Some people buy a house. Others, apparently, buy a Jeep Wrangler with a seven-year loan and enough interest to make an accountant run screaming for the hills.
A TikTok clip from the descriptively named creator I’m Just A Finance Guy (@imtheautofinanceguy) shows how outrageous financing deals can get these days, especially for those with bad credit scores. The video, which has been watched more than 290,000 times, zooms-in on the paperwork of a Truth in Lending Disclosure for a 2024 Jeep Wrangler that might just be the most expensive base model in recent memory.
The financing terms feel more like a cautionary tale than a dealership win:
- Loan amount: $74,599
- Finance charge (interest): $56,931.56
- APR: 17.69 percent
- Term: 84 months (that’s 7 years)
- Monthly payment: $1,565.84
- Odometer reading: 860 miles
The paperwork shows a total repayment of $131,530.56, or the cost of a house in small-town Ohio, all for a Jeep with less than 1,000 miles on the odometer.
If that’s not gruesome enough, let’s break it down further: $1,565.84/month × 84 months = $131,530.56.
That’s over $56,000 in interest paid over the life of the loan. At 17.69% APR, the buyer ends up shelling out nearly double the Jeep’s sticker price by the time it’s paid off. You could make the same payments on a 15-year mortgage in parts of the country. According to Zillow, the median home price in Toledo, Ohio is just under $130,000.
While it’s tempting to treat this loan as an outlier, it’s more of a warning sign. In 2025, the average APR for a new car loan in the U.S. sits between 7 and 9 percent, depending on the borrower’s credit score. A 17.69-percent rate suggests a borrower in a deep subprime category or someone who secured financing through a “Buy Here, Pay Here” dealer known for predatory terms.
And then there’s the matter of the loan amount itself. A base model 2024 Jeep Wrangler typically starts around $35,000. Higher trims like the Rubicon can edge toward the $55,000 range with options.
There are a few possibilities. The dealer may have loaded the vehicle with costly add-ons like extended warranties, off-road packages, or appearance upgrades that look good on paper and pad profit margins. It’s also possible the buyer traded in a previous vehicle with negative equity, rolling the unpaid balance into the new loan. And in many cases, high-interest loans like this are pitched to buyers who are told it’s their “only option,” a favorite tactic of high-risk financing outfits.
Whatever the case, it’s a tough look. Seven years is a long time to pay off a car, especially one that may see some serious depreciation before it’s halfway through the loan term.
According to the CFPB, Americans now carry over $1.6 trillion in auto loan debt, and loan terms of 72 to 84 months are increasingly common, even though they often leave buyers “underwater” on their loans for most of the repayment period.
Financial advisors generally recommend: Keeping loan terms under 60 months, avoiding APRs over 6–7 percent unless necessary, and never financing add-ons or extended warranties unless you’ve calculated the long-term cost. There’s no indication on the term sheet of who the dealer or financier was for the proposed loan, but commenters on the clip were ready to grab their pitchforks and torches in outrage.
“This should be illegal. Someone tag the repo man!” one of them wrote.
Another offered that the proposed deal is another example of buyers being preyed upon: “In case anyone wondered why we need a consumer protection agency. These loans should be criminal.”
And another wasn’t feeling great about the idea of making a mortgage payment for a depreciating asset on wheels, writing, “I’m not paying $131k for anything except a house and I’d do that extremely reluctantly.”
Motor1 reached out to the creator via direct message and to Jeep/Stellantis via email. If we hear back, we’ll be sure to update this article.
#Jeep #Wrangler #Financing #Buy
