricing question. Mordor Intelligence says Webster's $80 billion in deposits would let Santander Consumer USA fund auto receivables more cheaply than asset-backed securities. Cheaper funding is what makes a prime-focused book easier to price, and it lands in a segment where banks, captives and credit unions already compete for the same franchise-store borrowers.
The collateral under prime loans has been gaining value. The US used median asking price moved to $23,988 in Aug 2026 from $22,998 in Aug 2025, and the mean to $27,350 from $26,503. Prime volume added now is being written against retail values that firmed year on year rather than declined.
Older collateral moved the other way. MarketCheck research found the median for 2012 to 2019 model-year cars fell from $15,990 in Aug 2025 to $15,250 in Aug 2026. Those cheaper cars are typically financed in the subprime segment the story describes Santander stepping back from, so the two ends of the used market are not trending together.
Late-model stock turns slower than older stock. In Aug 2026, used 2025 model-year cars sold in a median 34 days against 20 days for 2017 models, and 2022 to 2025 models carried medians of $27,590 to $32,638 while 2019 and older cars priced below $20,000 and moved in 23 days or fewer. The vehicles a prime loan usually covers are the ones that sit longest on the lot.
Credit strain is concentrated in the segment being de-emphasised. LendingTree, citing New York Fed data, reports 90-day auto loan delinquency eased to 5.5% in Q2 2026 after a record 5.6% in Q1. Mordor Intelligence describes bifurcated performance, with subprime conditions harder than prime, and MarketCheck research notes Fitch's subprime auto ABS 60-plus-day delinquency index hit a record 6.90% in Jan 2026, a series Fitch has since restated.
What to watch
The Webster close. Mordor Intelligence expects it in the second half of 2026. Prime rate offers advertised at franchise dealers are the first visible place deposit-funded pricing would show up.
Older-car values. Whether the 2012 to 2019 median keeps sliding from $15,250 decides how much of the used market is securing loans against softening collateral.
Late-model days on market. The 30 to 34 day medians for 2022 to 2025 models are the cleanest read on whether cheaper prime credit is reaching the lot; a narrowing gap against the 19 to 23 days on 2015 to 2019 cars would be the signal.
Volume against price. Used sales ran 1,709,132 units in Aug 2026, down 1.7% year on year, while prices rose. If that pattern holds, firming values are coming on thinner throughput.
How this was measured
Monthly sold-vehicle statistics from dealer websites (182 million sales since 2021). Sales are listings that left franchise and independent dealer websites, and prices are advertised asking prices, not transactions. Auctions and private sales are excluded. Aug 2026 is the latest complete month, so the data lags about two months, and year on year compares Aug 2026 with Aug 2025. Source: MarketCheck sold-vehicle data, US franchise and independent dealer websites, used vehicles, Aug 2025 and Aug 2026, plus a model-year cut for Aug 2026. Pulled with the MarketCheck Sold Summary API (the get_sold_summary tool in the MarketCheck MCP; docs https://docs.marketcheck.com/docs/get-started/api/mcp/tools/sold-summary). API keys: https://developers.marketcheck.com.
The median asking price row is a median; the mean asking price row and the discount to MarketCheck MSRP are means. Figures attributed to Mordor Intelligence, LendingTree citing New York Fed data, Fitch and Banco Santander's half-yearly 6-K filing come from those sources, not from MarketCheck data.
The story we checked
- Story: "Santander Consumer USA Leverages Stronger Liquidity to Scale Prime Auto Loans"
- Source: wrticles.com
- Date: Oct 08, 2026
- Fact-check tally: 4 verified, 1 unverifiable. The deposit funding advantage, the Feb 03, 2026 agreement to acquire 100% of Webster Financial Corporation, the harder subprime conditions and the market-level firming in used collateral check out; the specific shift in Santander Consumer USA's loan mix toward prime and away from subprime rests on the story alone.
You can run the same read in MarketCheck AI Desk. Install: https://ai.marketcheck.com/install.
Reproduce this
- generate_brand_model_market_pulse: Read used-market asking-price and days-on-market medians for one make or model, nationally or by state.
- search_past_90_days: Search recently sold dealer listings with filters such as make, model, model year, state or ZIP to compare last-list prices by vintage.
- generate_market_movers: Rank nameplates in one local market to see which used models are turning fastest there.
- search_active_cars: Search live dealer listings by make, model, state or ZIP to see current asking prices on the same vintages.
The story we checkedSantander Consumer USA Leverages Stronger Liquidity to Scale Prime Auto Loans, wrticles.com, Oct 08, 2026