Luxury car buyers pay more than ever as prices and loan costs rise

If you can even find a new car to buy, actually purchasing it is going to cost you.

“It’s a really difficult time to buy a car,” said Jessica Caldwell, executive director of insights at Edmunds.

Limited inventory due to a persistent shortage of computer chips, along with other supply-chain challenges, helped propel new car prices up 12.6% from a year ago and used car prices 16.1% higher, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For new cars, the average transaction price is expected to reach an all-time high of $45,844 in June, according to a separate J.D. Power/LMC Automotive forecast.