As Americans with deep pockets pumped up September new-vehicle sales, raising transaction prices to record highs, a different story played out among highly leveraged consumers pushing growing debt burden into the future.

Third-quarter statistics compiled by auto data provider Edmunds show more consumers trading in vehicles worth less than they owe on them. In fact, more than a quarter of trade-ins were under water, a four-year high, and the average debt total reached a new record.

The number of upside-down trade-ins for new-vehicle purchases rose about one percentage point quarter-over-quarter to 28%, on the heels of about a three-point increase in the second quarter, Edmunds said. That’s closing in on the 32% in the first quarter of 2021 during the pandemic downturn.

The average owed on the under-water trade-ins was $6,905, a historical record, according to Edmunds, which estimates that about a third of those consumers still owe between $5,000 and $10,000 on their trade-ins, another record. About a quarter owe more than $10,000, also a record, while 8% owe more than $15,000, a subset that’s growing along with the others.

The reasons consumers are getting in such a predicament vary, though vehicle price inflation since the pandemic is an obvious underlying factor.

“The sheer amount of debt consumers are carrying in their trade-ins should be a wake-up call," said Edmunds Director of Insights Ivan Drury. "Much of this stems from shoppers trading out of vehicles too quickly, or carrying loans taken out during the pandemic car market frenzy, when prices were at record highs. Those choices are now catching up, making it far harder to buy again without piling on even more debt."

LEARN MORE: Helping the Credit-Crunched