Subaru Financing: What To Know in 2025
Whether you’re looking for an everyday driver or an off-road SUV, a Subaru might fit the bill. Unless you’re paying cash, you’ll likely need a loan. Explore your Subaru financing options and compare your monthly payments to the average to make sure you’re getting a competitive offer.
How do your Subaru payments compare to the average?
If you have a Subaru offer in hand, we can help you compare it to other buyers with a similar credit score.
Using Experian data, Kelley Blue Book and other resources, we estimated average monthly payments for new and used Subaru vehicles. Then, we organized these payments by credit band. Find the credit band that most closely matches yours, and see if your loan offer is higher or lower.
Also, looking at these tables, you might wonder why some high-credit borrowers pay more per month than borrowers with worse credit. According to Experian, buyers with higher credit scores usually choose shorter loan terms.
While a shorter loan term can help you save on overall interest, you will have fewer months to spread out your loan balance. This shorter time frame results in higher monthly payments.
Learn more about how we calculated average monthly Subaru payments.
Estimated average monthly payments for new Subarus
| Model | Starting MSRP | Monthly payment (501-600 credit score) | Monthly payment (601-660 credit score) | Monthly payment (661-780 credit score) | Monthly payment (781-850 credit score) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Subaru Forester | $29,995 | $457.18 | $415.42 | $392.35 | $410.20 |
| 2025 Subaru Outback | $29,010 | $437.72 | $397.74 | $375.65 | $392.74 |
| 2025 Subaru Crosstrek | $25,810 | $374.49 | $340.29 | $321.39 | $336.01 |
| 2025 Subaru Ascent | $38,910 | $633.32 | $575.48 | $543.51 | $568.24 |
| 2025 Subaru Impreza | $23,610 | $331.03 | $300.79 | $284.08 | $297.01 |
Estimated average monthly payments for used Subarus
| Model | Fair purchase price | Monthly payment (501-600 credit score) | Monthly payment (601-660 credit score) | Monthly payment (661-780 credit score) | Monthly payment (781-850 credit score) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Subaru Forester | $15,074 | $268.62 | $234.78 | $209.49 | $202.11 |
| 2019 Subaru Outback | $15,251 | $273.00 | $238.60 | $212.90 | $205.41 |
| 2019 Subaru Crosstrek | $16,144 | $295.09 | $257.92 | $230.14 | $222.03 |
| 2019 Subaru Ascent* | $17,379 | $325.65 | $284.63 | $253.97 | $245.03 |
| 2019 Subaru Impreza | $12,240 | $198.49 | $173.48 | $154.79 | $149.34 |
Subaru finance options
It’s not as exciting as buying a Subaru, but researching your finance options isn’t a step you should skip. Shopping and comparing offers may be the best way to find the best auto loan for you.
Subaru Motors Finance
For buyers who qualify, manufacturer financing (or captive financing) usually offers the lowest APRs. This option means you are getting a car loan directly from your vehicle’s manufacturer. In Subaru’s case, it’s Subaru Motors Finance (SMF).
To get a preapproved car loan from Subaru Motors Finance, you need to know which Subaru you’d like to buy. The model and model year you buy can impact your APR.
You have at least good credit and are shopping for a model on a special promotional offer.
You can apply online, and Subaru provides most approval decisions within an hour of your application. If it approves you, you’ll get your loan offer by email. Then, you can take it to your local Subaru dealer.
Subaru’s special financing and leasing offers vary by ZIP code. Subaru also does not disclose what credit score you need to buy a car. You must be a “well-qualified applicant.” This could mean a good credit score or higher (“good credit” starts at 670).
Manufacturer financing can come with benefits that you won’t find with other types of financing. With Subaru Motors Finance, these include:
- Special financing offers: Throughout the year, Subaru offers discounted APRs on specific models and model years.
- Special leasing offers: You can get discounted monthly payments for leasing a model that’s on promotion.
- Subaru VIP Military Program: Active-duty military, reserves, retirees and eligible veterans could save $500 through the Subaru VIP Military Program.
- Subaru College Graduate Program: New and upcoming college grads can qualify for special pricing for new financing and leases. Contact your local Subaru dealer for more information.
- Factory warranty: New Subarus come with a three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty. They also have a five-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty. These two warranties combined cover your engine, exhaust, oil pump, cylinder heads and other major components. And if your Subaru was made after the year 2000, you’ll also get 24/7 roadside assistance.
- Subaru Mobility Assistance: Subaru may reimburse you up to $1,000 for medically necessary vehicle modifications due to a disability.
- Certified pre-owned vehicles: Subaru certified pre-owned vehicles must pass a 152-point inspection. These cars get a seven-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty, 24/7 roadside assistance, special financing rates and more.
