Fuel prices are displayed on a sign as a customer fills their vehicle at a gas station on April 13, 2026 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Auto debt is becoming a bigger problem for consumers , a new report shows. Total auto debt reached $1.68 trillion at the end of 2025 — a 37% increase since late 2018, when the debt was at $1.23 trillion, according to a new analysis by The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, and Protect Borrowers, a consumer advocacy group, provided exclusively to CNBC. That figure includes traditional installment loans and leases. Nearly 86 million Americans — about 1 in 4 — carry outstanding auto loan or lease debt, the organizations calculated. The average origination balance for an auto loan was $33,519 at the end of 2025, compared with $24,782 in the fourth quarter of 2018, the research shows. Over that same period, the typical monthly auto loan payment increased to more than $680 from $506.…