Take a deep breath.

You can still buy a new car without seeing a startling price increase from tariffs. At least for now.

But generally, the cost of cars — both new and old — keeps climbing. New national reports have documented a tale of consumers’ woes: increased monthly payments, extended loan terms and stubbornly high interest rates.

“Those numbers reflect what’s happening in Maryland,” said Peter Kitzmiller, president of the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association. “Vehicle affordability is the biggest issue facing our industry, and it has been for the past year.”

Nationally, car-shopping website Edmunds found that nearly one in five buyers has monthly payments of over $1,000, a new peak.

Marylanders spend an average of $757 a month to finance the purchase of a new vehicle, Kitzmiller said.

But experts say it all comes down to what you buy. Spending $1,000 or more on monthly payments typically falls on buyers of luxury cars or tricked-out trucks like top-of-the-line Ford F-150s and Chevrolet Silverados. Rameez Haq, the general manager at Antwerpen Chevrolet in Eldersburg, said more than 50% of their vehicles fall in that payment range.

“We’re seeing a lot of higher payments, and customers going toward higher payments,” Haq said. “It’s a lot, but people are still paying it.”

Prices increased during the pandemic, Kitzmiller said, when dealerships were receiving less supply from their manufacturers. Decreased inventories trickled down to used-car purchasing, with more buyers in demand pushing the sticker prices for a limited supply higher.

Today, vehicle prices continue to rise due to new technology, high-demand parts and the improved quality of vehicles, he said.

Joshua Zello, a 31-year-old youth pastor in Baltimore, has been looking for a new used car ever since his family grew from one to two children. He wanted a third-row vehicle to accommodate visiting grandparents and his children’s friends. But Zello said he’s delaying a purchase for now since upgrading is more of a convenience than necessity.

“Even in the back of my head as we make this plan, I’m concerned it’ll be worse,” he said of buying a new car later. “Are we going to be stuck with this car for years and years until it falls apart and not get a car that fits our family’s needs?”

Some people have opted for longer loan terms to pay off their cars in hopes to decrease monthly payments. Edmunds reported that nearly one out of every five new vehicle buyers picked loan repayment terms at or longer than 7 years, up from about one in six at the beginning of 2024. Kitzmiller said he’d set the “new normal” in Maryland at 6 years, a dramatic increase from years ago.

“There’s no question that in order to get someone into a vehicle that they can afford, one of the things people are doing is extending the terms,” Kitzmiller said. “For most vehicle purchasers, the monthly payment is the important factor.”

High interest rates also haven’t budged. The average new-vehicle purchase involves a loan with an annual rate of 7.2%. It comes down to a simple equation, said Umar Naeem, a general sales manager at Ourisman Chrysler Dodge in Dundalk: Longer terms yield higher interest rates; shorter terms means higher monthly payments.

But there’s some good news. Interest rates aren’t expected to increase, either, and incentives to buy a new car are coming back since the pandemic, including reduced up-front prices and interest rate discounts, Kitzmiller said.

President Trump’s budget bill signed into law earlier this month offers an annual tax credit on interest of loans for new vehicles assembled in the United States. This, however, may only apply to a narrow selection of car buyers with large loans and luxury brands. The same law ended President Biden’s tax credits for electric vehicles.

If you’re thinking of buying electric, “I’d get up and go,” Kitzmiller said. “That 7,500 [tax credit] is going to be gone by September.”

The true impact of tariffs on vehicle prices remains complicated. The 25% tariff on imported vehicles and car parts is still in effect, but there are certain exceptions, meaning any current impact depends on where the car is assembled and where parts come from. Kitzmiller said price increases have mostly been absorbed by manufacturers rather than falling on consumers so far. Some are playing a waiting game, leaving cars waiting at ports so as not to pay the tariff.

“The idea of an American car versus a foreign car hasn’t been a thing for years,” he said. “It’s very hard to figure out where this is going to fall.”

Jamie Austin, a 28-year-old who lives in Baltimore, bought her new Subaru in March, in part, to avoid any impact from tariffs. She said she’s checked prices recently, and the sticker price of her 2025 Crosstrek has already ticked up.

“With the prices now, I probably wouldn’t have been able to,” she said, adding that with tariffs, “it could’ve been more of a hassle.”

In the world of foreign brands, Joe Nolan, a sales manager at Audi Owings Mills, said the German luxury auto maker is covering the cost of tariffs for the time being.

Still, increased costs have led to fewer sales than Nolan said he saw at his previous location. More people paying with cash to avoid interest rates, he added. But the hesitancy among consumers to buy in April and May has waned.

“It back to normal now, at least for us,” he said. “Knock on wood.”