Subaru’s special financing and leasing offers vary by ZIP code. Subaru also does not disclose what credit score you need to buy a car. You must be a “well-qualified applicant” to qualify for special financing and leasing offers. This could mean a good credit score or higher (a “good credit” FICO Score starts at 670).
Bank and credit union auto loans
Your bank or credit union offers benefits for both banking and borrowing.
You might get a great deal on Subaru financing by going through your bank or credit union. Many give out loyalty discounts.
For example, Bank of America members could get an APR discount between 0.25% and 0.50% as part of the Preferred Rewards program. To take advantage of Preferred Rewards, you must have a BoA checking account with a specific minimum balance.
Credit union auto loans also usually come with low APRs and extra benefits. Take PenFed and Navy Federal Credit Union. They sometimes have Subaru financing deals for members who use their TrueCar car-buying service.
Banks and credit unions don’t usually disclose their minimum credit score requirements. However, having a longstanding, positive relationship with your bank could make it more likely to approve you.
Online auto loans
You have good or bad credit and want to compare multiple offers at once.
Online auto loans can be great no matter your credit, but for different reasons. If you have excellent credit, you could qualify for low rates. If you don’t qualify for a loan through Subaru Motors Finance or your bank, you might have luck shopping for a bad credit car loan online.
Online auto loans also make it easy to compare rates. Use LendingTree’s online auto loan marketplace to compare offers from up to five lenders at once. Checking rates won’t impact your credit.
In-house financing
You have bad or no credit and don’t qualify for other Subaru finance options.
You could turn to in-house financing as a final resort. Also called buy here, pay here, this option means your car loan will come from your dealer rather than a lender. Buy here, pay here loans are among the easiest to get. They also come with expensive, sometimes predatory APRs.
Buy here, pay here car lots also specialize in older vehicles — sometimes much older than what you’d find at a traditional car lot. As a result, you’ll have a limited selection and you may risk ending up with an upside-down car loan.
How we calculated average monthly Subaru payments
To calculate average monthly Subaru payments, we found estimated starting MSRPs and fair purchase prices for some of Subaru’s most popular models.
Then, we subtracted the average down payment from each. According to Edmunds, the average down payment on a new vehicle was $6,856 in Q4 2024. For used vehicles, it was $4,219. The resulting figure represents the total amount our hypothetical borrowers financed.
From there, we used our auto loan calculator to figure out average monthly Subaru payments, using average APRs and loan terms as reported by Experian’s State of the Automotive Finance Market Q4 2024. You’ll find this data in the tables below. Loan terms were rounded to the nearest whole number during our calculations.
Keep in mind that your specific car payment depends on personal factors like your credit score, zip code and the type of car loan you’re getting. We don’t include dealer fees, which can add up to 10% of the car’s price if you buy at a dealership.
| Subprime (501-600) | Near prime (601-660) | Prime (661-780) | Superprime (781-850) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average APR | 13.08% | 9.59% | 6.40% | 4.77% |
| Average loan term | 73.54 months | 74.27 months | 71.15 months | 63.56 months |
| Subprime (501-600) | Near prime (601-660) | Prime (661-780) | Superprime (781-850) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average APR | 19.38% | 14.46% | 9.95% | 7.67% |
| Average loan term | 66.19 months | 68.07 months | 68.39 months | 65.54 months |
Frequently asked questions
Sometimes, but perhaps not as often as other car manufacturers. You’ll need to search for a 0% Subaru financing deal that applies to your preferred Subaru dealership and model. Zero-percent financing may also be harder to find when inflation is high.
This depends on your specific credit score and Subaru’s current financing deals. At the time of this writing, you can find APRs between 0% and 4.9% on select models with Subaru Motor Finance. These deals are subject to credit approval.
Interest rates for other types of Subaru financing (banks, credit unions, online auto lenders and in-house financing) vary. You’ll need to apply for preapproval or contact the lender for further details.
Subaru Motors Finance doesn’t disclose its minimum credit score requirements. Instead, it says it approves “well-qualified applicants” for its best offers. If well-qualified means good credit, you’ll need a score of at least 670. The range for excellent credit starts at 740.
Credit score requirements for options other than Subaru Motors Finance vary. Banks and credit unions rarely disclose their requirements, but some online lenders are more transparent. Carvana, for instance, has no minimum credit score requirement.
If you’re ready to pay off your loan and it’s through Subaru Motors Finance, the first thing to do is to turn off your automatic payments. Only do this if you plan on paying off your Subaru right away. Otherwise, you could miss a payment, and that could seriously affect your credit.
Then, you’ll need to get a payoff quote. Log into your online account through Chase, click the “More” menu and find “See a payoff quote.” This is the amount you need to make to pay your car loan off early.
A payoff quote is different from your total remaining balance. Your remaining balance also includes the interest you’d pay if you went through with your full loan term. Subaru does not charge loan prepayment penalties.
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